IELTS Master

Reading & Listening

Lesson 7
MATCHING & CLASSIFICATION
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NOTES
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Much ado about almost nothing

The public outcry over genetically modified foods offers several lessons for those working and
investing in nanotechnology
“THE time for discussion of the rights and wrongs of GM crops has passed. Intense and
consistent economic sabotage and intimidation are what will make the commercialisation of
GM crops an unattractive option.”
Words like these, from an article in the current edition of Earth First!, a radical
environmental journal, send shivers down the spines of those involved in commercialising
biotechnology. The strength of public disapproval of genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
was a shock and a surprise to most of those involved. Now, some people are wondering
whether nanotechnology—a term that covers the manipulation of matter at scales of a
millionth of a millimetre—could be in for similar treatment and, if so, whether there are
lessons that its protagonists can learn from the public backlash against biotechnology.
Profit of doom
In a neglected corner, amid thousands of participants at Nanotech 2004, a conference held
in Boston last week, Jeffrey Matsuura, a law professor at the University of Dayton, in Ohio,
stood next to his unprepossessing poster of his work. His warning, however, was pertinent
to everyone there—especially the investors who were scouring the conference for
opportunities. And this is that several of the factors that created a public backlash against
biotechnology are already at work within nanotechnology.
Dr Matsuura says that biotechnologists assumed that the public would quickly recognise and
appreciate biotech's potential for improving the quality of life. Instead, the risks captured
the attention of the media and much of the general public. Well-fed European consumers
met the suggestion of cheaper food, in particular, with scepticism. Many felt that the gains
would accrue to the companies which had developed GMOs, while the risks of growing and
consuming the crops would be taken on by the public.
Dr Matsuura believes that public perception of nanotechnology is developing along a similar
track. Like those of biotechnology, the first applications of nanotechnology will bring little
obvious benefit to consumers. Better, cheaper materials, and hidden manufacturing
efficiencies that benefit producers first, are redolent of the “advantages” of biotech—
namely reduced applications of agricultural chemicals, which help to keep the cost down
while raising yields. Obvious consumer benefits, such as improvements in medicine, are
further away.
This should not matter—consumers do benefit eventually, even from cost savings. And yet,
in alliance with a feeling that there are hazards involved, an absence of immediate benefits
could turn public opinion against nanotech quite rapidly. And potential hazards there are.
Concerns over out-of-control, self-replicating “nanobots” that would eventually consume
and transform the entire planet into a “grey goo” are absurd. And yet, it is true that novel
“nanoparticles” might have real toxicological risks.
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Nanoparticles are so small that, if inhaled, they could become lodged in the lungs. In theory,
they are small enough to enter living cells and accumulate there. And in January Ken
Donaldson, a professor of respiratory toxicology at the University of Edinburgh, told a Royal
Institution seminar in London that, once inhaled, ultrafine carbon particles can move to the
brain and blood.
There are already several products that use nanoparticles already on the market, such as
sunscreen and car parts. Though all this may sound alarming, people are already exposed to
nanoparticles of many different kinds, and have been throughout history. Soot, for example,
is composed of carbon nanoparticles. Nevertheless, nanoparticles from sources such as
diesel soot, welding fumes and photocopier toner are already associated with ill-health. The
prospect of more such particles is likely to worry many. No wonder that several people at
the conference in Boston mentioned the need to address public fears over nanotechnology
“aggressively”.
One of these was Clayton Teague, the director of America's National Nanotechnology Co-
ordination Office. He says the American government is as sensitive to any indication of true
health risk as any member of the public. Several large and well-funded studies on the
environmental and health risks of nanotechnology are now under way.
Dr Teague adds that any decisions about nanotechnology will be made carefully and based
on solid scientific data. But even if science gives the go-ahead, another one of Dr Matsuura's
lessons is that this might not necessarily win the day, and that fear over potential abuses
and accidents may dominate the debate.
One piece of advice Dr Matsuura gives is that everyone involved should have a consistent
message. If investors are told a technology will change the world, someone who is
concerned about the risks cannot then be told that the same technology is no big deal. It
strikes a false note to say that something can be both revolutionary and nothing to worry
about, he says. Such inconsistencies will breed public mistrust and fear.
Product placement
Donald Reed is a senior consultant with Ecos, a business-advisory firm based in Sydney,
Australia, that acts as an intermediary between corporations and activists. Mr Reed goes as
far as to recommend that companies think about the early products they choose to
pursue—in particular, whether they can demonstrate the “societal value” of these products.
For example, it might be worth emphasising that one of the early products of
nanotechnology could be cheap and efficient photovoltaic materials, which are used to
generate electricity from sunlight.
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 Questions 28-31
Look at the following people and the list of statements below

