You Are What You Eat Genetic engineering is the scientific change of the genetic material in a living organism. It allows scientists to identify specific genes, to remove them from an organism's chromosomes , improve them, analyze them, and possibly clone them, and to then reinsert the changed gene into the original organism, or a completely different organism.Unlike traditional breeding , where a desired quality would be bred within the same species, genetic engineering can insert desired ones into organisms of different species.Wow...Did you catch that? Genetic engineering creates many positive contributions to agriculture. For example, by genetically engineered(GE) foods, anti-cancer agents, minerals and vitamins can be increased.Improved taste, shelf life, and better transport are all possible.Also, GE plants can increase pest and bacterial resistance, therefore, making the food safe for consumers. But some argue that the possible negative effects outweigh the positives, and critics are starting to voice their concerns. Unlike Europe, in the United States labeling is not required on genetically engineered foods or on foods that contain genetically engineered products. Most Americans do not realize that they are, in fact, eating GE foods. The public is also concerned about the unknown health risks.With limited understanding of genes, scientists cannot predict possible effects.Because most genes introduced into GE plants come from sources not introduced into the human body, it is impossible to know if they will cause reactions. Moreover, due to _ if allergies develop, it will be extremely difficult to find the origin of them. There is also a major moral question in many minds.For many, the conflict is not if it is safe or not, but it disturbs them because it is unnatural and unnecessary.We are currently producing one and a half times the amount of food needed to feed the world, yet one in seven people are starving.GE food is unnecessary, and fails to address the root of... According to the passage, traditional breeding is different from genetic engineering in that _ . A) traditional breeding changes the genes in the same species B) traditional breeding changes the genes in different species C) traditional breeding takes place within the same species D) traditional breeding is more scientific
C
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- A group of black parents and civil rights activists presented a petition Thursday calling for officials to drop charges against a 16-year-old South Carolina high school student who was videotaped being dragged from her desk and thrown to the floor by a police officer in her classroom. The group said it was unfair and unacceptable that the student and her 18-year-old classmate at Spring Valley High School who taped the incident were the only people charged that day when authorities already knew Richland County Deputy Ben Fields had tossed the girl from her desk to the ground. They also said their petition had hundreds of thousands of names from around the country asking prosecutor Dan Johnson to drop the "disturbing schools" charges against the teens. The students in the case are black; Fields is white. Johnson issued a statement Wednesday saying he won't do anything with the case until the FBI finishes its investigation into Fields, who was fired after the video became public. "I do not simply decide cases based upon feelings, public opinion or sentiment, nor do I decide them based on political pressure," Johnson said in the statement. Disturbing schools is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or 90 days in jail. The students' lawyer did not respond to telephone messages. The video spread quickly across the country, prompting questions about when police officers should get involved with classroom discipline. Fields was called to the classroom after the student refused to stop using her cellphone, and then she would not leave the classroom for a teacher or administrator. In the days after the incident, the teacher turned her class over to a substitute and the administrator was placed on leave. Richland two officials didn't respond to an email asking about their current status. The students were allowed back in school. Organizers of the protest said they plan to be at South Carolina's Statehouse next year, calling for legislators to change the law that allows police officers to arrest... According to the passage, people are now concerned about the following except _ . A) whether the incident reflects a racial issue B) when police officers should get involved with classroom discipline C) whether students can play cellphones in class D) whether the law that allows police officers to arrest students for misbehaving at schools should be changed
C
Matt Haimovitz is 42 and a renowned cellist in the world. He rushed into the classical music scene at the age of 12 after Itzhak Perlman, the famed violinist, heard him play. But nothing in his family history explains where Haimovitz got his extraordinary talent. And that's typical, Ellen Winner, a professor says. "People are fascinated by these children because they don't understand where their talent came from. You will see parents who say, 'I wasn't like this, and my husband wasn't like this.' It seems to sometimes just come out of the blue," Winner says. It's not clear whether a prodigy's brain is any different from the brains of other children, in part because there have been no study comparing the brains of prodigies to those of average people. "But I believe that anything that shows up so early, without training, has got to be either a genetic or some other biological basis," Winner says. "If a child suddenly at the age of 3 goes to the piano and picks out a tune and does it beautifully, that has to be because that child has a different brain." Children who are extremely gifted tend to be socially different, too, Winner says. "They feel like they can't find other kids like themselves, so they feel strange, maybe even like a freak, and feel like they don't have anybody to connect with. On the other hand, they also long to connect with other kids, and they can't find other kids like themselves." As Haimovitz got older, he became frustrated. He wanted to play other kinds of music but felt constricted by the image and the expectations of the boy prodigy who played classical music and filled concert halls. "When you start that early, you suddenly start to grow up in public, and I wanted to experiment," Haimovitz says. So he took his cello into punk rock clubs and coffee houses. He played Bach, Haydn and Hendrix. "My teacher was Leonard Rose, and we never played any 20th-century music. He didn't like it. But once I was exposed to James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix, Miles Dewey Davis El and others, I couldn't... According to the text, gifted children are _ . A) lonely B) easy-going C) innocent D) social
A