Turn The Corner Foundation - The Fight Against Lyme Disease

19 Jul 2008 at 5:06pm  Turn The Corner Foundation - The Fight Against Lyme Disease
TTCFoundation
6 min - Jul 19, 2008

CLICK THE LINK TO WATCH VIDEO IN HIGH QUALITY. Lyme disease is a serious illness that can affect every part of the human body. Turn the Corner is dedicated to the support of research, education, awareness and innovative treatments for Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases. This video includes excerpts from "Under Our Skin," Dr. Alan MacDonald discussing his research involving the link between Lyme and Alzheimer's, Dr. Joseph Burrascano discussing the Lyme and Associated Diseases Registry, and Staci Grodin discussing Turn the Corner Foundation.

Read more...

Why the theory of evolution is the religion of degenerates.

4 Jul 2008 at 5:51am  Why the theory of evolution is the religion of degenerates.

Unknown length - Jul 4, 2008

Debunking Evolution and the miracle of the cell. Problems, errors, and lies exposed, in plain language for non-scientists "Evolution" mixes two things together, one real, one imaginary. Variation is the real part. The types of bird beaks, the colors of moths, leg sizes, etc. are variation. Each type and length of beak a finch can have is already in the gene pool for finches. Creationists have always agreed that there is variation within species. But what evolutionists do not want you to know is that there are strict limits to variation that are never crossed, something every breeder of animals or plants is aware of. Evolutionists want you to think that changes continue, merging gradually into new kinds of creatures. This is where the imaginary part of the theory of evolution comes in. It says that new information is added to the gene pool by mutation and natural selection to create frogs from fish, reptiles from frogs, and mammals from reptiles, to name a few. Do these big changes really happen? Evolutionists tell us we cannot see evolution taking place because it happens too slowly. A human generation takes about 20 years from birth to parenthood. They say it took tens of thousands of generations to form man from a common ancestor with the ape, from populations of only hundreds or thousands. We do not have these problems with bacteria. A generation of bacteria grows in a matter of hours. There are more bacteria in the world than there are grains of sand on all of the beaches of the world (and many grains of sand are covered with bacteria). They exist in just about any environment: heat, cold, dry, wet, high pressure, low pressure, small groups, large colonies, isolated, much food, little food, much oxygen, no oxygen, in toxic chemicals, etc. There is much variation in bacteria. There are many mutations (in fact, evolutionists say that smaller organisms have a faster mutation rate than larger ones4). But they never turn into anything new. They always remain bacteria. Fruit flies are much more complex than already complex single-cell bacteria. Scientists like to study them because a generation (from egg to adult) takes only 9 days. In the lab, fruit flies are studied under every conceivable condition. There is much variation in fruit flies. There are many mutations. But they never turn into anything new. They always remain fruit flies. Many years of study of countless generations of bacteria and fruit flies all over the world shows that evolution is not happening today. This is how the imaginary part is supposed to happen: On rare occasions a mutation in DNA improves a creature's ability to survive, so it is more likely to reproduce (natural selection). That is evolution's only tool for making new creatures. It might even work if it took just one gene to make and control one part. But parts of living creatures are constructed of intricate components with connections that all need to be in place for the thing to work, controlled by many genes that have to act in the proper sequence. Natural selection would not choose parts that did not have all their components existing, in place, connected, and regulated because the parts would not work. Thus all the right mutations (and none of the destructive ones) must happen at the same time by pure chance. That is physically impossible. To illustrate just how impossible it is, imagine this: on the ground are all the materials needed to build a house (nails, boards, shingles, windows, etc.). We tie a hammer to the wagging tail of a dog and let him wander about the work site for as long as you please, even millions of years. The swinging hammer on the dog is as likely to build a house as mutation-natural selection is to make a single new working part in an animal, let alone a new creature. Only mutations in the reproductive (germ) cells of an animal or plant would be passed on. Mutations in the eye or skin of an animal would not matter. Mutations in DNA happen fairly often, but most are repaired or destroyed by mechanisms in animals and plants. All known mutations in animal and plant germ cells are neutral, harmful, or fatal. But evolutionists are eternally optimistic. They believe that many beneficial mutations were passed on to every species that ever