Match each person with the correct statement

28. Clayton Teague

29. Ken Donaldson

30. Donald Reed

31. Jeffrey Matsuura

List of Statements

A. Nanotechnology is being affected by factors that created opposition to

biotechnology
B. Europeans have the most to gain from nanotechnology development
C. Sound scientific data will be the basis of any decisions about nanotechnology
D. Governments cannot shape the development of nanotechnology
E. Nanotechnology is not a cause for concern
F. Carbon nanoparticles can be breathed in and then move to the brain and blood
G. Companies should show how their early nanotechnology products can benefit
society

 Questions 32-35
Complete the sentences

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer

Write your answers in boxes 32-35 on your answer sheet

32. Strong public disapproval of ........................came as a shock to those working in the area

33. Europeans reacted to the suggestion of cheaper food with ...........................

34. Anxiety about “nanobots” that would in time change the planet is ...........................

35. Nanoparticles from photocopier toner are already linked to ...........................

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The Search for the Anti-aging Pill

In government laboratories and elsewhere, scientists are seeking a drug able to prolong life and
youthful vigor. Studies of caloric restriction are showing the way
As researchers on aging noted recently, no treatment on the market today has been proved
to slow human aging- the build-up of molecular and cellular damage that increases
vulnerability to infirmity as we grow older. But one intervention, consumption of a low-
calorie* yet nutritionally balanced diet, works incredibly well in a broad range of animals,
increasing longevity and prolonging good health. Those findings suggest that caloric
restriction could delay aging and increase longevity in humans, too.
Unfortunately, for maximum benefit, people would probably have to reduce their caloric
intake by roughly thirty per cent, equivalent to dropping from 2,500 calories a day to 1, 750.
Few mortals could stick to chat harsh a regimen, especially for years on end. But what if
someone could create a pill that mimicked the physiological effects of eating less without
actually forcing people to eat less? Could such a 'caloric-restriction mimetic', as we call it,
enable people to stay healthy longer, postponing age-related disorders (such as diabetes,
arteriosclerosis, heart disease and cancer) until very late in life? Scientists first posed this
question in the mid-1990s, after researchers came upon a chemical agent that in rodents
seemed to reproduce many of caloric restriction's benefits. No compound that would safely
achieve the same feat in people has been found yet, but the search has been informative
and has fanned hope that caloric-restriction (CR) mimetics can indeed be developed
eventually.
The benefits of caloric restriction
The hunt for CR mimetics grew out of a desire to better understand caloric restriction's
many effects on the body. Scientists first recognized the value of the practice more than 60
years ago, when they found that rats fed a low-calorie diet lived longer on average than
free-feeding rats and also had a reduced incidence of conditions that become increasingly
common in old age. What is more, some of the treated animals survived longer than the
oldest-living animals in the control group, which means that the maximum lifespan (the
oldest attainable age), not merely the normal lifespan, increased. Various interventions,
such as infection-fighting drugs, can increase a population's average survival time, but only
approaches chat slow the body's rate of aging will increase the maximum lifespan.
The rat findings have been replicated many times and extended to creatures ranging from
yeast to fruit flies, worms, fish, spiders, mice and hamsters. Until fairly recently, the studies
were limited short-lived creatures genetically distant from humans. But caloric-restriction
projects underway in two species more closely related to humans- rhesus and squirrel
monkeys- have scientists optimistic that CR mimetics could help people.
The monkey projects demonstrate that compared with control animals that eat normally.
caloric-restricted monkeys have lower body temperatures and levels of the pancreatic
hormone insulin, and they retain more youthful levels of certain hormones that tend to fall
with age.
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The caloric-restricted animals also look better on indicators of risk for age-related diseases.
For example, they have lower blood pressure and triglyceride levels (signifying a decreased
likelihood of heart disease) and they have more normal blood glucose levels (pointing to a
reduced risk for diabetes, which is marked by unusually high blood glucose levels). Further,
it has recently been shown that rhesus monkeys kept on caloric-restricted diets for an
extended time (nearly 15 years) have less chronic disease. They and the other monkeys
must be followed still longer, however, to know whether low-calorie intake can increase
both average and maximum lifespans in monkeys. Unlike the multitude of elixirs being
touted as the latest anti-aging cure, CR mimetics would alter fundamental processes that
underlie aging. We aim to develop compounds that fool cells into activating maintenance
and repair.
How a prototype caloric-restriction mimetic works
The best-studied candidate for a caloric-restriction mimetic, 2DG (2-deoxy-D-glucose),
works by interfering with the way cells process glucose, it has proved toxic at some doses in
animals and so cannot be used in humans. But it has demonstrated that chemicals can
replicate the effects of caloric restriction; the trick is finding the right one.
Cells use the glucose from food to generate ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the molecule
that powers many activities in the body. By limiting food intake, caloric restriction minimizes
the amount of glucose entering cells and decreases ATP generation. When 2DG is
administered to animals that eat normally, glucose reaches cells in abundance but the drug
prevents most of it from being processed and thus reduces ATP synthesis. Researchers have
proposed several explanations for why interruption of glucose processing and ATP
production might retard aging. One possibility relates to the ATP-making machinery's
emission of free radicals, which are thought to contribute to aging and t such age-related
diseases as cancer by damaging cells. Reduced operation of the machinery should limit their
production and thereby constrain the damage. Another hypothesis suggests that decreased
processing of glucose could indicate to cells that food is scarce (even if it isn't) and induce
them to shift into an anti-aging mode that emphasizes preservation of the organism over
such 'luxuries' as growth and reproduction.
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 Questions 28-32
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3?
YES If the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO If the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN If it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

