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Now listen to part of a lecture in a biology class.
As soon as we developed antibiotics, new strains of bacteria appeared that were resistant to some or all of the drugs. Hospitals started using antibiotics regularly in the 1950s, but resistance started appearing within a few years. Today, one-third of the patients in hospitals are on antibiotics, but antibiotic resistance is increasing the danger of hospital infections——to the point where people are almost safer staying home than going to hospital.
In the forties, penicillin really was a wonder drug. Back then, you could give a patient with bacterial pneumonia then thousand units of penicillin four times a day and cure the disease. Today, you could give 24 million units of penicillin a day, but the patient might still die. Why? Well, in a way, bacteria are smarter than us. They evolve to counteract any drug we attack them with. A lot of bacteria are now completely resistant to penicillin.
Bacteria can evolve very effective weapons against antibiotics. Some of them develop enzymes to match every antibiotic we throw at them. All these weapons and counter-weapons match one another——just like the weapons in real military warfare. So, no matter what antibiotic we use, the bacteria will come up with a way to make it useless.
How does this happen? Well, if you douse a colony of bacteria with an antibiotic the colony will be killed——that is, all except for a few cells. A few cells will survive because they carry a resistance gene for that particular antibiotic. The surviving cells quickly multiply and they pass along this lucky gene to their offspring. And soon you have a new strain of bacteria that’s resistant to that drug.
One consequence of antibiotic resistance is the reappearance of tuberculosis as a major illness. Twenty years ago, doctors thought tuberculosis was a defeated disease. Since then, however, new cases of tuberculosis have increased by 20 percent. And several strains of the disease are resistant to any drug we can attack them with.
Summarize the main points made in the lecture, explaining how they differ from points made in the reading.
Examples of responses to this writing question: Response by student 1
The lecture discusses the resistance of bacteria to antibiotics, which differs from the main idea in the reading that antibiotics are “wonder drugs”. When antibiotics were developed in the 1940s, they were successful in curing many diseases. However, bacteria quickly became resistant to some drugs. Today, many people in hospital take antibiotics, but there is the serious danger of hospital infections. Penicillin used to cure diseases such as pneumonia, but today people still die because bacteria are resistant to the drug.
Bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics because they evolve weapons against the drugs. They can evolve strategies to fight any drug we give them. This situation is similar to the weapons of two armies use in a war. When you treat a disease with an antibiotic, it will kill the bacteria. However, a few cells will survive. Soon the new type of bacteria will appear, and resistant to the antibiotic. Therefore, we should not consider antibiotics as wonder drugs because the bacteria also have strong weapons.
One result of antibiotic resistance is the increase in new cases of tuberculosis. Doctors used to believe that antibiotics were powerful weapons against diseases such as tuberculosis. However, today several types are resistant to antibiotics. So it is a new and serious problem. This is another reason why antibiotics are not wonder drugs.
Response by student 2
In general, the lecture contradicts the idea that antibiotics are “wonder drugs” as the reading states. On the contrary, antibiotics are not wonder drugs because the resistance of bacteria to antibiotics.
According to the reading, the discovery of penicillin and other antibiotic drugs saved many lives that were threatened by dangerous diseases such a pneumonia and tuberculosis. In the twentieth century, penicillin was first a wonder drug because it can cure streptococcus infections. Furthermore, streptomycin found to be potent against tuberculosis. However, the lecture made the point that this is not true in the present. Today tuberculosis is a major illness again because the new strain of bacteria is resistant to antibiotics.
According to the lecture, bacteria have developed effective weapons against some drugs, for example, penicillin. They evolve to counteract antibiotics. It happens when a few cells of bacteria survive because they have the resistance gene. Then new strains of bacteria appeared. After that, antibiotics may attack but they do not kill all disease infections. This serious problem today is the resistance of bacteria to antibiotics.
In the past, antibiotic drugs could attack and kill diseases, but this is not true today. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new wonder drugs to fight disease.
Response by student 3
I will describe how the resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. First, it’s big problem in the hospitals. Hospitals used antibiotics in 1950, but resistance appearing a problem. The reason is danger of hospital infection is very bad so people had better stay home a hospital.
Second, penicillin was a wonder drug in 1940. You gave a man in hospital 10000 penicillin and he cured the disease. But today you give 24 penicillin but he might die. The reason is bacteria smart so very difficult treat pneumonia and other disease in a hospital. Several people die—— because the reason is the resistance of the bacteria to antibiotics.
