Passage B
Where did the Coronavirus come from? After five months and over 225,000 people 26 , the
question is the subject of a vicious spat between America and China. By far the most likely explanation is
that the virus jumped from bats to humans, perhaps via another animal such as a pangolin, at a wet market in
Wuhan. But conspiracy theorists mutter that the bug could have escaped from one of the city’s laboratories,
at least two 27 do research on 28 diseases. Some American politicians, including President
Donald Trump, want an investigation; China retorts that the claims are “malicious”. In March, one of its
spokesmen claimed that the virus might have come from America. The risks corrode public confidence in the
crucial disease laboratories. It is also a reminder of why China’s official culture of opacity and propaganda is
such a profound weakness.
The virus shows no sign of deliberate human construction and there is no reason to doubt that it evolved
entirely in the wild. But accidents do happen. Bugs studied during legitimate experiments in laboratories
have escaped in the past. SARS, a virus that killed 774 people in 2002-03, slipped out of a lab in Beijing
twice in 2004. A sample later escaped from a research institute in 2007, but was contained. America suffered
34 laboratory-acquired infections in 2000-09, 29 four deaths. American labs have accidentally shipped
live anthrax, bird flu and Ebola to lower-security facilities in recent years. One health-security index suggests
that three-quarters of countries 30 biosecurity.
【題組】30. (A) on poorly score (B) on score poorly (C) poor on score (D) score poorly on
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