28. Studies show drugs available today can delay the process of growing old
29. There is scientific evidence that eating fewer calories may extend human life
30. Not many people are likely to find a caloric-restricted diet attractive
31. Diet-related diseases are common in older people
32. In experiments, rats who ate what they wanted led shorter lives than rats on a low-
calorie diet

 Questions 33-37
Classify the following descriptions as relating to

A. Caloric-restricted monkeys
B. Control monkeys
C. Neither caloric-restricted monkeys nor control monkeys

Write the correct letter A, B, C, in boxes 33-37 on your answer sheet

33. Monkeys were less likely to become diabetic

34. Monkeys experienced more chronic disease

35. Monkeys have been shown to experience a longer than average life span

36. Monkeys enjoyed a reduced chance of heart disease

37. Monkeys produced greater quantities of insulin

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 Questions 38-40
Complete the flow-chart below

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer

Write your answers in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet

How a caloric-restriction mimetic works

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AMBERGRIS

What is it and where does it come from?

Ambergris was used to perfume cosmetics in the days of ancient Mesopotamia and almost
every civilization on the earth has a brush with Ambergris. Before 1,000 AD, the Chinese
names Ambergris as lung sien hiang, “dragon’s spittle perfume,” as they think that it was
produced from the drooling of dragons sleeping on rocks at the edge of a sea. The Arabs
knew Ambergris as anbar who believed that it is produced from springs near seas. It also
gets its name from here. For centuries, this substance has also been used as a flavouring for
food.

During the Middle Ages, Europeans used Ambergris as a remedy for headaches, colds,
epilepsy, and other ailments. In the 1851 whaling novel Moby-Dick, Herman Melville
claimed that Ambergris was “largely used in perfumery.” But nobody ever knew where it
really came from. Experts were still guessing its origin thousands of years later, until the
long ages of guesswork ended in the 1720’s, when Nantucket whalers found gobs of the
costly material inside the stomachs of sperm whales. Industrial whaling quickly burgeoned.
By 20th century Ambergris is mainly recovered from inside the carcasses of sperm whales.