Third, how does this happen is you dose a colony of bacteria with an antibiotic. The colony killed except a few cells. This is a dangerous problem in a hospital because people may die. Doctors think tuberculosis was a defeated disease but the increase is by 20%.
The changes the view of antibiotics as “wonder drugs” by resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. It’s a bit problem today and doctors can’t find drugs to cure the disease such as tuberculoses. Penicillin and other antibiotic drugs were wonder drugs in 1940-so it’s necessary to have a different view of antibiotics today.
Response by student 4
The resistance of bacteria to antibiotics changes the view of wonder drugs. One example is penicillin. It is wonder drug in 1941, when the first successful human tests of penicillin. The discovery of penicillin the foundation for even more powerful drugs, for example, antibiotics. Another example is streptomycin, found against tuberculosis and other infections that were not affected by penicillin.
The resistance of bacteria to antibiotics to some of the drugs. First example is pneumonia. In the past penicillin cure him, however today he still die. Second example is tuberculosis. The most effects of antibiotics were reductions in the number of deaths, however, since tuberculosis increase 20 percent deaths. It describes the resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. In the past, it was no problem, however, today it is serious problem. It’s changes the view of antibiotics as wonder drugs which saved so many lives. Because today people can still die.
Response by student 5
I discuss a biology professor talk about antibiotics. These new drugs as wonder drugs saving many people who very sick the diseases. Professor he describe penicillin as wonder drug it causing many people well after sick. The discovery of penicillin and other antibiotic drugs is the most dramatic medical development of the twentieth century quickly become known as ‘wonder drugs’. Antibiotics gave the medical profession powerful tools that could fight a very wide range of specific diseases. Professor he gave example the antibiotics make the survival of patients. For example, blood infections, pneumonia and tuberculosis. As a result, reductions in the number of death.
Exercise 1
Read the passage and then listen to the recording. To make this practice more like the real test, cover the passage and question during the lecture. Listen for important information. Take notes about examples or reasons that will help you remember the key points. When you hear the question, uncover the passage and question. Then allow 20 minutes to plan and write a response.
Reading time-3 minutes
The international style is the name given to the functional style of architecture that evolved in Europe and the United States shortly before the First World War and prevailed during most of the twentieth century. The international style is characterized by an emphasis on function and rejection of traditional decoration. It is also known as the Bauhaus style because it was refined at the famous German design school, the Bauhaus, during the 1920s. The directors of the Bauhaus, Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, reduced the urban building to a basic framework of steel, a skin of glass, and an open interior in which “curtain walls” could be moved around to suit the purposes of the user. Supporters of the Bauhaus idiom promoted a utilitarian simplicity in such phrases as “form follows function” and “less is more”.
The international style inspired both architects and ordinary citizens, and greatly influenced the mid-century building boom in the united states, particularly in New York. The beauty and simplicity of the Bauhaus idiom was evident in New York structures such as the Rockefeller center complex. Perhaps the best known New York example is the office building of the United Nations secretariat, completed in 1952. A Swiss-born architect known as Le Corbusier led the international group of architects that designed it. The UN secretariat is a slab only 72 feet thick, but its blue-tinted glass walls are 287 feet wide by 544 feet high. The building has a simplicity and elegance worthy of the most prominent international organization, the United Nations. The sleek utilitarian beauty of the international style succeeded in reshaping the city, making it one of the most successful architectural movements in history.
Now cover the passage and question. Listen to the recording. When you hear the question, uncover the passage and question and begin your response.
Now listen to part of a lecture on the topic you just read about.
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The international style dominated commercial architecture for most of the twentieth century. The international style was the style of the modern city. We can see the results in New York City today. Most of New York’s skyline is made up of tall, straight, severe, glass-and–steel towers. These towers so completely dominate the cityscape that they shade the city streets. A person walking on the street is completely overpowered.
Strict simplicity is the defining feature of the international style, but it takes the idea that “form must follow function”---it takes this idea to an extreme. In the hands of a true master, the style has creative potential. However, there aren’t that many true masters. And starting almost immediately, what we saw was the uglification of the office building…to the point where the glass box became not only ugly but also ridiculous.
The international style started an explosion of cheap imitations. Take the un secretariat building. It’s a beautiful building on its own. It has an elegance that commands respect. But this type of beauty was turned into something cheap and vulgar because we saw too much of it. It lost its elegance and became, well, a little boring.
