scanning

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

skimming

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.

extensive reading

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?

Presentation skills

Decide if the following ideas from Module 2 argue for or against the motion. For: Against:

Group A Group B