Article: Washoe, a female chimpanzee believed to be the first non-human to acquire human language, has died of natural causes at the research institute where she was kept.The chimp died on Tuesday night, according to Roger and Deborah Fouts, co-founders of The Chimpanzee and Human Communications Institute in Washington, where she lived. Washoe was born in 1965 in Africa, where she was captured by the Air Force and taken to the US for research use in the space program. In 1966, she left the program and began living with two scientists, Allen and Beatrix Gardner, who led a project to teach the chimp American Sign Language (ASL) in Washoe, Nevada, for which it was named. Washoe had been living on Central Washington University's Ellensburg Campus since 1980. She had a vocabulary of about 250 words. Also, Washoe taught sign language to three younger chimps: Tatu, 31, Loulis, 29, and Dar, 31 Primate researcher Jane Goodall, in Fouts' book Next of Kin, noted the importance of the work with Washoe. "Roger, through his ongoing conversations with Washoe and her extended family, has opened a window into a chimpanzee's mind," Goodall said. Though previous efforts to teach chimps spoken languages had failed, the researchers believed there was a better chance using signs. But Washoe's language skills were disputed by scientists who believed that language is unique to humans. Among those who doubted that chimps could use language were linguist Noam Chomsky and Harvard scientist Steven Pinker. They believed primates simply learn to perform certain acts in order to receive rewards, and do not acquire true language. Question: As for its first task, Washoe was involved with _ . Yes or no, is the answer "some space research"?
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Article: Because I will be away for a few days after Spring Break, I am writing this during the actual holiday, when I can use time to catch up on a number of purely administrative items. First of all, you should have received the letter I sent out on April 2 advising of the transition arrangements to new leadership at ISM (International School of Moscow). In that letter I pointed out that Dr. Paul Malone will be arriving in Moscow on Monday, May 4th, and that I will work with him during that week to ensure smooth transition. My last day at ISM will be Friday, May 8th. Several people have asked me why I required Dr. Malone to come early. There are many problems facing ISM at the moment which have major implications for the future, and it makes sense for the new director to come aboard before the end of the school year. This will give him the chance to play a major role in the planning process for 2014--2015 and beyond. The fact that Paul Malone is able to arrive in early May is good for the school. I have been working closely with him, and will do everything possible to see that he can move in easily when I leave. From here I will go to Hong Kong for a couple of weeks to spend time in my new situation, and then I will return to the United States for a few weeks' vacation. In the most recent edition of the Compass(a kind of paper of ISM), I wrote briefly what I consider to be the major challenge for ISM in the future. I am sure that the new leadership of the school will be able to face those challenges in an active manner, which will ensure a strong future for the school. I shall certainly watch the progress of the school with interest. The results of the school for the past few years have been quite outstanding, and I fully expect that level of performance to continue. Question: Why should Dr. Malone come to ISM early? Yes or no, is the answer "To work with the author for a few days and make a future plan."?
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Article: Cut out part of a healthy person's liver and transplant it into a sick person--it sounds like a complicated and dangerous operation , not to mention very expensive. But it is sometimes the only possible cure for a seriously ill patient with liver disease. Until now British scientists have just announced a new stem cell technique, which allows them to grow healthy liver cells outside human bodies. According to the researchers, it could be another five to ten years before the technique can actually be used to help patients with liver disease. However, they say the method might one day replace liver transplants altogether. The study was led by the University of Cambridge and the Welcome Trust Sanger Institute, a British genomics and genetics research institute. It was published in the journal nature on October 12,2011. The researchers took skin cells from a patient with a mutation in a gene called alphal-antitrypsin (a-l). This gene makes a protein that protects our bodies against inflammation . People with changed or damaged alphal-antitrypsin are not able to release the protein correctly from the liver, so the protein is trapped there and eventually leads to liver cirrhosis . Scientists then used an advanced technique to cut away the faulty section of DNA from a stem cell and replace it with a corrected one, according to the journal. The stem cells went on to produce fresh and healthy liver cells with normal protein levels. Scientists put the new liver cells into mice and found that they worked very well. Stem cells are the life source of all other cells in the body. They could transform medicine, providing treatment for blindness, spinal cord injuries and other serous injuries. They could also be used to produce new cells for damaged organs. David Lomas, a Cambridge biology professor who worked on the team, said: "If we can use a patient's own skins cells to produce liver cells that we can put back into the patient, we may prevent the future need for transplantation. " Question: Why do some people get liver cirrhosis according to the article? Yes or no, is the answer "Because the alphal-antitrypsin in their bodies is changed or damaged."?
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Article: China is casting a huge shadow on the United States that many Americans are struggling to learn Chinese in order to maintain their competitive edge. "Interest in learning Chinese among American youth and their parents has grown dramatically in the past five years," said Vivien Stewart at the Asia Society, a US grow trying to bridge the gap between Americans and people of Asia and the Pacific. China, the world's most popular nation, is very important to the United States because it is a leading trader, consumer and investor. Its political influence is also rising across the globe. It has replaced the United States as the world's largest consumer and could become the second largest economy country in the world, after the superpower status and its telling effects politically, economically and culturally are driving the interest to learn the language, experts say. From kindergartens to high schools, studies by the Asia Society show, there is a "rapid rise" in interest among pupils to study the Chinese language. Even though the US State Department has stressed the Chinese language "important " to national prosperity and security, the "current infrastructure to support recruitment of students and teachers as well as the growth of high quality programs is badly inadequate," an Asia Society study says. The Society has set a target of having at least 5% of American high school students learning Chinese by 2015. " Millions of Chinese are learning English, but only 24,000 Americans are learning Chinese," said Andrew Corcoran of the San Francisco - based Chinese American International School. Question: According to the passage, which of the following is not the reason why Americans are becoming interested in learning Chinese? Yes or no, is the answer "China has become the largest economy country in the world."?
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