INTRODUCTION [Vocabulary and speaking] Match the word and phrases in the box with their meanings.

take after 1. to have similar physical features as someone else 2. to be similar to an older person in your family in appearance or personality 3. a formal word meaning to have similar physical features as someone else look likeresemble

1.Who do you look like, your mother or your father? Explain how you resemble him / her. 2.Who do you take after in your personality? Work in pairs and discuss the questions.

Complete the sentences about the body with the words in the box. cell diseases environment gender genetics identical twin

1.Something that is found in all living things is a ________. 2.A ______ is one of two children born at the same time to the some mother. 3.__________ is the study of genes. 4.Some __________ are inherited but not all of them. cell twin Genetics diseases

5. The _______ of a child is whether it is a boy or a girl. 6. Twins who are _________ have exactly the same genes. 7. The ____________ as well as our genes makes us who we are. gender identical environment

Work in pairs Discuss which characteristics you have inherited from your parents and which characteristics are formed by your environment.

Use the words in the box. eyesight eye color gene health height intelligence weight personality

Read parts 1 and 2 of the passage and answer the questions.

Part 1 Why did Watson and Crick say, “We have discovered the secret of life?” Because they had found the answer to one of the most important questions of biology--- how do living things reproduce themselves? Why did the discovery of DNA is very important? The discovery of DNA has been called the most biological work of the last 100 years. It has already had and will continue to have an enormous influence on our lives. We have already experienced the benefits in many years.

Story A DNA testing was made a standard procedure in criminal investigations.

Story B Using a technology called genetic engineering, a couple had a highly intelligent, good – looking baby.

Story C Having been inserted an animal gene, Mark won all his races.

Story D Having been tested that the unborn child would have a terrible, inherited illness, the couple decided to get rid of it.

Part 3 Do you think stories A—D in part 2 are true? Stories A and D have actually happened many times. Stories B and C will become possible in the near future. What will genetic engineering help scientists to do in the near future? The new technology of genetic engineering means that scientists will soon be able to insert new genes into unborn babies, children or adults.

What will happen if we start choosing the characteristics of our babies? We are altering nature in a very direct way. What might the consequences be? It is possible that we will create two kinds of people, genetically engineered people and ordinary people.

commit a murder couple hereditary perform an operation pregnant question reproduce victim 1. …how do living things reproduce themselves? This means___________. (a ) to have babies or produce young plants ( b) to feed themselves. 2. … our genes, which pass hereditary characteristics on to our children. This means___________. ( a ) new (b) inherited from parents. ( a ) ( b )

commit a murder couple hereditary perform an operation pregnant question reproduce victim 3 Although the police questioned him … This means___________. ( a ) to wonder about someone (b) to ask someone questions 4 But when he committed the murder… This means___________. ( a) killed the man (b) saw the dead man. 5. …waters left some of his own cells on his victim. This means___________. (a ) the person he attacked ( b) his own clothes ( b ) ( a )

commit a murder couple hereditary perform an operation pregnant question reproduce victim 6 About six months ago, Mark secretly visited a surgeon, who performed an operation on him. This means________ (a ) Mark had an operation ( b) the surgeon said Mark should have an operation 7. Damian Peterson and his wife Clara are another couple… This means________. ( a ) two people who are married ( b) example 8. When Clara became pregnant …This means_________ ( a ) became worried (b) was going to have a baby. ( a ) ( b )

Discussion: What is your opinion about the developments in genetics in general? EXAMPLE: I think they’re very exciting, but we need to be very careful. We don’t know what consequences of these changes will be…

Read through the words in the box, and pay attention to the stress. advance alter athlete benefit consequence development field good-looking insert structure technology

Answer the questions about the words above. 1.What is another word for A. athlete B. consequence C. alter D. field E. good -looking runner result change area handsome /pretty

2. Does a plant have a structure? Yes, it does. 3. What are the benefits of learning English? International communication.

4. Can you think of a technology that is used in business? Computer technology. 5. Which two words in the box can have more or less the same meaning? advance, development

Read the passage and complete the sentences. 1.Scientists will soon have the ability to __________________. 2.However, scientists will not be able to ____________________________ ________. “read” our genes predict our future with any real success

Read the passage again and answer the questions. 1. Which characteristics, physical or psychological, are inherited or mostly inherited? Physical.

2. Does it seem that most psychological traits are inherited? Give examples in your answer. It is a mixture of inherited and environmental factors that affect traits like violence or getting on well with people.

3. Why won’t scientists be able to tell us a lot about our future? Because of the unpredictable nature of environmental factors.

4. What do “these new developments” refer to in the last paragraph? The ability to read our genes.

5. What kind of problems will these new developments create? They many mean that people will be prejudged on factors which would not actually occur, simply because of what their genes predict may happen.

Find these words in the passage and match the words with their meaning. complicated decade in detail envelope to a (great) extent insurance company physical psychological

1.a period of ten years 2.connected with your body rather than your mind 3.c paper cover that you put a letter in before you send it 4.a particular characteristic in someone’s personality 5.mainly decade physical envelope trait to a great extent

6. connected with your mind and feelings 7. giving smaller facts 8. a company that will pay you money if you are ill, when you pay money every month 10. using physical force to hurt people or damage property psychological in detail insurance company violence

Explain the meaning of the words and phrases.

