1、Legal and Moral Implications of Cloning 克隆在法律與道德上的影響At first it was just plain surprising. Word that scientists succeeded in cloning an adult mammalan achievement long thought impossiblecaught the imagination of everyone. The laboratory process that produced Dolly, an unremarkable-looking sheep, the

2、oretically would work for humans as well. A world with human clones was suddenly within reach. It was science fiction coming to life.起初，這對人們絕對是個震驚。有消息稱科學家已經成功克隆了一只成年哺乳動物，一項長期以來被認為是不可能的成就。這一傳聞引發了每個人的想象。克隆多莉（一只相貌無奇的綿羊）的實驗過程，從理論上說也同樣適用于克隆人類。一個克隆人的世界突然間近在咫尺，科幻小說變成了現實。In the wake of this announcement, go

3、vernments hurried to draft guidelines for the unknown, a future filled with incredible possibilities. President Clinton ordered a national commission to study the legal and moral implications of cloning. Leaders in Europe, where most nations already prohibit human cloning, began examining the moral

4、implications of cloning other species.此消息宣布之后，為了一個未知世界，一個充滿各種不可思議的可能性的未來，各國政府立即起草指導方針。克林頓總統命令一個全國委員會研究克隆在法律和道德上的含義。在歐洲，大多數國家都已禁止克隆人類，各國領導此時也開始研究克隆其他物種的道德含義。Like the Theory of Relativity, the splitting of the atom, and the first space flight, Dollys appearance has generated a long list of difficult p

5、uzzles for scientists, politicians, and philosophers. And wild questions on the topic of cloning continue to mount. 就像相對論、原子裂變和第一次太空飛行一樣，多莉的出現給科學家、政治家和哲學家們提出了一長串難以解答的難題。關于克隆的奇怪問題不斷涌現。Why would anyone want to clone a human being in the first place?首先，為什么有人想克隆人類?The human cloning situations that exper

6、ts consider most frequently fall into two broad categories: 1) parents who want to clone a child, either to provide transplants for a dying child or to replace that child, and 2) adults who for a variety of reasons might want to clone themselves.專家們考慮得最多的關于克隆人類的情形可以分為兩大類：1)父母想要克隆孩子，要么是想為面臨死亡威脅的孩子提供移

7、植器官，要么是想代替那個孩子；2)成年人出于各種各樣的原因想要克隆自己。Will it be possible to clone the dead?是否可能克隆死去的人?Perhaps, if the body is fresh, says one expert. The cloning method used requires combining an egg cell with the nucleus of a cell containing the DNA of the person to be cloned. (DNA is a very long, ribbon-like molec

8、ule that contains our genetic information.) And that means that the nucleus must be intact. Cells die and the cell nucleus begins to break apart after death. But, yes, in theory at least it might be possible.有位專家說，如果是剛死去不久，也許就可能。所使用的克隆方法要求將一個卵細胞和一個含有被克隆人的DNA的細胞核相結合。(DNA是一種含有我們的基因信息的狹長帶狀分子。) 這就意味著細胞核

9、必須保持完整。而人死之后，細胞死亡，細胞核就開始分裂。但是，的確，至少從理論上說克隆死去的人是可能的。Would a cloned human be identical to the original?克隆的人會和母本一模一樣嗎?Identical genes dont produce identical people, as anyone who knows a set of identical twins can tell you. In fact, twins are more alike than clones would be, since they have at least sh

10、ared the same environment within the mother, are usually raised in the same family, and so forth. Parents could clone a second child who resembled their first in appearance, but all the evidence suggests the two would have very different personalities. Twins separated at birth do sometimes share per

11、sonality characteristics, but such characteristics in a cloned son or daughter would only be reminders of the child who was lost.相同的基因不會復制出相同的人。任何認識一些雙胞胎的人都知道這一點。事實上，雙胞胎相像的程度勝于克隆人，因為他們至少在母體內分享過相同的環境，通常也在同一個家庭里被撫養長大，等等。父母可能克隆出一個面貌與第一個孩子相似的人，但是所有的證據都表明，這兩個人的個性會有很大差異。一出生就被分開的雙胞胎，有時可能有相同的個性特征，但是這樣的特征出現在

