Advances in science have made the choice of life and death more complicated than before. Embryo research enables humans to choose the sex of their child through genetic tests; it also allows humans to screen the embryo for severe diseases as well as for predispositions such as height, personality, or sex-orientation. Do you think humans should be given the right to make these choices？Please state your position and support it with arguments in no more than 500 words.

 

     Can you imagine the inhuman (無人性的) scene— humans are predestined (預先注定) and classified (分類) into hierarchical (階級的) groups prior to (= before) birth in Brave New World, penned (indited, written) by Aldous Huxley — really befalls (takes place in) the real world? Over the past few decades, scientists have remained committed to (持續致力於) clinching the realm (達到境界) — to weed out (smooth out, root out, exterminate去除) humans’ heterogeneities (差異性) and retain (保留) their homogeneity(同質性). In tandem with (隨著state-～而來) state-of-the-art (尖端的) embryo biotechnology (胚胎生物科技), scientists jump on the bandwagon (一窩蜂) to research and develop (研發) radical and audacious (激進且大膽的) predisposed selection (預先選擇) on gender, appetite (性向), intelligence, personality, countenance (面容, 長相), and body physique (體格) in addition to medical treatment on incorrigible (無可救藥的= incurable) diseases. The utopian (烏托邦的) world, unassailably (毫無疑問地), enmeshes (使陷入)humans in the unprecedented havoc (前所未有的浩劫).

 

     “Technology eventually emanates from (來自於) humanity,” said an advertisement of a mobile phone. No matter how advanced technology is, the crystal (結晶) of humans’ wisdom is not absolutely allowed to go astray from (遠離) humanity . Thanks to the sprouting (快速發展) of biotechnology, some incurable diseases in the past can be surmounted (克服) nowadays. The more science germinates (發展), the longevity(壽命) humans extend. Escalating numbers of (= More and more) senior citizens (老人族群) have emerged as (已成為) the pivotal stratum (主要階層) of society in the developed countries, whose birth rates have been subsiding (waning, declining 減少、降低). The imbalance between the young and the aging generations has sparked (造成, 導致) overloaded (onerous沉重的) social burdens, such as nursing care, medical resources, and considerable pensions (龐大的退休金) for the elderly. The diminishing (dwindling, decreasing 減少的、降低的) young generation, nevertheless, shoulders (扛起) the increasing (逐漸增加的) social burdens to bolster (支撐) the continuous operation and development of society as well as to look after their aging and long-lived parents. The upshot (result, outcome), eventually, puts the young on the brink of (瀕臨～邊緣) collapse and forces the decrepit (衰老人士) to enter the workplace (職場) anew (afresh, again). Fiendishly (更糟糕的是), the horrifying tension possibly ends up with (以～為收場) a string of (一連串的) committing suicide (自殺) in both generations. Through the lens (觀點) of humanity, the extension of humans’ lifespan, coupled with (連同) limited resources and social symptoms (社會問題、症狀), cannot necessarily invite (招致) a satisfying result we originally expected. Things, when becoming extreme, always develop in the opposite direction (物極必反) .

 

     Ever since the bourgeoning (發展) of Enlightenment (啟蒙運動) in the eighteenth century, humans have given great credit to (長久以來堅信) the motto (座右銘) that humans are capable of subduing (征服) all. Tracing back to the development of science, the evolutional technology (創新科技) has benefited humans a great deal; irrefutably (毫無疑問地), it also pushes humans into the abyss (深淵) of the technological swamp (沼澤). To take test-tube baby (試管嬰兒) for example, the advanced medical treatment, originally, proffers (提供) those who do not get pregnant (不孕) an artificial (人為的) opportunity to be parents. In the wake of (隨著～而來) the extraordinary (傑出的)  (exceptional傑出的, unprecedented 前所未有的) achievement in science, scientists have made conscious efforts (長久以來盡全力) to blaze a new trail in (開窗出一條新道路) embryo research, a God-quasi creation (類似上帝創造人類一樣) that can artificially determine sex, aptitude, intelligent and emotional quotient, appearance, and body build via genetic filtering (screening 篩選). Like Faustus (浮士德), who sells his soul to Lucifer (Satan)

for black magic to be a demigod (半人半神), humans are transgressing (逾越) their extreme to usurp (篡奪) God’s right to create the optimal (最佳的) human beings they picture (勾勒出). The predetermination (預先決定) of humans’ gender, intelligence, social status and property-- the polarizing (極端的) development of homogeneity—is bound to uproot (去除) species diversity (物種的多樣性), an artificial evolution (人為的演化) in contrast with (in opposition to) natural selection, which claims that only the fittest can subsist (survive 存活). The transgression is followed by the violation of ethics (倫理). Ethics lays the foundation of the world, where all species maintain a poised (平衡的) food chain and a reciprocal (相互的) relation. If it is undermined (從中破壞), the world will get mired in (陷入於) a pandemonium (混亂). At that time, the utopia humans create degenerates into (退化成) a dystopia (反烏托邦).

 

     The development of technology is not overwhelmingly (絕對不是) at large (無法無天). Instead, its germination (發展) ought to be circumscribed (限制) in accordance with humanity and ethics. Humans cannot fail to (must) appreciate (recognize) that they are not omnipotent (萬能的). If human beings have their own ways (一意孤行) to trespass (transgress, encroach 逾越) natural order, a string of natural and man-made calamities (天災人禍) will make vehement (intense 強烈的) counterattacks (反擊) on humankind. At that time, science advancement (headway 進步) is not a catalyst (催化劑) to a more expedient (便利的) and gorgeous (美好的) life but a noxious (toxic 有毒的) apple to poison (毒害) human beings.

 

 

認識李正凡老師

 

※李正凡老師【必讀好書】

 

※李正凡老師【必上好課】

 

※後中西醫英文制霸

 

※高點建國醫護

  

※高點題庫網APP