1. As long as you have a good diet, scientists can predict your height by looking at your parents’ heights. If you have a good diet, it means that you are eating healthily. Healthy eating means the right balance between different types of food.

2. We now know that the need to wear glasses has a genetic cause. The need to wear glasses is caused by various eye problems. People who are short- sighted are only able to read things which are close to them, while people who are long-sighted cannot see things clearly when they are near. Both long- and short- sightedness can be corrected by wearing glasses.

3. Our eating habits also appear to be decided by our genes! Eating habits are the tendency to prefer certain kinds of food. Some people are said to have a “sweet booth” because they like lots of cakes, sweets and chocolates. Other people naturally don’t like meat and so on.

4. Do you enjoy dangerous sports such as car racing? Car racing is the competition between high-performance cars, usually around a track. The Formula One circuit is perhaps the best known of these but there are also other kinds of race, such as rallies.

5. This is true of things such as how violent we are, and how well we get on with other people. How well we get on with other people is to do with our temperament. Some people like the company of others while other people prefer to be alone. Some people are happy to share, while others are selfish. These characteristics will affect how well we get on with other people.

6. … the fact is that scientists will be able to “read” our genes in the near future. Literally the verb “read” means to look at marks on paper and understand what they mean. The word is also applied in other contexts, such as to “read” your mind --- to try to understand what someone is thinking. In this genetic context, it means to understand what a person is like by looking at the make-up of their genes.

Read DNA --- the Secret of Life on Page 16 again. Compare it with Your Genes, Your Future on page 22.

1.Which passage do you find more exciting? 2.Do either of the passages worry you? Why?/ Why not?

3. Which passage gives examples from real life? Would you prefer examples from real life in the other passage?

4. Which passage gives more scientific information? Would you prefer to have more scientific information? 5. Which passage do you think you will remember for longer?

1.What is genetically modified food? 2.How can you tell the difference between ordinary food and GM food? 3.How much GM food is there in China? 4.What are the advantages of GM food? 5.What are the disadvantages? 6.What should we do about GM food in China?

Is GM food good or bad? Not much is known about long- term effects of GM food on humans and the environment. It is “unpredictable”.

Answer the questions. 1. Is transgenic food the same as genetically modified food? Yes.

2. What is the risk of producing a GM crop which kills pests? It will kill good insects as well.

3. Why is the risk from carcinogens reduced in GM food? Because there are fewer traces of cancer inducing pesticides in the food.

4. What is the risk to someone who is allergic to a particular gene? If that gene is transferred to another food, and the allergic person doesn’t know.

5. How does the amount of GM food in the US compare with the number of people who think it’s dangerous? 30 ﹪ of maize, 50 ﹪ of Soya beans, 50 ﹪ of potatoes and tomatoes are GM, and 27 ﹪ of consumers are worried about the dangers of GM.

6. How could GM food be stopped from entering China? By having the customs inspect all imported foods.

7. How did the writer know that there weren't any imported GM foods in the markets? They did a big survey.

8. What action is going to be taken about GM foods in China? Foods are going to be labeled.

Look at these pairs of sentences from the passage. Decide if the second sentence adds to or contrasts with the information in the first sentences.

(a) … GM food is already common in the United States. (b) China does not produce very much GM food … (b) contrasts with (a)

(a) In Canada and the United States, 27 percent of consumers fear that GM food could be dangerous. (b) In Europe, a majority of consumers are in favor of banning them, and 79 percent of the UK public opposes GM food. (b) adds to (a)

(a) Chinese customs do not list transgenic products as an item requiring inspection. (b) Therefore GM products may enter the country from abroad.

(a) Neither young nor old people feared possible side effects from GM foods. (b) … some parents of children said that they would now pay more attention to food labeling. (b) contrasts with (a)

1. Scientists have found that a crop with agene that kills pests can leave a poison in the soil that kills helpful as well as harmful insects. (a) What can the crop do? leave a poison in the soil.

(b) What does the crop contain? (c) What can the poison in the soil do? a gene that kills pests kills helpful as well as harmful insects

2. Yet reducing the amount of insecticides needed by using GM crops can reduce the amount of cancer producing chemicals --- or carcinogens --- that are found in food. (a) How can you reduce the amount of insecticides needed? by using GM crops

(b) What needs insecticides? the crops (c) What can reduce cancer producing chemicals? using less insecticides

3. If a gene that produces an allergic reaction is transferred into another crop, then a person who usually avoids food containing this gene may not know that it is now present in the modified food. (a) What kind of gene is it? one which causes an allergic reaction

(b) What kind of person is it? (c) What might this person not know? a person who usually avoids those foods that the GM food has that gene in it

(b) What do they not apply to? imported agricultural products (c) Why is this unfortunate? Because GM food will be imported unchecked.

Are you for or against GM food? Explain why. What do you think should be done about Gm food in China? Ban the planting of GM crops, ban the sale of GM food, label it clearly, or anything else?

Two Creatures in the Time Machine

Read the passage and answer the questions. How are the Eloi and the Morlocks different from each other?

The Eloi live above ground, while the Morlocks live underground; The Eloi are small, beautiful and unable to do physical work, while the Morlocks are strong and wicked. Their appearance was very different, too. The Eloi were hairy only on their heads, while the Morlocks had hair down their backs, too. The Morlocks’ eyes were grayish- red, while the Elois’ yes were large and mild.