The philosophy of the international style is summed up in the familiar phrase “less is more.” But is less really more? “Less is more” inspired thousands of starkly simple buildings. In large numbers, and especially when they dominate a city’s skyline, these buildings can be ugly and uninspiring, even cold and unfriendly—more machine than human.
Critics of the international style saw its ugliness very early on. The glass box received a great deal of negative criticism—not only from the public but also from professional architects. One of the greatest architects, Frank Lloyd Wright, said, “less is more…where more is no good.” Robert Venturi was even harsher when he said, “less is a bore.”
Summarize the points made in the lecture, explaining how they agree or disagree with points made in the reading.
| Key points for exercise 1:
1. The international style dominated the architecture of the modern city; this agrees with the points in the reading that the style reshaped the city and was one of the most successful architecture movements in history.
2. The international style takes simplicity and “form follows function” to an extreme, leading to office buildings that are ugly, ridiculous, cheap, vulgar, and boring; this disagrees with the point in the reading that utilitarian simplicity is beautiful an elegant.
3. The international style received much negative criticism from architects and the public; this disagrees with the point in the reading that the style inspired both architects and ordinary citizens.
Exercise 2
Read the passage and then listen to the recording. To make this practice more like the real test, cover the passage and question during the lecture. Listen for important information. Take notes about examples or reasons that will help you remember the key points. When you hear the question, uncover the passage and question. Then allow 20 minutes to plan and write a response.
Reading time-3 minutes
Geothermal energy is derived from the heat contained within the earth. In some places the heat is so intense that it melts mantle rock to create liquid magna. Geologists believe that the ultimate source of geothermal energy is radioactive decay occurring deep within the planet. A renewable energy resource, geothermal heat is produced primarily when water descends from the earth’s surface and meets hot magna rising toward it. Some of this geothermal water circulates back up through faults and cracks in the earth’s crust and reaches the surface as hot springs or geysers. However, most geothermal water remains deep underground, trapped in cracks and porous rock.
In most regions of the world, geothermal heat reaches the earth’s surface in a very diffuse state, having lost much of its energy potential. However, in some areas, including significant portions of western North America, geothermal reservoirs exist close to the surface and are thus easily tapped for power generation. Geographic regions that possess well-developed geothermal systems are located in geologically active areas. Such favored regions with continuous, concentrated heat flow to the surface include Iceland, Japan, and the Philippines.
Now cover the passage and question. Listen to the recording. When you hear the question, uncover the passage and question and begin your response.
Now listen to a geology professor talk about geothermal energy.
| The first use of geothermal energy in North America probably took place more than ten thousand years ago. This is when aboriginal people settled around mineral hot springs. The hot springs served as a source of warmth, also cleansing and healing. Hot springs were so important to aboriginal North Americans that they were considered neutral zones—places where members of warring tribes could bathe together in peace. In European history, people also valued hot springs for their healing powers. For example, the Romans used geothermal water to treat eye and skin disease and also to heat buildings at Pompeii.
Today, humans benefit in a much different way from this important natural resource. Ever since the world’s first geothermal-generated electricity was produced in Italy in 1904, we’ve tapped geothermal heat as a power source. Geothermal heat can generate electricity without the harmful fossil-fuel emissions that cause pollution and climate change. In geothermal power plants, the physical force that spins turbine blades is steam, heat, or hot water from within the earth.
Another use of geothermal energy today is direct use of hot water. Direct use involves taking heated water—without a heat pump or power plant—and using if for industrial processes, or to heat buildings and greenhouses, or to supply heated mineral water for health resorts.
The concentration of geothermal energy has to be very high in order to make heat extraction economical for a nation. Geothermal sites around the world aren’t all equal in their power potential. The best places for developing geothermal energy systems are regions that are volcanically active, like places around the Pacific Rim and in certain parts of Europe for example, Iceland is a geological hot spot, where geothermal energy is used to heat almost every home in the nation.
Describe past and present uses of geothermal energy, and explain why some regions have better potential than others for developing geothermal systems.
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Key points for exercise 2:
1. Past uses of geothermal energy include using hot water for bathing and cleansing, to treat diseases, to heat buildings, and to generate electricity.
2. Present uses of geothermal energy include the generation of electricity and the direct use of hot water for industrial processes, to heat buildings and greenhouses, and to supply heated mineral water for health resorts.
3. Some regions have better potential for developing geothermal systems because they are geologically or volcanically active, the concentration of geothermal energy is very high, and geothermal reservoirs exist close to the surface.
[ 本帖最后由 benny1024 于 2007-3-3 18:41 编辑 ] |
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