[ENVIRONMENT ★]

CAN DINOSAURS BE BROUGHT BACK?

(P1) When it comes to making movies, sometimes the natural limits of science must be stretched to CAPTURE THE IMAGINATION of the audience. This is something PALEONTOLOGIST Jack Horner understands very well.

(P2) Horner is the CURATOR of paleontology at Montana’s Museum of the Rockies and co-author of the book, How to Build a Dinosaur. However, he is most famous for his role as technical CONSULTANT on all four Jurassic Park films, including the new film Jurassic World.

(P3) The original film, Jurassic Park, was based on a Michael Crichton novel. It tells the story of a theme park where dinosaurs ROAM free. In that movie, scientists used DNA collected by ancient mosquitoes that had been trapped in AMBER shortly after they drank dinosaur blood. The scientists used this dinosaur DNA to create baby dinosaurs.

(P4) The scientists in Jurassic Park created various types of dinosaurs, but in reality there is one major problem with the plot. DNA, it turns out, could not possibly survive the 65 million years since the death of the dinosaurs.

(P5) So the new movie adds a TWIST. It creates an entirely new species of dinosaur—the Indominus rex. It is made from the recovered genes of four actual dinosaurs: the Giganotosaurus, Rugops, Majungasaurus and Carnotaurus.

(P6) “The cool thing about making a HYBRID,” Horner said in a recent interview with BBC, “is that we can take a whole BUNCH of genes from other animals and mix them together to make a new animal, which is actually more PLAUSIBLE than bringing them back.”

(P7) This idea of creating a hybrid species is something Horner has explored before. In 2011, he gave a speech in which he discussed producing a dinosaur by working with the genes of a bird. Modern birds are the closest living relative to dinosaurs.

(P8) His theory is if you could shut off the genes that turned a claw to a wing, or restore the ones that coded for a dinosaur’s tail instead of a bird’s tail, you might work your way back to animals that haven’t been seen for tens of millions of years.

(P9) The concept of MANIPULATING the genes of animals to create animals with new TRAITS is called transgenic science. And this type of science has already produced some interesting results—goats that produce SPIDER SILK in their milk, cows that produce proteins for medicines that can treat diseases, and a pig that produces less-polluting MANURE thanks to a bit of mouse DNA.

(P10) However, none of these examples are even REMOTELY close to the dinosaurs Horner ENVISIONS in Jurassic World. And for a good reason – genetics are a very complicated science. Producing a new species is not as simple as just SWAPPING a few genes around.

(P11) Genes do not work alone, they work as a team in perfect HARMONY. Because of this, changing just one gene in an organism would not create a new trait.

(P12) While there are examples of new species being created by combining two other species, such as the mule, the new species does not have the ability to create OFFSPRING of their own.

(P13) In the end, Jurassic World is all about fun. And while Horner’s science in the new movie may seem more believable than the old Jurassic Park amber DNA SCENARIO, genetically creating and changing dinosaurs is still impossible.

WORDS: 552

SOURCE: http://www.timeforkids.com/news/can-dinosaurs-be-brought-back/247641

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

If you found the passage difficult to read or had problems understanding specific words or idiomatic expressions, please discuss them with your tutor. The following discussion questions should be answered in your own words and with your own arguments.

1. Briefly summarize the content of the article in your own words.
2. If scientists could use genetics to bring back species that have become EXTINCT recently, should they do that?
3. Do you enjoy science fiction thrillers like the Jurassic Park movies?
4. If you were going to become a scientist, what would you study?
5. Why do dinosaurs have such a powerful IMPACT on people’s imaginations?

EXPRESSIONS TO PRACTICE:

What do the following expressions mean? Practice using each expression in a sentence; extra points if you can use it in conversation.

• Capture the imagination

[SPORTS ★★]

BULL RUNS IN SPAIN CLAIM 10 LIVES

(P1) A man has died after being struck by a bull, police said on Sunday, the 10th such death in Spain this year, making it one of the DEADLIEST for the sport of bull running.

(P2) The UNIDENTIFIED man in his late 40s was struck by a bull several times during a run in the north-eastern town of Borriol on Saturday and died in hospital, a local police spokesman said.

(P3) New LEFTIST mayors who swept to power across the country following local elections in May are considering HALTING FUNDING for bull festivals, in which crowds of people run ahead of herds of bulls. Other towns are BOOSTING SECURITY MEASURES.

(P4) FESTIVITIES were cancelled in the town of 5,000 residents following the death.

(P5) This year’s DEATH TOLL matches the record of 10 deaths in bull runs, set in 2009.

(P6) Last weekend alone four men died after being GORED by half-TON fighting bulls in four different towns.

