Doctors in Balti ore have carried out the first successful transplant (移植) of a pig’s heart into a 57-year-old man. It’s hoped that the operation could make transplants accessible for many more people in need.
The pig was bred by a US medical company called Revivicor, whose experts made changes to its heart so it would suit a human body. Pigs are particularly suitable for transplants to humans because their organs are of a similar size and shape to human ones. Individual heart valves (瓣膜) from pigs and cows have been used in surgery since the 1970s.
In order to produce a complete heart suitable for a human body, Revivicor raised a donor animal with 10 modified pig genes and six human ones. Genes are complex chemicals carrying instructions that tell living things how to grow and develop. In this case the genes ensured that the pig’s heart would adapt to its new body―to stop the body’s natural defences from rejecting it—and that the heart would keep repairing itself. On the morning of 7 January, the pig’s heart was taken to the hospital for a seven-hour operation led by surgeon Bartley Griffith. The patient is said to be recovering well.
Over 100, 000 people in the world need an organ transplant, but there aren’t enough human donor organs. Scientists hope that pig organs could make up the numbers. Dr. Christine Lau from Revivicor said, “If we could use genetically engineered pig organs, they’d never have to wait. They could basically get an organ as they needed it.”
Others, however, aren’t happy about the surgery. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is a group that campaigns for the rights of animals. In a tweet they said, “Pigs aren’t tool sheds to be robbed. Harvesting their body parts and transplanting their organs into humans is extremely risky and WRONG.”
【小题1】What does the underlined word “bred” in Paragraph 2mean?| A．Produced. | B．Raised. | C．Made. | D．Operated. |
| A．How the patient recovered from the heart transplant. |
| B．How genes helped the production of the suitable heart. |
| C．How the suitable pig heart was produced and transplanted. |
| D．How Revivicor produced the completely suitable heart to humans. |
| A．People can’t rob pigs of their tools. |
| B．People should treat animals in a nice way. |
| C．People should make the most of animal organs. |
| D．People often transplant animal organs in a wrong way. |
| A．A tourist brochure. | B．A science fiction. |
| C．A government report. | D．A science magazine. |
