Passages 2 Unit11

Science and Technology

Lesson A~ Part 2Listening

• gene (n): a specific, chemical pattern (on a chromosome) that is received from the parents and controls the development of particular of characteristic in an animal or plate.

• blueprint (n): an early plan or design that explains something or how something might be achieved.

• organism (n): a single living plant, animal, or other living thing.

• alter (v): to change something (often

slightly), or to cause a change to happen.

• crop (n): a plant such as a grain, vegetable,

or fruit grown in large amounts by farmers.

• herbicide (n): a chemical that is used to

destroy plants, especially weeds.

• soybean (n): a type of bean grown especially in Asia and the U.S., used as a food for people and animals.

• weed (n): any unwanted wild plant that grows in a garden or field.

• toxin (n): a poisonous substance, especially one that is produced by bacteria and causes disease.

• species (n): a set of animals or plants that have similar characteristics to each other and can breed with each other.

• ecological balance: the balance of relationships between living things and their environment.

• self- perpetuating: having a system that

avoid change and produces new things

that are very similar to the old ones.

• retailer (n): a person or business who

sells goods to the public

Lesson A ~Listening <answers>

Advantages Disadvantages

1. Crops could be 1. Crops could be made resistant to made resistant to plant-killing plant-killing chemicals.chemicals.

1. There could be new 1. There could be new

toxins in foods.toxins in foods.

2. Crops could be 2. Crops could be made resistant to made resistant to bacteria, viruses, bacteria, viruses, and insects.and insects.

2. Disease could 2. Disease could spread across different spread across different species of plants.species of plants.

3. More nutritious

food could be

developed

3.The ecological

balance could

be disturbed

4. Plants could 4. Plants could

grow out of grow out of

controlcontrol..

4. x4. x

Lesson A~ Part 3<answers>

• 1. x (uncountable noun in general statement.)

• 2. x (plural noun in a general statement)

• 3. The (reference to specific computers)

• 4. x (plural noun in a general statement)

• 5. a (first mention of a countable noun)

• 6. x (uncountable noun in a general statement)

• 7. The (last = sequence marker)

• 8. x (uncountable noun in a general statement)

Good Science, Bad Science

• Plastic surgery= operations to change your appearance

• Prospective=with vision of future

• Microchip implant

• To approve of= to agree with

• What really counts= what really matters= what is really important

Lesson A ~ Part 5(A)<answers>

• 1. c

• 2. e

• 3. a

• 4. g

• 5. d

• 6. b

• 7. f

Lesson A ~ Part 5(B)<answers>

• 1. discovery

• 2. law

• 3. theory

• 4. invention

• 5. phenomenon

• 6. conclusion

• 7. consequence(s)

Lesson A ~ Part 6<answers>

• Paragraph 1: introduction

• Paragraph 2: similar between television

and computers.

• Paragraph 3: differences between

television and computers.

• Paragraph 4: conclusion

Lesson B Listening: I can’t cope with it

• Comedian:entertainer

• Exasperating: extremely annoying

• give me a break: (informal ) an expression used to indicate an idea or a thing is silly or ridiculous

• To hook (something) up: to connect something

.

• To be happening (slang): an expression

meaning to be newly exciting or fashionable

• Domain: an area of interest or over which a person has control.

• To go nuts (informal): to go crazy

• To revert to (something): to go back to a previous condition

Present perfect and present perfect continuous tenses

• The two tenses can be used interchangeably to talk about an activity that continues into the present. They frequently occur with since, for, lately, and recently.

e.g. Americans have used microwave ovens for a long time.

Americans have been using microwave ovens since the 1970s.

• Never, still, already and yet often go with the present perfect.e.g. I’ve never cooked any meat in my microwave oven.

• The present perfect focuses on the completion of an action; the present perfect continuous focuses on the duration of an activity.e.g. Elena has installed a smoke detector in her apartment.e.g. The landlord has been installing smoke detectors in all apartments.

• With stative (nonaction) verbs, the present perfect is generally used. (e.g. like, be, and know)e.g. Scientists have known about genetic coding in DNA since the early 1950s.

Lesson A~ Part 2<answers>

Items problems

Remote controlRemote control

ComputerComputer

The buttons are too small, it’s The buttons are too small, it’s easy to press the wrong button, easy to press the wrong button, and there are too many different and there are too many different remote controls-for the TV, the remote controls-for the TV, the VCR, the cable television and VCR, the cable television and the stereo.the stereo.

It doesn’t speak a It doesn’t speak a language that you can language that you can understand.understand.

Lesson B ~ Part 3<answers>

• 1. has built

• 2. have spent

• 3. have exceeded

• 4. have known

• 5. have been examining

• 6. have discovered

• 7. have been working on

• 8. have not (haven’t) learned

Lesson B ~ Part 6A (answers)

• 1. The article is about seafood that is raised

on aquaculture farms rather than fished

from the sea or ocean.

• 2. A fish farm is a place where fish are

raised in captivity.

• 3. Transgenic is the transfer of genes from

one species to another.

Lesson B ~ Part 6B (answers)

• 1. seafood supplies have increased and will increase further as genetic traits of fish and other sea animals are improved.

• 2. The environment suffers because water is polluted by fish waste and there is an inefficient use of fish resources: five kilograms of wild fish must be used in aquaculture in order to produce a single kilogram of farmed fish.

• 3. Answer will very.