Through countless ages, people have found pieces of Ambergris on sandy beaches. It was
named grey amber to distinguish it from golden amber, another rare treasure. Both of them
were among the most sought-after substances in the world, almost as valuable as gold.
(Ambergris sells for roughly $20 a gram, slightly less than gold at $30 a gram.) Amber floats
in salt water, and in old times the origin of both these substances was mysterious. But it
turned out that amber and Ambergris have little in common. Amber is a fossilized resin from
trees that was quite familiar to Europeans long before the discovery of the New World, and
prized for jewelry Although considered a gem, amber is a hard, transparent, wholly-organic
material derived from the resin of extinct species of trees, mainly pines.

To the earliest Western chroniclers, Ambergris was variously thought to come from the
same bituminous sea founts as amber, from the sperm of fishes or whales, from the
droppings of strange sea birds (probably because of confusion over the included beaks of
squid) or from the large hives of bees living near the sea. Marco Polo was the first Western
chronicler who correctly attributed Ambergris to sperm whales and its vomit.

As sperm whales navigate in the oceans, they often dive down to 2 km or more below the
sea level to prey on squid, most famously the Giant Squid. It’s commonly accepted that
Ambergris forms in the whale’s gut or intestines as the creature attempts to “deal” with
squid beaks. Sperm whales are rather partial to squid, but seemingly struggle to digest the
hard, sharp, parrot-like beaks. It is thought their stomach juices become hyperactive trying
to process the irritants, and eventually hard, resinous lumps are formed around the beaks,
and then expelled from their innards by vomiting. When a whale initially vomits up
Ambergris, it is soft and has a terrible smell. Some marine biologists compare it to the
unpleasant smell of cow dung. But after floating on the salty ocean for about a decade, the
substance hardens with air and sun into a smooth, waxy, usually rounded piece of nostril
heaven. The dung smell is gone, replaced by a sweet, smooth, musky and pleasant earthy
aroma. Since Ambergris is derived from animals, naturally a question of ethics arises, and in
the case of Ambergris, it is very important to consider. Sperm whales are an endangered
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species, whose populations started to decline as far back as the 19th century due to the
high demand for their highly emollient oil, and today their stocks still have not recovered.
During the 1970’s, the Save the Whales movement brought the plight of whales to
international recognition. Many people now believe that whales are “saved”. This couldn’t
be further from the truth. All around the world, whaling still exists. Many countries continue
to hunt whales, in spite of international treaties to protect them. Many marine researchers
are concerned that even the trade in naturally found Ambergris can be harmful by creating
further incentives to hunt whales for this valuable substance.

One of the forms Ambergris is used today is as a valuable fixative in perfumes to enhance
and prolong the scent. But nowadays, since Ambergris is rare and expensive, and big
fragrance suppliers that make most of the fragrances on the market today do not deal in it
for reasons of cost, availability and murky legal issues, most perfumeries prefer to add a
chemical derivative which mimics the properties of Ambergris. As a fragrance consumer,
you can assume that there is no natural Ambergris in your perfume bottle, unless the
company advertises this fact and unless you own vintage fragrances created before the
1980s. If you are wondering if you have been wearing a perfume with this legendary
ingredient, you may want to review your scent collection. Here are a few of some of the top
Ambergris containing perfumes: Givenchy Amarige, Chanel No. 5, and Gucci Guilty.

 Questions 1-6
Classify the following information as referring to

A. Ambergris only
B. Amber only
C. Both ambergris and amber
D. Neither ambergris nor amber

Write the correct letter A, B, C, D in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet

1. Being expensive
2. Adds flavor to food
3. Used as currency
4. Being see-through
5. Referred to by Herman Melville
6. Produces sweet smell
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 Questions 7-9
Complete the sentences below with NO MORE THAN ONE WORD from the passage

Write your answers in boxes 7-9 on your answer sheet

7. Sperm whales can’t digest the .............................. of the squids

8. Sperm whales drive the irritants out of their intestines by ..............................
9. The vomit of sperm whales gradually ..............................on contact of air before
having pleasant smell

 Questions 10-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage?

In boxes 10-13 on your sheet, write

YES If the statement agrees with the information

NO If the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN If there is no information on this

10. In the 20th century, most ambergris comes from the dead whales
11. Ambergris is becoming more expensive than before
12. Ambergris is still a popular ingredient in perfume production today
13. New uses of ambergris have been discovered recently