(P7) One of the victims, a 55-year-old man, was caught on video being repeatedly gored by a bull as he lay on the ground in front of a protective BARRIER that separated ONLOOKERS from bull run participants.

(P8) “It is an INEVITABILITY, due mainly to the HORDES of people who go to see the bulls,” said Alberto de Jesus, director of BULLFIGHTING magazine Bous al Carrer.

(P9) Nearly 16,000 town festivals will include bull events this year, nearly 2,000 more than last year, according to culture ministry figures.

(P10) “Town halls always have more bull runs during the year of MUNICIPAL elections,” said Vicente Ruiz, the editor of El Mundo newspaper and a regular contributor to bullfighting blog La Cuadrilla. “The number of FIESTAS increases because they are popular.”

(P11) Most bull runs are held in August and September when towns hold festivals in honour of PATRON SAINTS.

(P12) Ten people were gored this year during Spain’s most famous bull running festival, the week-long San Fermin fiesta in Pamplona in July.

(P13) Some towns have responded by increasing safety measures.

(P14) The town of Perales de Tajuna, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) south-west of Madrid, plans to have five AMBULANCES on STANDBY for its annual bull run on August 30, instead of just two as required by local regulations.

(P15) “First there are FIREWORKS, then a PROCESSION in honour of the Virgin, finally the bulls,” the mayor of the town, Yolanda Cuenca Redondo, said. “The fiesta is what gives the town its identity.”

(P16) Jorge Rosco, a 37-year-old gas distributor who takes part in 25 to 30 bull runs in Spain each year, said the problem is that bull runs had become too crowded with many RECKLESS participants.

(P17) “It is not possible to have more security measures than there are now,” he said. “But there are many more people – so many that sometimes you can’t even climb the safety fence.

(P18) “People don’t respect the bull. They take pictures, they PROVOKE the bulls. It is not a game, they are animals that kill, you have to run with your head, conscious of what you are doing.”

(P19) A 32-year-old Spanish man was gored to death on 8 August near the central city of Toledo after being gored in the neck while filming a bull run.

(P20) The previous month a French tourist was gored to death while trying to film a run near Alicante with his mobile phone.

(P21) The Spanish town of Villafranca de los Caballeros, some 120 kilometres south of Madrid, MADE HEADLINES last month when its newly elected SOCIALIST mayor decided to use its SUBSIDY of €18,000 ($20,500) for an annual bullfight for books and school supplies instead.

(P22) The town is one of about a dozen that has begun questioning whether public funds should be used for bull events, after leftists took power in several Spanish municipalities in May’s local elections.

(P23) Madrid’s new mayor, Manuela Carmena, has vowed that “not one euro of public money” would go in funding bullfights, while several towns are MULLING OVER holding REFERENDUMS on the issue.

WORDS: 660

SOURCE: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/24/man-killed-during-bull-run-in-spain-pushes-death-toll-to-10-so-far-for-year

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

If you found the passage difficult to read or had problems understanding specific words or idiomatic expressions, please discuss them with your tutor. The following discussion questions should be answered in your own words and with your own arguments.

1. Briefly summarize the content of the article in your own words.
2. Running with the bulls is a tradition in Spain. But do some traditions deserve to die?
3. What MOTIVATES people to participate in activities that are obviously quite dangerous?
4. Bullfighting has been BANNED in many areas because it involves animal killing and CRUELTY. What do you think about sports like bullfighting and hunting?
5. Why would leftist mayors oppose spending public monies on bull-related activities?

EXPRESSIONS TO PRACTICE:

What do the following expressions mean? Practice using each expression in a sentence; extra points if you can use it in conversation.

• Security measures
• Death toll
• Patron saint
• Make headlines
• Mull over

[EDUCATION ★]

APPLE CEO TIM COOK SAYS STUDENTS HAVE RIGHT TO GREAT PUBLIC EDUCATION

(P1) Tuskegee Public School in Alabama is among 114 others in 29 states that are starting the school year with Apple iPads, technology that many children haven’t experienced before.

(P2) Apple CEO Tim Cook is focusing on an academic REVOLUTION that aims to prepare these students for the 21st century.

(P3) The tech giant is part of the White House initiative known as ConnectED. The goal of the program is to connect 99 percent of U.S. schools to good technology.

(P4) “I think technology has to be a key part [of education] and that’s why we’re here,” Cook said. “Too many times today kids aren’t given the right for a great public education and this isn’t right. It’s not fair.

(P5) “I wouldn’t be where I am today without a great public education,” added Cook, who was named CEO of Apple in 2011.

(P6) The technology will help children learn better in the 21st century, Cook said.

