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　　“我還沒(méi)有遇到一個(gè)值得克隆的人。” 克隆專(zhuān)家馬克•威斯蘇森在德克薩斯州農(nóng)業(yè)機(jī)械大學(xué)空間狹小的實(shí)驗(yàn)室里說(shuō)。

　　“那是一種愚蠢的嘗試。”有趣的是，這種用來(lái)形容克隆人的言辭竟然來(lái)自一位已花費(fèi)數(shù)百萬(wàn)美金試圖克隆一只 13歲的名叫密斯的狗的人。到目前為止，他和他的團(tuán)隊(duì)還沒(méi)有獲得成功，盡管他們已經(jīng)克隆出了兩只牛并且正計(jì)劃在短期內(nèi)克隆出一只貓。他們可能會(huì)在年底成功克隆出密斯，也可能再過(guò)五年都不會(huì)成功。人類(lèi)最親密的朋友——狗的生殖系統(tǒng)似乎是現(xiàn)代科學(xué)中一個(gè)神秘的領(lǐng)域。

　　威斯蘇森克隆動(dòng)物的經(jīng)驗(yàn)使他對(duì)克隆人的種種說(shuō)法十分惱火。在研究“克隆密斯項(xiàng)目”的三年時(shí)間里，農(nóng)業(yè)機(jī)械大學(xué)的團(tuán)隊(duì)使用了成百上千只犬科動(dòng)物的卵，卻僅僅獲得了一打左右的帶有密斯基因的胚胎，并且沒(méi)有一個(gè)在被轉(zhuǎn)移至克隆母體時(shí)存活下來(lái)。威斯蘇森教授爭(zhēng)辯道，在研究貓或牛的克隆試驗(yàn)中，對(duì)動(dòng)物卵的浪費(fèi)以及許多動(dòng)物的自然性流產(chǎn)都是可以為人們所接受的，但是對(duì)于研究人來(lái)說(shuō)就不行。他表示說(shuō)，“克隆是十分低效的，而且也相當(dāng)危險(xiǎn)。”

　　盡管如此，克隆狗仍是一個(gè)商機(jī)，能帶來(lái)豐厚的科研報(bào)酬。自從1997 年多利羊克隆成功后，威斯蘇森教授在農(nóng)業(yè)機(jī)械大學(xué)獸醫(yī)學(xué)院的電話就頻頻響起。對(duì)于像密斯的神秘主人這樣的消費(fèi)者來(lái)說(shuō)，高額的花銷(xiāo)并不是什么難題，他只是希望匿名以保護(hù)自己的隱私。到目前為止，他已經(jīng)投入了 370 萬(wàn)美金來(lái)資助這項(xiàng)研究，因?yàn)樗胍粋€(gè)密斯的孿生子在它死后繼承其優(yōu)良品質(zhì)。但是這位主人知道，密斯的克隆體不一定能有與它一樣的脾氣秉性。在一份用途聲明中，密斯的主人和農(nóng)業(yè)機(jī)械大學(xué)的團(tuán)隊(duì)表示，他們“共同期待能研究密斯的克隆體與它本身的差異之處。”

　　用于實(shí)驗(yàn)的狗的命運(yùn)將由威斯蘇森教授的工作來(lái)決定。他知道即使有一只狗能成功懷孕，它的后代，如果能幸存下來(lái)，一出生就要面對(duì)其他克隆動(dòng)物所面臨的問(wèn)題：像肺部和心臟發(fā)育不全造成的畸形以及體重問(wèn)題等等。威斯蘇森教授質(zhì)問(wèn)道，“在我們克隆動(dòng)物的研究還沒(méi)有接近成功時(shí)，為什么還想到要克隆人呢?”

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　　The marvelous telephone and television network that has now enmeshed the whole world, making all men neighbours, cannot be extended into space. It will never be possible to converse with anyone on another planet. Even with today's radio equipment, the messages will take minutes—sometimes hours—on their journey, because radio and light waves travel at the same limited speed of 186, 000 miles a second. Twenty years from now you will be able to listen to a friend on Mars, but the words you hear will have left his mouth at least three minutes earlier, and your reply will take a corresponding time to reach him. In such circumstances, an exchange of verbal messages is possible—but not a conversation. To a culture which has come to take instantaneous communication for granted, as part of the very structure of civilized life, this “time barrier” may have a profound psychological impact. It will be a perpetual reminder of universal laws and limitations against which not all our technology can ever prevail. For it seems as certain as anything can be that no signal—still less any material object—can ever travel faster than light. The velocity of light is the ultimate speed limit, being part of the very structure of space and time. Within the narrow confines of the solar system, it will not handicap us too severely. At the worst, these will amount to twenty hours—the time it takes a radio signal to span the orbit of Pluto, the outer-most planet. It is when we move out beyond the confines of the solar system that we come face to face with an altogether new order of cosmic reality. Even today, many otherwise educated men—like those savages who can count to three but lump together all numbers beyond four—cannot grasp the profound distinction between solar and stellar space. The first is the space enclosing our neighbouring worlds, the planets; the second is that which embraces those distant suns, the stars, and it is literally millions of times greater. There is no such abrupt change of scale in the terrestrial affairs. Many conservative scientists, appalled by these cosmic gulfs, have denied that they can ever be crossed. Some people never learn; those who sixty years ago scoffed at the possibility of flight, and ten years ago laughed at the idea of travel to the planets, are now quite sure that the stars will always be beyond our reach. And again they are wrong, for they have failed to grasp the great lesson of our age—that if something is possible in theory, and no fundamental scientific laws oppose its realization, then sooner or later it will be achieved. One day we shall discover a really efficient means of propelling our space vehicles. Every technical device is always developed to its limit and the ultimate speed for spaceships is the velocity of light. They will never reach that goal, but they

　　will get very near it. And then the nearest star will be less than five years voyaging from the earth.[514 words]