Sentence completion

Practice exercise 1
3D heart printed using multiple imaging techniques

Congenital heart experts from Spectrum Health Helen DeVos Children's Hospital have successfully
integrated two common imaging techniques to produce a three-dimensional anatomic model of a patient's
heart.

The 3D model printing of patients' hearts has become more common in recent years as part of an
emerging, experimental field devoted to enhanced visualization of individual cardiac structures and
characteristics. But this is the first time the integration of computed tomography (CT) and three-dimensional
transesophageal echocardiography (3DTEE) has successfully been used for printing a hybrid 3D model of a
patient's heart. A proof-of-concept study authored by the Spectrum Health experts also opens the way for
these techniques to be used in combination with a third tool - magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

"Hybrid 3D printing integrates the best aspects of two or more imaging modalities, which can potentially
enhance diagnosis, as well as interventional and surgical planning," said Jordan Gosnell, Helen DeVos
Children's Hospital cardiac sonographer, and lead author of the study. "Previous methods of 3D printing
utilize only one imaging modality, which may not be as accurate as merging two or more datasets."

The team used specialized software to register images from the two imaging modalities to selectively
integrate datasets to produce an accurate anatomic model of the heart. The result creates more detailed
and anatomically accurate 3D renderings and printed models, which may enable physicians to better
diagnose and treat heart disease.

Complete the sentences below.

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

1. A three-dimensional anatomic model of a patient's heart was created by integrating two imaging
techniques.

1. Spectrum Health scientists have found a way to combine and use three techniques: computed
tomography, three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography and computed tomography .
2. The new method of 3D printing is more efficient than previous methods because it merges two and
more imaging modalities.
3. With more accurate 3D renderings and printed models, physicians will be able to better diagnose and
treat heart disease.

Practice exercise 2
Worms

About a quarter of the world's population could have worms living in their guts. For many years
experts have recommended treating large groups at risk of infection - but is this mass approach
 worthwhile?

Evidence showing the benefits of large-scale deworming projects has come under scrutiny in
recent weeks - the debate has even been dubbed "worm wars". Parasites, such as roundworm,
hookworm and whipworm could be living inside more than 1.5 billion people according to the World
Health Organization (WHO).

"People are usually infected through contaminated food but hookworm larvae can also burrow
into feet, get into blood vessels and make their way to the heart and lungs. From there they can
climb up to the oesophagus* and be swallowed, ending up in the gut where they grow.

Worms are not usually fatal but in serious cases they can cause abdominal pain, diarrhoea, loss
of appetite, weight loss, fatigue and anaemia. In children, they can also contribute to malnutrition,
stunted growth, and absences from school. A nurse gives deworming treatment to a boy in India

*oesophagus - throat

Complete the sentences below.

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

1. Now scientists doubt whether it is recommended to treat large groups of possibly infected people.
2.
The experts called the debate "worm wars".
3.
Hookworm larvae might make his way to the oesophagus and then be swallowed.
4.
Although dangerous, worms are rarely fatal.

Practice exercise 3

A giant panda at a zoo in the United States has given birth to twin cubs.

Keepers at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington DC only discovered Mei Xiang was
pregnant during an ultrasound scan last week. The zoo said both cubs appeared healthy. Giant pandas
are one of the most endangered species in the world and are notoriously hard to breed in captivity.

The National Zoo is one of only four zoos in the US to have pandas, which are on loan from China.
Mei Xiang, who has two other offspring, is one of the zoo's star attractions and a Panda Cam on her
enclosure crashed within seconds of the birth of the first cub being announced because of the volume
of interest.

Female pandas are able to conceive for only two or three days a year, leading to a very low
reproduction rate. Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated with sperm from the zoo's resident male Tian
Tian and a panda named Hui Hui from Wolong, China. It will not be known for a while which is the
father, or what sex the cubs are.