(P7) “Kids today, they’re born in a digital world, but too many kids, when it comes time for the 8 o’clock bell to ring, go to an analog world,” he said. “It’s not engaging.”

(P8) The teachers are already noticing a difference.

(P9) “It means a lot to me, because you can do a lot at a faster rate,” one Tuskegee Public School teacher told Roberts. “Last year we didn’t have that.”

(P10) When President Obama announced ConnectED in June 2013, many wondered how to make it work and how to judge its success.

(P11) “I think you look for a lot of things,” Cook said when asked how the program’s success would be measured. “You look for engagement and you look for how many kids move on to higher education then, so that education is something they desire.”

(P12) Cook, 54, was asked about when the country would see more DIVERSITY in Apple and in the wider technology industry.

(P13) “It’s a really good question. There’s not a simple answer,” Cook said. “One is, there have to be more ROLE MODELS. I think technology in general has not done a great job of establishing role models.

(P14) “That’s critically important,” he said.

(P15) Diversity is important, Cook, said, because “INCLUSION and diversity inspires innovation. And so we actually make better products because we’re more diverse.”

(P16) As for what the young students now using an iPad for the first time should do with the new technology, Cook had three words.

(P17) “Explore, discover, create,” he said.

WORDS: 409

SOURCE: http://abcnews.go.com/US/apples-tim-cook-student-great-public-education/story?id=33269467

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

If you found the passage difficult to read or had problems understanding specific words or idiomatic expressions, please discuss them with your tutor. The following discussion questions should be answered in your own words and with your own arguments.

1. Briefly summarize the content of the article in your own words.
2. New technologies are often TOUTED as the solution to the difficulties of education. What do you think the effect of technology on education is?
3. Some teachers believe that allowing students to have Internet access in the classroom DISTRACTS them from what is being taught. What is your opinion about this?
4. A CYNIC might suggest that Tim Cook is giving students iPads in order to make them LOYAL to the Apple brand. Is there always a PROFIT MOTIVE behind business PHILANTHROPY?
5. The comments about diversity and inclusion in the article are a REMINDER that the tech world is OVERWHELMINGLY male. Why do you think this is true?

EXPRESSIONS TO PRACTICE:

What do the following expressions mean? Practice using each expression in a sentence; extra points if you can use it in conversation.

• Role model
• Profit motive

[WORLD NEWS ★]

PASSENGER CRASH-LANDS PLANE IN SPAIN

(P1) A woman was seriously injured in an ultralight aircraft crash in Spain after she was forced to fly the plane – despite having no flight experience – when the pilot lost consciousness, officials have said.

(P2) The woman suffered burns and multiple CONTUSIONS, while the pilot died, though it was unclear if that happened before or after the plane crashed near Seville airport in south-western Spain on Sunday, an emergency services spokesman said.

(P3) “He died, possibly before the accident, during the flight,” the spokesman said. Spanish media reported that the man and woman were married.

(P4)“The woman kept flying, she did not know how to fly, so they guided her from the control tower to see if she could control the plane until landing it at the airport,” he added.

(P5) Emergency services also DISPATCHED a helicopter and a plane to guide the light plane down.

(P6) “The plane can fly without any problem. Don’t worry the plane is not going to crash,” an AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER can be heard telling the woman, according to a recording of their EXCHANGE released by the online edition of local daily newspaper Diario de Sevilla.

(P7) “Don’t worry, you are going to land without any problem,” he added before asking her for the plane’s ALTITUDE.

(P8) The plane crashed 1.8 miles (3km) SHORT OF the beginning of the runway at Seville airport during the attempted landing, according to Spain’s airport authority AENA.

(P9) The airport remained closed for just under two hours because of the crash, forcing four flights to be DIVERTED to the nearby city of Jerez de la Frontera, the airport authority added.

(P10) The ultralight aircraft had taken off from the city of Trebujena and had been scheduled to land in Coria del Rio, a small town near Seville.

(P11) Seville is Spain’s 13th busiest airport. It moved 3.9 million passengers last year, according to AENA’s website. 

WORDS: 311

SOURCE: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/24/passenger-crash-lands-plane-in-spain-after-pilot-collapses

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

If you found the passage difficult to read or had problems understanding specific words or idiomatic expressions, please discuss them with your tutor. The following discussion questions should be answered in your own words and with your own arguments.

1. Briefly summarize the content of the article in your own words.
2. Have you ever been in an emergency situation? How did you handle it?
3. If you had never flown an airplane before, do you think you could follow instructions to land the plane?
4. Have you ever flown in a small airplane?
5. Do you think small planes are more dangerous than large jets?

EXPRESSIONS TO PRACTICE:

What do the following expressions mean? Practice using each expression in a sentence; extra points if you can use it in conversation.

• Short of