IV. Decide whether the following statements are true or false according to the text

1. Most of the species inhabiting the earth have already been described by botanists and zoologists.

2. There is no life at elevations over 5000 meters above sea level.

3. All terrestrial organisms derive from creatures that once lived in water.

4. Charles Darwin managed to explain the relation between the morphological structure of living organisms’ body parts and their physiological function.

5. In the 20^th century genetics largely disproved Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection.

6. Sexual reproduction is one of the mechanisms that promote evolutionary process.

7. All new features that arise by mutation are acquired by the following generations.

8. Gene migration occurs when individuals from different populations mate producing offspring.

9. When living forms reach perfection in their development the evolutionary process will stop.

10. Mutation, gene migration and drift are processes that facilitate organisms’ adaptation to the environment.

V. Make up 6-7 questions about the text “Evolution” and ask them to your partner

VI. Look for the words with the following meanings in the text “Evolution”

1) to claim or assume as true, existent, or necessary;

2) a source of water issuing from the ground;

3) to grow vigorously; flourish;

4) endless; inexhaustible;

5) to become different in character or form;

6) to prove or try to prove by giving reasons;

7) to open up to view; to disclose;

8) to involve something as a necessary part or result;

9) suitable and likely to make something happen or succeed;

10) an animal that kills and eats other animals;

11) having a good effect; advantageous;

12) to derive as a conclusion from facts; to guess or surmise.

VII. Use the words from exercise V to fill in the blanks in the following sentences

1. So, reasoned Darwin, variations must occur in nature that are _________ or useful in some way to the organism itself in the struggle for existence.

2. A remarkable uniformity exists in the molecular components of organisms which _________ the genetic continuity and common ancestry of all organisms.

3. Some paleontologists _________ that morphological evolution is in most cases gradual and only rarely jerky, whereas others think the opposite is true.

4. The job _________ being on call twenty-four hours a day.

5. The species that arrived on the Hawaiian Islands found there many unoccupied ecological niches, or local environments suited to sustain them and lacking _________ that would prevent them from multiplying.

6. It is of considerable significance to ascertain whether new species arise by altering only a few genes, or whether the process requires drastic changes—a genetic “revolution,” as _________some evolutionists in the past.

7. Increased melanin pigmentation may be advantageous to inhabitants of tropical Africa, where dark skin protects them from the Sun's ultraviolet radiation; but it is not _________ in Scandinavia, where the intensity of sunlight is low and light skin facilitates the synthesis of vitamin D.

8. There are several _________ with hot water in the area.

9. Two geographically separate populations that at one time were members of the same species later may have _________ into two different species.

10. If the fitnesses of the two homozygotes are known, it is possible to _________ the allele equilibrium frequencies.

11. There are a lot of plants that _________ in tropical rainforests

12. The variations of colour that a human eye can see are _________.

VIII. Some of the science-related words can be misused by students of English due to similarities in their meanings. Study the examples below and discuss the difference between the highlighted words. Use a dictionary to find more about their meanings

1. Natural selection can be studied by analyzing its effects on changing gene frequencies; but it can also be explored by examining its effects on the observable characteristics—or phenotypes—of individuals in a population.

2. Paleontologists have recovered and studied the fossil remains of many thousands of organisms that lived in the past.

3. The problem of the origin of Homo sapiens from his Middle Pleistocene forebears is complex; hence, it is valuable to examine in detail those specimens that come from the earliest well-dated sites.

4. Since the 1960s a related scientific discipline, molecular biology, has advanced enormously knowledge of biological evolution and has made it possible to investigate detailed problems that seemed completely out of reach a few years earlier.

5. Investigations of hominid origins are variously concerned with diverse comparative studies of extant higher primates and humans, as well as the search for ancestors in the fossil record.

6. Five major areas of research can be identified in human evolutionary studies: the origins of Hominidae, adaptation and diversification of the genus Australopithecus, the origins of the genus Homo, the emergence of Homo erectus and subsequent hominid occupation of Eurasia, and the origins and dispersals of premodern and modern Homo sapiens.

7. Scientific Officer required to assist with a project researching intracellular events in scrapie-infected cells.

IX. Translate the following sentences into English using the focus words from the previous exercise

1. Те, як виникла клітина залишається відкритим та активно досліджуваним питанням науки.

2. Нещодавні дослідження показали, що навіть клітини мозку, які раніше вважалися нездатними здійснювати мітоз, зазнають поділу у тій частині мозку, яка пов’язана із пам’яттю.