It has previously taken months before Mei Xiang's cubs have been introduced to the public. AP
news agency reports that her first cub, Tai Shan, was born in 2005 and returned to China in 2010; her
second cub, Bao Bao, is two years old on Sunday and still lives at the zoo. The panda population is
threatened by habitat loss as land is increasingly inhabited by humans, with about 1,800 pandas left in
the wild in China. However, the number living in the wild in China has gone up over the last 10 years.

Complete the sentences below.

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

1. Mei Xiang pregnancy was discovered with an ultrasound scan last week.
2.
Pandas from the USA National Zoo are on loan from China.
3.
Due to the short conceiving period, pandas have a low reproduction rate .
4.
Pandas are in danger because their lands are increasingly inhabited by humans.

Practice exercise 4
The Halifax Explosion

Before the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, the largest-ever non-natural
explosion had taken place in 1917 in the eastern Canadian port city of Halifax. With the outbreak
of World War I, Halifax was effectively transformed into a boomtown. Convoys gathered weekly in
Bedford Basin (the north-western end of Halifax Harbour) in order to traverse the Atlantic, and
Halifax Harbour became heavy with vessels of one variety or another. This spike in boat traffic
was not dealt with efficiently, and collisions became almost normal.

On December 1st, 1917, the French vessel Mont Blanc left New York in order to join a convoy in
Halifax after being loaded with 226,797 kilograms of TNT (an explosive), 223,188 kilograms of
benzol (a type of gasoline), 1,602,519 kilograms of wet picric acid (an explosive), and 544,311
kilograms of dry picric acid (another explosive). On December 6th, the Mont Blanc was ushered
into Halifax’s harbour after the U-boat nets had been raised.

At the same time, the cargoless Norwegian ship, Imo, left Bedford Basin en route to New York in
order to pick up relief items for transport to war-torn Belgium. Imo was behind schedule and
attempting to remedy that. She passed a boat on the wrong side before sending a tugboat
retreating to port. By the time she reached the Narrows, she was in the wrong channel and going
too fast. The Mont Blanc sounded her whistle, but the Imo sounded back twice, refusing to alter
course. At the last moment, the Mont Blanc veered, and the Imo reversed, but it was too late.
From the gash formed in the French boat’s hull seeped a noxious spiral of oily, orange-dappled
smoke. Mont Blanc’s crew rowed to shore on the Dartmouth side, but no one could decipher their
warnings. Their fiery vessel then casually drifted toward the Halifax side where it came to rest
against one of the piers.
 This spectacle drew thousands of onlookers. People crowded docks and windows filled with
curious faces. As many as 1,600 died instantly when the boat exploded. Around 9,000 were
injured, 6,000 seriously so. Approximately 12,000 buildings were severely damaged; virtually
every building in town was damaged to some extent; 1,630 were rendered nonexistent. Around
6,000 people were made homeless, and 25,000 people (half the population) were left without
suitable housing.

The Halifax Explosion, as it became known, was the largest manmade detonation to date,
approximately one-fifth the ferocity of the bomb later dropped on Hiroshima. It sent up a column
of smoke reckoned to be 7,000 metres in height. It was felt more than 480 kilometres away. It
flung a ship gun barrel some 5.5 kilometres, and part of an anchor, which weighed 517 kilograms,
around 3 kilometres. The blast absolutely flattened a district known as Richmond. It also caused
a tsunami that saw a wave 18 metres above the high-water mark depositing the Imo onto the
shore of the Dartmouth side. The pressure wave of air that was produced snapped trees, bent
iron rails, and grounded ships. That evening, a blizzard commenced, and it would continue until
the next day, leaving 40 centimetres of snow in its wake. Consequently, many of those trapped
within collapsed structures died of exposure. Historians put the death toll of the Halifax Explosion
at approximately 2,000.

