[word]江苏省如皋市2017届高三下学期语数英联考（一）英语试题（(4)

C. The advantages of CRISPR and arguments about its ethics.

D. Chinese scientists’ experiment of using CRISPR to edit human embryos. 68. It can be concluded from the article that CRISPR ________. A. allows scientists to edit genomes for the first time B. could be helpful in the treatment of cancer and HIV

C. is a technology that uses an enzyme to work on RNA and DNA

D. has proven to be the most effective way to protect children against diseases 69. According to the article, the technology of CRISPR ________.

A. is very safe because it only cuts the DNA it is looking for

B. is banned in 42 countries and restricted in many others C. could cause parents to make unwise choices for their children

D. could help us discover the link between DNA and the qualities it gives people 70. What is the author’s attitude toward CRISPR?

A. Supportive. B. Worried. C. Negative. D. Objective.

D

Tradition has it that boys are good at counting and girls are good at reading. So much so that Mattel once produced a talking Barbie doll whose stock of phrases included “Math class is tough!”

Although much is made of differences between the brains of adult males and females, the sources of these differences are a matter of controversy. Some people put forward cultural explanations and note, for example, that when girls are taught separately from boys they often do better in subjects such as maths than if classes are mixed. Others claim that the differences are rooted in biology, are there from birth, and exist because girls’ and boys’ brains have evolved to handle information in different ways.

Luigi Guiso of the European University Institute has just published the results of a study which suggests that culture explains most of the difference in maths, at 1east.In this week’s Science, they show that the gap in mathematics scores between boys and girls virtually disappears in countries with high levels of sexual equality, though the reading gap remains.

Dr. Guiso took data from the 2003 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment. On average, girls’ maths scores were lower than those of boys. However, the gap was largest in countries with the least equality between the sexes, while it vanished in countries where the sexes are more or 1ess equal to one another. The researchers also did some additional statistical checks to ensure the correlation was material. They say their data therefore show that improvements in maths scores are related not to economic development, but directly to improvements in the social position of women. However, the gap in reading scores not only remained, but got bigger as the sexes became more equal. Average reading scores were higher for girls than for boys in all countries.

This suggests an interesting paradox. At first sight, girls’ rise to mathematical equality suggests they should be invading maths-heavy professions such as engineering—and that if they are not, the implication might be that prejudice is keeping them out. However, as David Ricardo observed almost 200 years ago, economic optimisation is about comparative advantage. The rise in female reading scores a longside their maths scores suggests that female comparative advantage in this area has not changed. According to Paola Sapienza, a professor of finance at Northwestern University in Illinois who is one of the paper’s authors, that is just what has happened. Other studies of