Cloning: where is it leading us?[qh]
克隆：它将把我们引向何方?[qh]

When it was announced in 2018 that the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai had created the world's first cloned monkeys, Zhongzhong and Huahua, heated discussions followed online.[qh]
2018年，当上海中科院宣布创造了世界上第一批克隆猴“中中”和“华华”时，网上引发了激烈的讨论。[qh]
In fact, cloning has always been with us. It is a way of making an exact copy of another animal or plant.[qh]
事实上，克隆一直与我们同在。这是一种复制另一种动物或植物的方法。[qh]
It happens in plants when gardeners take cuttings from growing plants to make new ones.[qh]
当园丁从正在生长的植物上取下枝条来制作新的植株时，就会发生这种情况。[qh]
It also happens in animals when identical twins are produced from the same egg. These are both examples of natural clones.[qh]
在动物中，当同一个卵子产生同卵双胞胎时，也会发生这种情况。这两个都是自然克隆的例子。[qh]
Cloning has two major uses. First, gardeners use it to produce large quantities of plants for sale.[qh]
克隆有两个主要用途。首先，园丁用它生产大量可供出售的植物。[qh]
Second, it is valuable for research on new plant species and for medical research on animals.[qh]
第二，对植物新品种研究和动物医学研究都有价值。[qh]
Cloning plants is fairly straightforward, while cloning animals is much more complicated and difficult.[qh]
克隆植物很简单，而克隆动物则要复杂和困难得多。[qh]
Over the years, many scientists failed in their attempts to clone animals, but their determination and patience paid off in 1996 with a breakthrough -- the cloning of Dolly the sheep.[qh]
多年来，许多科学家克隆动物的尝试都失败了，但他们的决心和耐心在1996年取得了突破--克隆了多利羊。[qh]
The sheep cloning procedure works like this:[qh]
克隆羊的过程是这样的：[qh]
Female sheep A provides an egg cell. The nucleus is removed from the egg cell. The egg cell is ready for a new nucleus.[qh]
母羊A提供卵细胞。细胞核被从卵细胞中移除。卵细胞已经准备好形成新的细胞核。[qh]
Female sheep B provides a somatic cell for the clone. The nucleus of this cell contains all the genes needed to produce a new sheep.[qh]
母羊B提供一个为了克隆的体细胞。这种细胞的细胞核含有产生新绵羊所需的所有基因。[qh]
The nucleus is taken out of the somatic cell. The somatic cell nucleus from sheep B and the egg cell from sheep A are joined. The cell divides and grows into an embryo.[qh]
细胞核从体细胞中取出。羊B的体细胞核与羊A的卵细胞连接。细胞分裂并长成胚胎。[qh]
The embryo is put into female sheep C, who becomes the carrier of the clone.[qh]
将胚胎放入母羊C中，母羊成为克隆的载体。[qh]
The lamb which is born is the clone of sheep B. It is in every way identical to sheep B, but younger.[qh]
出生的羔羊是绵羊B的克隆体。它在各方面都与绵羊B相同，但更年轻。[qh]
With the advances of scientific research, cloning will have several major uses in the future.[qh]
随着科学研究的进步，克隆在未来将有几个主要用途。[qh]
For one thing, it could be used to breed animal species which are endanger, or even bring back species which are extinct.[qh]
一方面，它可以用来繁殖濒临灭绝的动物，甚至使灭绝的物种复活。[qh]
For another, it could be used to grow human organs or tissue in animals which could be used for human organ transplants or medical treatments.[qh]
另一方面，它可以用在动物身上生长人体器官或组织，用于人体器官移植或医疗。[qh]
Finally, cloning could be used to breed animals that will provide us with higher quality meat, milk, or eggs.[qh]
最后，克隆技术还可以用来培育动物，为我们提供更优质的肉、奶或蛋。[qh]
While there are technical issues that need to be worked through to make widespread cloning possible, the biggest concerns are moral.[qh]
要使大规模克隆成为可能，还需要解决一些技术问题，但最大的问题是道德问题。[qh]
For example, if scientists brought an extinct animal back into existence, it would probably end up living in a zoo.[qh]
例如，如果科学家使一种灭绝的动物复活，它很可能最终生活在动物园。[qh]
That is not very good for the animal. Even worse for the animal is using it as a source of organ transplants -- because it will be injured or even die.[qh]
这对动物不是很好。对动物来说更糟糕的是把它作为器官移植的来源--因为它会受伤甚至死亡。[qh]
In addition, many people worry that eating animal products that result from cloning might be harmful to our heath over time.[qh]
此外，许多人担心食用克隆动物产品会随着时间的推移对我们的健康有害。[qh]
The possibility of using cloning to produce human beings is an even bigger concern.[qh]
利用克隆技术生产人类的可能性更大。[qh]
What would happen if such knowledge ended up in the wrong hands?[qh]
如果这些知识最终落入坏人手中，会发生什么？[qh]
When it comes to cloning, we wonder, ultimately, whether cloning will help or harm the world.[qh]
谈到克隆，我们最终想知道克隆对世界是有益还是有害。[qh]
No doubt, we will be talking about this question for a long time to come.[qh]
毫无疑问，我们将在未来很长一段时间里讨论这个问题。[qh]