Researchers in the British city of Nottingham say thecloned siblings of Dolly the sheep are in good healthraising hopes that the process doesn't effect physicalwellbeing. The four cloned sisters have just passedtheir ninth birthdays. Dolly who had to be put downin 2003 had aged prematurely because shedeveloped osteoarthritis at a relatively young age.Here is our science correspondent Jonathan Amos.

Dolly's birth was a sensation, the first genetic copy of a mammal made from a cell taken froman adult sheep. It was how it is a way of developing new medical therapies or to saveendangered species. But cloning is very inefficient. Most attempts fail and even in Dolly's case,she had a lung disease and painful joints. Scientists wondered if that was because her geneticclock had not been reset properly. That possibility has now been tested in four sheep clonedfrom the same cells as Dolly. They are her genetic sisters called Debby, Denis, Dianna andDaisy. They are now nine, older than she was but don't show the same degenerative issues.Claire from Nottingham University says this finding renews hope in the promise of cloning butconcedes the process is still too inefficient.

And so there still remains an ethical and welfare concern with cloning. And what we have to dois to reduce the incidents of theses losses and the severity of these losses before I think thetechnique will be widely accepted by the general public.

The scientists who report their studies in the journey Nature Communications say it's beenfascinating to work with animal copies. Some do develop quite different personalities. But theyare virtually impossible to tell apart.

That report from Jonathan Amos.

It seems to have been around for quite a while that this weekend after two months of previews,we will see the gala opening in London of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. It's described asthe eighth Potter story. But the critics have been allowed in ahead of the official opening andthe reviews are now in the newspapers. So what's it about? A question for our artscorrespondent Vincent Dowd.

It's a five-hour epic in two parts so I can't say much about it. And of course I'm not reallysupposed to say that much about it anyway. There is a lot in it basically set 19 years after theend of the novels or the films. Harry played now by Jamie Parker is 37.

What have the critics made of it all so far?

They have loved it. I think without exception. I'm not sure I can remember reviews like thissince the producers are in New York. Just one or two quotes, The Times, "It's the real deal livein front of you, so much better than any film could be".

英国城市诺丁汉的研究人员称，多利的克隆姐妹健康状况良好，让人开始相信这个过程不会影响身体健康。这四个克隆姐妹刚刚过完她们的9岁生日。多利在相对年轻的岁数患上骨关节炎，因此未老先衰，2003年不得不被实施安乐死。本台科学记者乔纳森•亚摩斯报道。

多利的出生曾轰动一时，她是从成年羊的细胞制造出来的第一个哺乳动物副本。当时这是开发新药物疗法或拯救濒危物种的一种方式，但克隆非常低效。大多数尝试都失败了，即便在多利的案例中，也有肺部疾病和关节疼痛。科学家怀疑这是不是因为没有恰当重置她的基因钟。这个可能性在四只和多利来自同一细胞的克隆羊身上得到了试验。她们是多利的亲姐妹，分别叫黛比、丹尼斯、戴安娜和黛西，现在9岁了，比多利当时的年龄要大，但她们并没有退化的问题。诺丁汉大学克莱尔称，此发现重新燃起了人们对克隆的希望，但他承认这个过程还是太低效。

人们对克隆技术还是存在伦理和健康方面的担忧，我们要做的是减少这些损失的数量和严重程度，然后我认为这项技术才会为公众广泛接受。

科学家们在《自然通讯》杂志上报道了研究成果，他们说和克隆动物相处非常有趣。有些克隆动物性格迥异，但长相真是无法区分。

乔纳森•亚摩斯报道。

下面这则新闻似乎宣传很长时间了，经过两个月的试映后，本周末我们将在伦敦见证《哈利•波特与被诅咒的孩子》的欢乐开幕。它被描述为《哈利•波特》第八部，但在正式开幕前，评论家得以先睹为快，他们的评论已见报端。那具体情况究竟是怎样的呢？我们把问题交给本台记者文森特•多德。

它是时长5个小时的具有史诗性质的舞台剧，所以我也评论不了那么多。当然，我也实在不用说那么多。大部分剧情设置在这本小说或电影完结后19年。哈利•波特现在的扮演者杰米•帕克37岁。评论家目前都怎么看？

他们大爱这部作品，我觉得无一例外。因为制作人在纽约，所以我记不太清评论怎么说了。这儿有一两句话，来自《泰晤士报》，"它是展现在我们面前的实况直播，比电影好看多了"。



1词汇学习：

1.Put down 实施对象是宠物是，指"安乐死"、"杀死"。

例：Our cat was getting so old and sick that we had her put down.我们的老猫病成这个样子,不得不让她安息了。 2.Age prematurely 未老先衰

例：Obesity, illness and other conditions can accelerate the shortening, causing cells to age prematurely, while some evidence suggests that healthy lifestyles may preserve telomere length, delaying cell aging.肥胖、疾病和其他健康问题会加速端粒缩短，导致细胞提前老化，而有些证据表明健康的生活方式能维持端粒长度，延缓细胞衰老。 3.General public 公众

例：These charities depend on the compassionate feelings and generosity of the general public.这些慈善机构依赖于公众的同情和慷慨。 4.Tell apart区分；分辨

例：Free range and battery eggs, boiled for four minutes, were hard to tell apart.柴鸡蛋和笼养鸡蛋在煮过4分钟之后很难区分。 5.Make of 对…有某种看法；理解；解释；明白

例：What do you make of this telegram?

你怎么理解这份电报的意思?