3. Починаючи з 50-х років 20 століття важливим напрямком досліджень стало застосування молекулярної біології у вивченні еволюційного процесу.

4. За допомогою сучасних комп’ютерних технологій лікарі, сидячи у своїх кабінетах, можуть легко оглядати пацієнтів, які знаходяться за тисячі миль від них.

5. Дізнатися про доісторичну медицину нам допомагає вивчення стародавніх піктограм, які зображають медичні процедури, та хірургічних інструментів, які знаходять під час археологічних розкопок.

6. Подальші дослідження планет Сонячної системи допоможуть пролити світло на таємницю походження життя та Землі.

7. Засновник френології, німецький лікар Франц Йозеф Гал, вважав, що ретельне вивчення черепа індивіда може надати інформацію про його розумові здібності.

8. Коли це тільки було можливо, Кора і Філ виходили досліджувати довколишню територію.

9. Лікарі, які досліджують причини цієї хвороби, вважають, що скоро їм вдасться знайти ліки від неї.

10. Група вчених вивчає вплив стресу на хімічні процеси в організмі.

FOCUS ON GRAMMAR

I. Look at the following sentences and identify the types of conditionals in them

1. If these were the only processes of evolutionary change, the organization of living things would gradually disintegrate.

2. If we now know and understand most of the mechanisms of organic evolution, why are there still any disagreements about the broad subject itself?

3. Even if these gracile and robust australopithecines had been making stone artifacts, it is most unlikely that their tools would have found their way into a carnivore's lair.

4. If it is accepted that all of these skeletons inherited their structures from a common ancestor and became modified only as they adapted to different ways of life, the similarity of their structures makes sense

5. If humans did not overuse natural resources, many species wouldn’t have become extinct.

II. Match the halves of the sentences from columns A and B

A B

1. If natural selection rewards those who have the highest reproductive success,… 2. Darwin stated that all living creatures multiply so rapidly that, if left unchecked,… 3. If acquired characteristics could be inherited,… 4. Unless extraordinary defense mechanisms existed in Precambrian times,… 5. If species become too narrowly adapted to a given environment,… 6. If new genes are produced in a freely interbreeding population,… 7. If African human populations had developed tools that allowed them to hunt large game effectively,… 8. If large numbers of organic molecules were somehow synthesized on the primitive Earth,… 9. When a chlorophyll-containing cell is exposed both to light and to oxygen, it is killed,… 10. If a baby inherited a defective recessive allele from just one parent,…

a) …they may ultimately lose the genetic variation necessary to survive sudden changes. b) …they would soon overpopulate the world. c) …there would not necessarily be much trace of them today. d) …they would have had a reliable source of food wherever they went. e) …unless it also contains an accessory carotenoid pigment. f) …no disease would results. g) …how could sterile worker bees come about by natural selection when worker bees devote themselves to others and do not reproduce? h) …life near the Earth's surface would have been impossible.… i) …they will gradually be spread throughout the population j) …we should be able to demonstrate it experimentally.

III. Choose the appropriate word or word combination to complete the following sentences: if, even if, unless, provided, providing, otherwise, but for, in case

1. Phenylketonuria, which results from lack of the enzyme, causes permanent brain damage ______ treated soon after birth.

2. Better medicine enables more people to survive to reproductive age, ______ they carry mutations that in past generations would have caused their early death.

3. Organisms could not grow or function properly ______ the genetic information encoded in DNA was not passed from cell to cell.

4. But heredity is not a perfectly conservative process; ______, evolution could not have taken place.

5. ______ a child inherits the allele for tongue rolling from at least one parent, he or she will be able to roll the tongue.

6. Mutations that change one or even several amino acids may have a small or undetectable effect on the organism's ability to survive and reproduce ______ that the essential biological function of the coded protein is not hindered.

7. ______ an individual’s genetic information becomes widely available, it could give health insurers cause to deny coverage to people with certain risk factors or encourage employers to reject certain high-risk job applicants.

8. Because some of the bones are crushed and distorted, the face and braincase are warped and provide less anatomical information than they _______ would.

9. Recent research, however, suggests that bacteria may retain their resistance to antibiotics over many generations, ______ they have not been exposed to the agent.

10. ______ the evolutionary process, the number and diversity of species inhabiting our planet wouldn’t be so impressive.

 

 

LISTENING COMPREHENSION