Legal and Moral Legal and Moral Implications of Cloning Implications of Cloning

Unit 8Unit 8

Stage 1: Warming-up ActivitiesStage 1: Warming-up Activities Stage 1: Warming-up ActivitiesStage 1: Warming-up Activities

Stage 2: Stage 2: Reading-Centred ActivitiesReading-Centred Activities Stage 2: Stage 2: Reading-Centred ActivitiesReading-Centred Activities

Stage 3: Vocabulary ExercisesStage 3: Vocabulary Exercises Stage 3: Vocabulary ExercisesStage 3: Vocabulary Exercises

Stage 4: Translating and Stage 4: Translating and WritingWritingStage 4: Translating and Stage 4: Translating and WritingWriting

Warming-up ActivitiesWarming-up ActivitiesWarming-up ActivitiesWarming-up Activities

Group workGroup work

Questions for thought and Questions for thought and discussiondiscussion

Background informationBackground information

Enriching your vocabularyEnriching your vocabulary

Comparing the following wordsComparing the following words

Group workGroup work

Questions for thought and Questions for thought and discussiondiscussion

Background informationBackground information

Enriching your vocabularyEnriching your vocabulary

Comparing the following wordsComparing the following words

Group workGroup workGroup workGroup work

Think about the pre-Think about the pre-reading questions before reading questions before listening and anticipate listening and anticipate what we are going to read.what we are going to read.

2. Pre-reading questions for the students

2.1.From a medical standpoint, what are the positive and negative effects of human cloning?

Hint:It’s a great progress in the medical field. The cloned organs will save the lives of some people who are seriously ill. Yet before this technique is clinically used, it still needs to be tested.

2.2. From a social and moral standpoint, do you think cloning would be a good thing for humans?

Hint: Perhaps it’s not acceptable. It will cause a confused relationship between a human clone and the donor of its DNA. A disrespected social class will appear.

Questions for thought Questions for thought and discussionand discussion

Questions for thought Questions for thought and discussionand discussion

Listen to a short passage Listen to a short passage carefully and then answer the carefully and then answer the following questions.following questions.

Background informationBackground informationBackground informationBackground information

• cloning:the process of making a genetically identical organism through nonsexual means.

• Examples: Dolly, and the sheep cloned in China, etc.

Enriching your vocabularyEnriching your vocabularyEnriching your vocabularyEnriching your vocabulary

Read the sentences carefully and guess the meaning of the italicized term in each sentence according to the context and your own experiences.

Comparing the following Comparing the following wordswords

Comparing the following Comparing the following wordswords

a) machine machinery

b) fatal vital critical

Homework Homework

• Learn the new words and expressions of the text by heart.

• Go over the text and try to get the main idea of the text.

• Prepare to tell a story about the symbols of American or Chinese culture.

Reading-Centred Reading-Centred ActivitiesActivities

1. Global Reading Task

Text structure analysis• The essay focuses on one central theme:

the legal and moral implications of cloning. One characteristic writing technique that runs throughout the reading passage is listing.

• The essay lists a number of questions about the legal and moral implications that arise from cloning. The whole passage can be divided into 4 parts:

Background situation: It was science fiction coning to life: With the success of cloning an adult mammal, a world with human clones was suddenly within reach. Para.1

Responses to the general situation:

Responses from the governments:Governments hurried to draft guide-lines for an unknown future and President Clinton ordered a nationalcommission to study the relative issues. Some countries began examiningthe moral implications of cloning other species.( Para .2)

Responses from scientistsetc.: like the Theory ofRelativity, the splitting of the atom, and the first space flight, cloning hasgenerated a long list of difficult puzzles for scientists, politicians,andphilosophers.( Para. 3)

 A list of puzzles or questions: 6 puzzles are listed.

Why would anyone want to clone a human being in the first place? There are two broad categories of situations in which people want to clone a human being. Paras. 4 & 5

Would a cloned human be identical to the original? A cloned human is not identical to the original but most of the physical differences between originals and copies are so minor that detection of them would require a sophisticated laboratory. The only possible major difference is bearing children. This is a question of wait-and-see. Paras. 8-10

Will it be possible to clone the dead? In theory at least it might be possible. Paras. 6 & 7

What if parents decided to clone a child in order to harvest organs? For human beings, it would be psychologically harmful if a child sensed he was born simply as an organ donor, but for nonfatal organ transplants it seems acceptable. For animals used as organ donors, it is OK provided techniques are improved. Paras. 11-13

  How would a human clone refer to the donor of its DNA? It sounds reasonable to refer to the donor as “Most honored sir or madam”. But an editorial director of one dictionary prefers “original” and “copy”. Paras. 14-16

    What are the other implications of cloning for society? Genetic engineering will create a new (and disrespected) social class: “the clones”. Whether or not they were humans will cause debate. Paras. 17 & 18

   Conclusion: The list of questions could go on; people are just beginning to wonder about the future of the world after cloning. Para. 19

Reading-Centred Reading-Centred ActivitiesActivities

2. Detailed Reading Task • Language points

• Simulated writing (exercises 8 and 9 )

Language points to be explained and practiced

(1)Word last week that…caught the imagination of everyone. (Para. 1)

Word spread fast that he had won the Nobel prize.

(2) work for: (Para. 1) a. apply to The rules of safe driving work for

everyone.

b. make efforts to achieve something

They worked for the complete abolition of capitalist exploitation of men by men.

(3) come to life: (Para. 1) be alive or vivid

When I mentioned out plans for a trip abroad, the kids came to life at once.

(4) in the wake of: (Para. 2) coming after or following

Airport security was extra tight in the wake of yesterday’s bomb attacks.

(5) in the first place…, in the second place…

(Para. 4)

It was unwise to suggest that others should store tinned food. In the first place few people would have room to store much and in the second tinned food should be treated with great care.

(6) in theory: (Para.7) In theory and practice, human beings can be cloned.(7) be identical to/with: (Para. 8) be exactly the same a

s The tests are identical to those carried out last year.(8) What if…: (Para. 11) What would happen if… What if we go and see a film tomorrow night?(9) get around/round:(para. 13) overcome; avoid or fin

d a satisfactory way of dealing with.

The administration got around this problem by introducing a new law.

(10) under the name of: (Para. 15) using a name different from one’s own

I’ve come to collect my tickets—— I reserved them by phone yesterday under the name of Tremin.

compare: a. in the name of sth: for the sake of They acted in the name of democracy. b. in the name of sb: representing a certain group

of people Could you write a letter in the name of all the you

ng people in the village?

(11) regardless of: (Para. 15) pay no attention to

He bought everything he liked regardless of price.

(12) be concerned about/over: (Para. 18) give one’s attention to or worry about

Why are you so concerned about the boy’s safety?

(13) puzzle over: (Para. 18) think hard about, find the answer by thinking hard

Why waste effort puzzling over his intentions?

If you don’t like his idea, don’t accept it.

Questions put forward by the students.

• How did the world react to the first successfully cloned sheep?

• What are the two broad categories human cloning situations often fall into?

• According to the author, why are twins more alike than clones?

• Biologically speaking, what is the only possible major difference between a clone and the original?

• Why do some parents want to save their fatally ill child through cloning?

• Could cloned animals be used as organ donors?

• How did Judith Martin suggest referring to one’s DNA donors?

• What is the gravest concern about human cloning for society?

Homework: review the text