Adapted from a passage in ‘A Sort of Homecoming – In Search of Canada’ by Troy Parfitt

Questions 1-5

Complete the sentences using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each
answer

1. During World War One, Halifax Harbour was unable to handle the increased shipping traffic
properly, and there were numerous collisions.
2. The Imo was not in the correct channel and travelling too fast.
3. Thousands of people were watching the burning ship when it exploded.
4. The Halifax Explosion had about one-fifth of the power of the Hiroshima bomb.
5. Freezing weather brought by a blizzard caused the death of some survivors who were trapped
under collapsed buildings.

Practice exercise 5
Alaskans’ vitamin D production slows to a halt
Interested people are needed to participate in a one-year study to assess the effects of
long dark winters on the vitamin D and calcium levels of Fairbanks residents.

So began a recruitment poster Meredith Tallas created 25 years ago. Now living in Oakland,
California, Tallas was a University of Alaska Fairbanks student in 1983 who wanted to study how
levels of a vitamin related to sun exposure fluctuated in people living so far from the equator. “The
most obvious vitamin to study in Alaska is vitamin D, because of the low light in winter,” Tallas
said recently over the phone from her office in Berkeley.

Forty-seven people responded to Tallas’ 1983 request, and her master’s project was underway.
By looking at the blood work of those Fairbanks residents every month and analyzing their diets,
she charted their levels of vitamin D, which our skin magically produces after exposure to a
certain amount of sunshine. We also get vitamin D from foods, such as vitamin-D enriched milk
and margarine, and fish (salmon are a good source). Vitamin D is important for the prevention of
bone diseases, diabetes, and other maladies.

If you live at a latitude farther north than about 42 degrees (Boston, Detroit, or Eugene, Oregon),
the sun is too low on the horizon from November through February for your skin to produce
vitamin D, according to the National Institutes of Health. Tallas also saw another potential Alaska
limitation on the natural pathway to vitamin D production.

“Most outdoor activity requires covering all but the face and hands approximately seven months
of the year,” she wrote in her thesis. “During the summer months residents keep much of their
bodies clothed because of the persistent and annoying mosquitoes and biting flies and because
of this, an Alaskan summer suntan becomes one of the face and hands.”

But even over bundled people like Alaskans show signs of enhanced vitamin D production from
the sun. Tallas found the highest levels of vitamin D in the Fairbanks volunteers’ blood in July,
and the lowest levels in March. Tallas attributed the July high occurring about a month after
summer solstice to the time needed for the body’s processing of sunlight and the conversion to
vitamin D.

In Tallas’ study, volunteers showed low levels of vitamin D in the winter months, but most got
sufficient doses of vitamin D from sources other than the sun. Tallas also found that males had an
average of 16 percent more vitamin D in their blood throughout the study, which she attributed in
part to men being outside more.

In charting an average for people’s time outside (you can’t convert sunlight to vitamin D through
windows), she found December was the low point of sunlight exposure when the sun struck the
skin of her volunteers for less than 20 minutes per day. People spent an average of more than
two hours exposed to Alaska sunlight in June and July. They seemed to hunker down in October
when time outside in the sun dropped to about half an hour after almost two hours of daily sun
exposure in September.

Vitamin D levels in the volunteers’ blood dropped in August, September, October, November,
December, January, February, and March, but Tallas saw an occasional leap in midwinter. “When
someone had gone to Hawaii, we could see, very exactly, a significant spike in their vitamin D
levels,” Tallas said. “The only surprise was how it came a month or two after.”

In her thesis, Tallas wrote that a midwinter trip to somewhere close to the equator would be a
good thing for boosting Alaskans’ vitamin D levels. “Presuming that an individual’s lowest
circulating vitamin D level is found in March or April, such trips could potentially have a very
significant effect in improving late winter vitamin D status,” she wrote in her thesis. “Unfortunately
a majority of Alaskan residents do not take such trips often.” An easy alternative for Alaskans not
travelling southward during the winter is eating foods rich in vitamin D or taking vitamin D
supplements, Tallas said.

