专题26 Man Gets Pig Heart -高中英语【外刊·新闻·热点】素养提升拓展阅读课

Man Gets Pig Heart 外刊新闻精品阅读和练习 Sources:   bbc.com, nytimes.com, reuters.com Frida (A pig that is not fully grown (source)) 1. Are you a healthy person? What do you do to get or stay healthy? 2. Read the headline above. Have you heard this news story? If so, say what you know. If not, can you guess what it’s about? WARM-UP QUESTIONS: Discuss the following questions with your partner(s). A pig heart was transplanted into a human on January 7th, at the University of Maryland Medical Center, USA. Putting valves from pig hearts into humans has become common, but this is the first time that an entire pig heart has been used. The heart came from a pig that was genetically modified. To reduce the likelihood of organ rejection, some of the pig’s genes were deactivated, and human genes were implanted. It has only been a few days, but transplant recipient, David Bennett, is doing well so far. There are not enough available human organs for the people that need them, and because he is too unhealthy, Mr. Bennett was not going to receive one. However, Mr. Bennett wanted to continue living, and the pig heart transplant surgery was his only chance. When given this opportunity, he joked, “Well, will I oink?” Doctors are hopeful that this medical breakthrough will solve the problem of organ shortages. In the past, attempts at animal to human transplants involved chimpanzees and baboons. However, because genetic modification is now possible, and pigs are easy to raise and reach the size of human adults quickly, a lot of organs could be produced and transplanted successfully. Transplant (v, n) - an operation in which an organ or body part is moved from one person (or animal) to another Valve (n) - a structure in the heart that lets blood flow in only one direction Gene (n) - a part of a cell that controls appearance, growth, behavior, etc. Genetically modified (adj) - something that has been changed on a genetic level Likelihood (n) - the chance something will happe