12、克隆的兒子或女兒身上，卻只能令人想起失去的孩子。Even in terms of biology, a clone would not be identical to the master copy. The clones cells, for example, would have energy-processing machinery that came from the egg, not from the person who was cloned. But most of the physical differences between originals and copies are

13、 so minor that detection of them would require a sophisticated laboratory. The one possible exception is bearing children. The scientists responsible for the successful cloning are not sure that Dolly will be able to have lambs. They will try to find out once shes old enough to breed.即使從生物學的角度看，克隆人也

14、不會和“母本”一模一樣。比如，克隆人的細胞可能會有來自卵子而非被克隆人的能量加工機制。然而，在母體和克隆體之間存在的身體差異大部分都很小，需要在設備精良的實驗室里才能測定。唯一可能的例外就是生育能力。成功地實施了克隆多莉的科學家們也不敢肯定多莉是否能生育。他們會等到多莉到了生育年齡時再確認這一點。What if parents decided to clone a child in order to harvest organs?如果父母決定克隆一個孩子以獲得器官，那會怎樣?Most experts agree that it would be psychologically harmful

15、if a child sensed he had been brought into the world simply as an organ donor. But some parents already produce second children with nonfatal transplants in mind, and many experts do not oppose this. Cloning would increase the chances for a tissue match from 25 percent to nearly 100 percent.多數專家都認為，

16、如果一個孩子感到自己只是作為一個器官捐贈者來到這個世界，那他的心理可能受到傷害。但也有為了進行一些非致命器官的移植而生育第二個小孩的父母，對此許多專家也并不反對。克隆可以將組織適配率從25%提高到將近100%。If cloned animals could be used as organ donors, we wouldnt have to worry about cloning twins for transplants. Pigs, for example, have organs similar in size to humans. But the human body attacks

17、 and destroys tissue from other species. To get around that, one company is trying to alter the pigs genetic code to prevent pig organs from being attacked. If the companys technicians succeed, it may be more efficient to produce such pigs by cloning than by current methods.如果把被克隆的動物用作器官捐贈體，那我們就不必擔心

18、為器官移植而克隆雙胞胎了。例如，豬的器官就和人類的差不多大小。但是人體會排斥并破壞來自其他物種的組織。為了克服這一障礙，一家公司正在試圖改變豬的基因碼，以避免豬的器官受到排斥。如果該公司的技術人員成功的話，那么用克隆技術來繁殖這樣的豬比用現行的方法更為有效。How would a human clone refer to the donor of its DNA?克隆的人將如何稱呼其DNA捐贈者?Mom is not right, because the woman who supplied the egg and gave birth to the infant would more app

19、ropriately be called Mother. Dad isnt right, either. A traditional father supplies only half the DNA in a child. Judith Martin, in her writings under the name of Miss Manners, suggests the phrase, Most honored sir or madam. Why? One should always respect ones ancestors, she says, regardless of what

20、they did to bring one into the world.稱呼“媽媽”不正確，因為提供卵子并生下嬰孩的女子才更有資格被稱為母親。稱呼“爸爸”也不對。傳統意義上的父親只提供孩子身上一半的DNA。朱迪斯馬丁在用筆名“禮儀小姐”撰寫的著作里建議這樣稱呼：“尊敬的先生/夫人”。為什么呢? “不論他們用什么方式將你帶到這個世界，”她說，“人總得尊敬自己的祖先。”That still leaves some confusion over vocabulary. The editorial director of one dictionary says that the noun clone

21、e may sound like a good term, but its not clear enough. Instead, he prefers original and copy.這樣做還是留下了一些詞匯上的難題。一本詞典的主編說，名詞“被克隆者”聽起來不錯，但卻不夠明晰。他更愿意用“母本”和“副本”。What are the other implications of cloning for society?克隆對社會還有什么其他含義?The gravest concern isnt really cloning itself, but genetic engineeringthe deliberate altering of genes to create human beings acco