考研英语阅读精讲5346.docVIP

考研英语阅读精讲（5） 2010-09-26 来源: 【大 中 小】 点击: 932 评论： 0 条 投稿 分享到人人?划词已开启 The animal dissection requirement of biology classes has been getting under the skin of students for generations, and there have always been some who asked to be excused from the requirement. Now, a growing number of technological alternatives are making it possible for students to swap that scalpel for a computer mouse. There are laws in nearly a dozen states—including California, Florida, New Jersey, and New York—protecting a students choice to learn about animal anatomy sans scalpel. Some students choosing to opt out feel we should be kinder to our web-footed friends. Others are just queasy at the thought of rubbery frog bodies and the smell of formaldehyde.Dissection is icky. Theres a yuck factor, admits Brian Shmaefsky, a board member with the National Association of Biology Teachers. And a teacher has to weigh the benefits with the cost of students being offended to the point that it interferes with learning.Virtual blades. So for cases in which a real dissection would be too slimy, its time to try some toad tech. While the first computer-based alternatives to dissection emerged in the 1980s, modern frog dissection software can be found at different websites. These software programs use creative clicking, high-powered zoom functions, and video clips to teach anatomy. Froguts software, for example, lets students trace incision lines with a computer mouse and snip through skin with a virtual blade. There are even sound effects like a slish for slicing frog flesh, or a shwoosh for pinning down skin flaps. (Schools currently pay about $300 for a one-year software license, though some organizations will lend programs out free of charge.)Earlier this year, a graduate student from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver designed the first-ever haptic (the Greek word for touch) frog dissection program, which uses a penlike tool to create a sensation similar to cutting into real flesh. The hand-held devi