EuropeanSchool of Brussels III
English Language II – Pre-Baccalaureate 2010
Part 1 – Reading Comprehension (20 Marks)
Read the text carefully and then answer all the questions which follow.
Brace yourself!
Autumn is upon us and the common cold is ready to inflict its misery. Unless you are extremely lucky, you are about to get your next cold. It will be one of at least 120 million cases in the country this year, uniting families, friends and work colleagues in a phlegm-strewn misery punctuated only by the occasional, half-enjoyed day off.
Despite decades of medical research, there is little you can do about the wave of infections that is brewing. Virologists know people will begin to fall ill over the next few weeks; they know around 420,000 will go to their GPs complaining of a cold in just one of those weeks; they know the main culprit will be a bundle of ribonucleic acids called a rhinovirus that evolved from a stomach bug. What they don't know is how to cure it.
At first glance the lack of any reliable cure for the common cold looks almost negligent, a consequence of scientists setting their sights on more dramatic conditions - cancer, Parkinson's, heart disease. But it has proved to be one of the toughest nuts to crack for good reason: the common cold is a spectrum of symptoms caused by more than 200 different viruses. As Professor Ron Eccles, director of the Common Cold Centre at CardiffUniversity, puts it: "As long as there are humans with noses, we're going to have common colds."
Increased crowding in our cities, more stressful lifestyles and poor diets are exacerbating the problem. Virologists say the situation is now so bad, we are living in a "golden age" for respiratory viruses. "I believe the common cold is the disease with the biggest economic impact on mankind," says Eccles. "If you live to 75 years old, you'll have at least 200 colds, so that's three years coughing and spluttering. And once you're 75, 85% of mortality is related to respiratory infection. The last cold you get is the one that kills you."
Most of us think colds are highly contagious. An infected person must either sneeeze or cough while in close proximity so you inhale their infected droplets, or, more commonly, touch a surface, allowing you pick the virus up on your fingers (a cold virus can live on a doorknob for hours). You then rub your eyes or touch your nose (your eye drains into your nose), depositing the virus in your own respiratory tract. Since you touch surfaces handled by thousands of individuals every day (just think of the handrail on an escalator) and breathe in the droplets of a variety of sneezing strangers, it is easy to pick up so many viruses.
There are various methods to help relieve symptoms. Proactive types swear by Echinacea or vitamin C to avoid a cold. The clinical evidence on Echinacea is inconclusive (a 2003 study found no effect). Vitamin C, meanwhile, has no proven effect in preventing a cold, but, says Eccles, "it may reduce the severity and duration of one because it is an antioxidant". Antioxidants boost your immune system, and, as Eccles put it, "Your immune system is the cure for the cold: in seven to 10 days, your immune system will overcome the virus." Coughing, though, can last 10 weeks. "Any hot and tasty food or drink that promotes mucus is a good idea," says Eccles. "Mucus secretion in the airways is a beneficial symptom - it washes out the virus." Eccles recommends a good curry.
Because colds and flu can spread so quickly and are so contagious, should the fact that we can’t cure them be a major worry? Is it possible that a supervirus, spreading as easily as the flu, could be an enormous danger to the world’s population? Eccles seems to think so “One of the problems of finding a cure for the cold is keeping pace with the change - it can mutate so quickly”.
It was not long ago that Mexico came to a complete shut down for five days, and the world braced itself for an excruciating epidemic of swine flu. Later, however, headlines changed from proclaiming "The biggest pandemic ever" to "Less dangerous than the annual flu season". Bird flu scares, SARS and other major anxieties have petered out without major casualties to the globe. So should we really be so worried? With the cure for colds and flu seeming so elusive, perhaps we should be accepting our autumn cold misery as an unpleasant but necessary part of our lives.
Adapted from
Part 1 Questions (total 20 marks)
Answer the following questions, using your own words wherever possible.
Use the number of marks allocated to each question when deciding how much to write for your answer.
1. Explain the following words and phrases as they are used in the text:
a) negligent (line 11)
b) highly contagious (line 23)
c) promotes (line 36)
d) mutate (line 42)
e) elusive (line 49)
(5)
2. a)Why is the common cold so difficult to cure? (4)
b) How do colds have a negative economic effect? (2)
3. Describe how most colds are passed on (3)
4. a) Compare the effectiveness of Vitamin C and Echinacea. (3)
5. Describe the authors attitude to recent health scares (3)
Part 2 Guided Writing (total 40 marks) (approximately 350 words)
a)Write a letter to a newspaper stating your views on recent health scares Write a dialogue of two people discussing recent health scares.
b)Write a dialogue between two people discussing recent health scares.
c) Is it possible that a major pandemic could cause massive casualties? Write an essay to give your opinion.
1. Explain the following words and phrases as they are used in the text:
a) negligent (line 11) As if people don’t care about something, haven’t paid attention to
b) highly contagious (line 23) It can spread from person to person very easily
c) promotes (line 36) makes, causes to form
d) mutate (line 42) change, from one form to another without warning
e) elusive (line 49) difficult to find
(5)
2. a)Why is the common cold so difficult to cure? (4)
Line 14 to 15, line 42 to 43
the common cold is a spectrum of symptoms caused by more than 200 different viruses.
One of the problems of finding a cure for the cold is keeping pace with the change - it can mutate so quickly
Both points needed in own words, 2 marks each
b) How do colds have a negative economic effect? (2)
line 5, line 8, lines 19 to 20
People stay off work, they have to have a day off, they go to a doctor, and they have many colds in their life.
3. Describe how most colds are passed on (3)
Line 24 to 28
An infected person must either sneeeze or cough while in close proximity so you inhale their infected droplets, or, more commonly, touch a surface, allowing you pick the virus up on your fingers (a cold virus can live on a doorknob for hours). You then rub your eyes or touch your nose (your eye drains into your nose), depositing the virus in your own respiratory tract
Describe in own words: breathing in germs from someone who is close to you, or touching something which has the virus on it, like an escalator rail and then touching eyes/nose and transmitting the virus into your system.
4. a) Compare the effectiveness of Vitamin C and Echinacea. (3)
Lines 31 to 35
The clinical evidence on Echinacea is inconclusive (a 2003 study found no effect). Vitamin C, meanwhile, has no proven effect in preventing a cold, but, says Eccles, "it may reduce the severity and duration of one because it is an antioxidant". Antioxidants boost your immune system, and, as Eccles put it, "Your immune system is the cure for the cold: in seven to 10 days, your immune system will overcome the virus."
In own words: Echinacea has no value according to the research wheras vitamin C cannot stop you getting a cold but once you have got one it can help your immune system to be stronger and overcome the difficulty and length you have the cold.
5. Describe the authors attitude to recent health scares (3)
Lines 46 to 48
Later, however, headlines changed from proclaiming "The biggest pandemic ever" to "Less dangerous than the annual flu season". Bird flu scares, SARS and other major anxieties have petered out without major casualties to the globe. So should we really be so worried?
In own words: Although these health scares seem very serious at the time, they are often exaggerated and don’t turn out to be as big a problem as was originally thought by the scary headlines.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
1/4