Passage 1 It is predicted that there will be 5 scientific 课件.pptVIP

. 精选 . 精选 . 精选 . 精选 . 精选 . 精选 . 精选 . 精选 . 精选 . 精选 . 精选 . 精选 . 精选 . 精选 Passage 1 ? It is predicted that there will be 5 scientific breathroughs in the 21st century. Well know where we came from. Why does the universe exist? To put it another way, why is there something instead of nothing? Since the 1920s, scientists have known the universe is expanding, which means it must have started at a definite time in the past. (1) They even have developed theories that give a detailed picture of the evolution of the universe from the time it was a fraction of a second old to the present. Over the next couple of * decades, these theories will be refined by data from extraordinarily powerful new telescope. We will have a better understanding of how matter behaves at the unfathomably high temperatures and pressures of the early universe. We ll crack the genetic code and conquer cancer. In 19th century operas, when the heroine coughs in the first act, the audience knows she will die of tuberculosis in Act 3. But thanks to 20th-century antibiotics, the once-dreaded, once-incurable disease now can mean nothing more serious than taking some pills. (2) As scientist learn more about the genetic code and the way cells work at the molecular level, many serious diseases—cancer, for one — will become * less threatening. Using manufactured “therapeutic” viruses, doctors will be able to replace cancer-causing damaged DNA with healthy genes, probably administered by a pill or injection. Well live longer (120 years?). (3) If the normal aging process is basically a furious, invisible contest in our cells—a contest between damage to our DNA and our cells ability to repair that damage—then 2lst-century s strides in genetic medicine may let us control and even reverse the process. But before we push scientists to do more, consider: Do we really want to live in a world where no one grows old and few children are born because the planet can hold * only so many people? Where would new ideas