Questions 1 - 7

Complete the sentences below

Write ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

1 Tallas invited Fairbank residents to her project through an advertisement.

2 Tallas examined the food intake as well as blood samples of the subjects to record their vitamin
D levels.
3 As you move up north, there is insufficient availability of sunlight.
4 To avoid insect bites, Alaskans remain almost entirely clothed.
5 Spending more time outside led to higher vitamin D levels in male volunteers.
6 At its lowest, Alaskans are exposed to the sun for only a few minutes every day.
7 A trip to sunny regions during winters can surge the vitamin D levels of Alaskans.

Practice exercise 6

Answer questions 1-8 which are based on the reading passage below.

How Geese Migrate

Weighing over twenty pounds, the Canada Goose is the largest in the world. Generally, most
geese weigh around 5 to 14 pounds. Females are smaller in size than their male counterparts. A
full-grown Canada goose has a wingspan of 50 to 75 inches.

The Canada goose is the most widely distributed in North America. The breeding grounds of the
geese cover the stretch from eastern Labrador to Western Alaska, and it is the only goose in
North America to breed south of 49°N. The geese are known to occupy a wide range of habitats
in temperate to low arctic areas including The Tundra which is not so rich in geographical
features, The Boreal forest, The Parklands, The Prairies, meadows, and the higher mountains.

For most goose populations, nesting areas in the Arctic are secure; however, the development of
gas and oil industries poses a danger to these groups. During migration, the geese head for
warmer places where food is readily available. Canada geese migrate in the V- formation and are
always in large groups. Scientists believe that geese travel in V-formation because of what is
called the ‘drafting effect.’ It aids the birds to preserve their energy as they cover long distances.
The same paths are followed by the migrating birds each year. The name given to these paths is
‘flyways’ or ‘routes’. The four flyways that the Canada Geese use are: the Atlantic Flyway which
is along the eastern coast of North America, the Mississippi Flyway, the Central Flyway which
spans the Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific Flyway which is the route along the west of the
Rocky Mountains.

Canada geese follow seasonal patterns of migration. The autumn migration is seen from
September to the starting of November. The early migrant geese are likely to migrate faster as
they spend less time at the designated rest stops. Some geese are known to return year after
year to the same nesting grounds and lay their eggs with their partners. The chicks are raised in
the same way every year. We know this from the records of many geese that have been tagged
by scientists on the East Coast. However, It has been noticed that a few migratory populations of
the Canada Goose are not flying as far south in the winter months as they used to. This
Northward range shift is probably because of the availability of waste grain in the fall and winter
months. Agricultural fields offer food that is available in abundance and is also of superior quality
for the geese compared to natural crops. Changing weather patterns and hunting pressure are
the other reasons.

Every autumn, the snow geese move from their chief breeding area in central Canada to Squaw
Creek National Wildlife Refuge where they make a stopover before moving to their destination in
the Gulf of Mexico. They breed during the Arctic summers and then migrate to Mexico to spend
the winter. During the summer, the young geese grow rapidly and become ready to fly. By the end
of August, the birds make their journey to Mexico with the young ones on their first migration.
They travel back to Canada in late spring along with their young ones. Some birds make the
entire journey without stopping for rest, making it a journey of 70 straight hours of flying. Most of
the geese are not inclined to make a stop on their return journey north as they are eagerly waiting
to mate.

The Squaw Creek National Park is an essential stopover for the geese on the Central Flyway
migratory route. The area was a private hunting area, but now the wildlife here is protected by
law.

Questions 1 - 8

Complete the sentences below.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

1 The geese live in various types of habitats.

2 Extraction of gas and oil in the Arctic can be a threat to goose population.
3 Migrating geese can save energy due to the drafting effect. created by flying in V-formation.
4 Some groups of Canada geese do not migrate to the far south anymore because they can get
plentiful food on farmlands.
5 After breeding in central Canada, Snow geese migrate to Mexico for the winters.
6 The return journey to Canada takes place by the end of August.
7 Some geese do not take rest as they fly back to the north.
8 Hunting is not allowed in the Squaw Creek National Park.