With only about 1,000 pandas left in the world, China is des

With only about 1,000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to clone the animal and
With only about 1,000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to
clone the animal and save the endangered species. That's a move similar to what
a Texas A&M University researcher has been undertaking for the past five
years in a project called “Noah's Ark”.
Dr. Duane Kraemer, a professor in
Texas A&M’s College of Veterinary Medicine and a pioneer in embryo (胚胎)
transfer work and related procedures, says he salutes the Chinese effort and “I
wish them all the best success possible. It's a worthwhile project, certainly
not an easy one, and it's very much like what we're attempting here at Texas
A&M—to save animals from extinction.”
Noah's Ark is aimed at collecting
eggs, embryos, semen(精子) and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in
liquid nitrogen. If certain species should become extinct, Kraemer says there
would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the
future.
It is estimated that as many as 2,000 species of mammals, birds and
reptiles will become extinct over the next 100 years. The panda, native only to
China, is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.
This week,
Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead
female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They are now trying
to implant the embryo into a host animal.
The entire procedure could take
from three to five years to complete.
 “The nuclear transfer of one species
to another is not easy, and the lack of available panda eggs could be a major
problem,” Kraemer believes. “They will probably have to do several hundred
transfers to result in one pregnancy. It takes a long time and it's difficult,
but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not
putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort,” adds Kraemer, who
is one of the leaders of the Missyplicity Project at Texas A&M, the first
ever attempt at cloning a dog.
“They are trying to do something that’s never
been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah's Ark. We’re both trying
to save animals that face extinction. I certainly applaud their effort and
there's a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It's a research
that is very much needed.”
4). What could be the major problem in cloning pandas according to Professor Kraemer? ________
A. Lack of available panda eggs.
B. Lack of host animals.
C. Lack of qualified researchers.
D. Lack of funds.
5). The best title for the passage may be ___
A. China—the Native Place of Pandas Forever
B. China's Efforts to Clone Pandas
C. China's First Cloned Panda
D. Exploring the Possibility to Clone Pandas

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