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  3. Handle With Care When Thomas Butler stepped off a

Handle With Care When Thomas Butler stepped off a

游客2023-12-11  59
问题                            Handle With Care
    When Thomas Butler stepped off a plane in April 2002 on his return to the United States from a trip to Tanzania, he set in motion a chain of events that now threatens to destroy his life. A microbiologist at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Butler was bringing back samples of the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis for his research. Yet on reentering the country, he is alleged to have passed right by US customs inspectors without notifying them that he was carrying this potentially deadly cargo. That move and its consequences have led the federal government to prosecute Butler for a range of offences. If convicted on all counts, he could be fined millions of dollars and spend the rest of his life in jail.
    The US scientific community has leapt to butler’s defence, arguing that his prosecution is overzealous, alarming and unnecessary. The presidents of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine have written to Attorney General John Ashcroft, claiming that the case could endanger research into countering the threat of bioterrorism. And the academy’s human-rights committee has asked its members to write letters on Butler’s behalf and to donate funds for his defense.
    Those who defend Butler argue that the rules governing the import of pathogens are so restrictive that bending them is the only option for researchers who are working to provide protection from deadly diseases that affect the developing world. Why, they ask, prosecute Butler for breaking the rules that made his work more difficult without serving a useful purpose?
    The supporters consider that the charge laid against Butler merely reflects the determination of federal prosecutors to throw the book at Butler to make an example of him to others. Many researchers now fear falling victim to an overzealous prosecution if they fail to dot all the i’s and cross all the i’s on their paperwork. Some US microbiologists are so frightened of being hauled off in handcuffs for a minor administrative error that they have decided to avoid biodefense research entirely—despite the current funding boom in the field.
    Whether Butler is a villain or a scapegoat is now for a jury to decide. But whatever verdict is eventually reached, scientists who are lobbying on Butler’s behalf would do well to consider public perceptions. If the rules governing the import of pathogenic bacteria make no sense, then microbiologists must make that case clearly, and lobby for the regulations to be changed. Researchers are also justified in making statements to help ensure that any punishment that Butler might receive is proportionate.
    But researchers risk a damaging public protest if the main message that emerges is that his peers think he was justified in carrying samples of the plague bacterium onto a commercial flight. Appearing to deny the importance of rules designed to protect the public from deadly pathogens—however unwieldy those rules may be in practice— will not generate trust. It will not foster a culture of responsibility. And it would show disregard for the public’s faith that scientific research will be conducted as safely and as competently as possible. [br] The expression "throw the book at" (Line 3, Para. 4) most probably means______.
选项 A、to make someone famous overnight
B、to frighten someone very much
C、to make someone a scapegoat
D、to punish or criticize someone severely
答案 D
解析 本题考查根据上下文推测词义。解答本题要真正理解作者本段韵写作意图。该短语出现在第四段第一句。由句意可知，“throw the book at”是联邦起诉人对待巴特勒的行为，其目的是“杀一儆百”。该段后面进一步对该句进行阐述。第二句提到，研究人员害怕因犯小错误而成为“过于积极的起诉的”牺牲品。第三句用事实说明有人已经出于这种惧怕心理而停止生物防御研究了。合乎逻辑的推理是，由于对巴特勒的惩罚过于严厉，导致其他研究人员产生恐惧心理而停止科学研究。综观全段，应选[D]，它和上文charge laid against Butler也相呼应。[B]和[C]都是分别利用第四段和第五段出现的词语(frighten和scapegoat)制造的干扰项。[A]选项是杜撰出来的。
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