existed, since that is the only way evolutionists think different species are made. There are two versions of evolution. The first (neo-Darwinism) proposed that many tiny changes made new creatures. They could not find these tiny changes between one type of creature and another in the fossil record, so a few evolutionists proposed instead that change occurred by occasional leaps (punctuated equilibrium). Each hypothetical beneficial mutation could only make a slight change. Any more than that would be so disruptive as to cause death. So punctuated equilibrium is not really one leap at a time. It envisions a lot of slight changes over thousands of years, then nothing happens for millions of years. Evolutionists say with a straight face that no fossils have been found from a leap because thousands of years is too fast in the billions of years of "geologic time" to leave any. On the other hand, without fossils there is no evidence that any leaps ever happened, and of course there is no evidence that leaps or gradual changes are happening today in any of the millions of species that still exist. Evolution is all about constant change, whether gradual or in leaps. Consider a cloud in the sky: it is constantly changing shape due to natural forces. It might look like, say, a rabbit now, and a few minutes later appear to be, say, a horse. In between, the whole mass is shifting about. In a few more minutes it may look like a bird. The problem for evolution is that we never see the shifting between shapes in the fossil record. All fossils are of complete animals and plants, not works in progress "under construction". That is why we can give each distinct plant or animal a name. If evolution's continuous morphing were really going on, every fossil would show change underway throughout the creature, with parts in various stages of completion. For every successful change there should be many more that lead to nothing. The whole process is random trial and error, without direction. So every plant and animal, living or fossil, should be covered inside and out with useless growths and have parts under construction. It is a grotesque image, and just what the theory of evolution really predicts. Even Charles Darwin had a glimpse of the problem in his day. He wrote in his book The Origin of Species: "The number of intermediate varieties which have formerly existed on Earth must be truly enormous. Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory." The more fossils that are found, the better sense we have of what lived in the past. Since Darwin's day, the number of fossils that have been collected has grown tremendously, so we now have a pretty accurate picture. The gradual morphing of one type of creature to another that evolution predicts is nowhere to be found. There should have been millions of transitional creatures if evolution were true. In the "tree of life" that evolutionists have dreamed up, gaps in the fossil record are especially huge between single-cell creatures, complex invertebrates (such as snails, jellyfish, trilobites, clams, and sponges), and what evolutionists claim were the first vertebrates, fish. In fact, there are no fossil ancestors at all for complex invertebrates or fish. That alone is fatal to the theory of evolution. The fossil record shows that evolution never happened. The platypus has a duck-like bill, swims with webbed feet, and lays eggs. Yet nobody calls it a transitional creature between mammals and ducks. Archaeopteryx has long been held up as the great example of a transitional creature, appearing to be part dinosaur and part bird. However, it is a fully formed, complete animal with no half-finished components or useless growths. That is also the case for the other birds in the evolutionary tree. Evolutionists just placed some of the many living and extinct species next to each other to make the bird series. The same is true for the famous horse series. Each of the supposed ancestors is a complete animal. They are not full of failed growths and there are no parts under construction. There are many more differences between each type of animal than their size and the number of toes. Every change in structure, function, and process would have had to develop through random trial-and-error if evolution were true, but no transitional forms have been found. The fossils have not caught any changes in the midst of being created, even though they should have occurred over long periods of time. In the late 1800's, evolutionists simply placed living and extinct species next to each other to make the horse series. However, evolutionists no longer believe there was the direct ancestry (orthogenesis) shown in this chart... Evolutionists now imagine it to be this branching bush. Many of the supposed ancestors apparently lived at the same time, especially after Mesohippus. It is doubtful that Hyracotherium (formerly Eohippus) has any connection to horses. So the progression of toes is an illusion that was useful when the theory of evolution was first being sold to the public. Several hundred of the species are extinct; only one genus, Equus, survives. When researchers began "reading" the amino acids in proteins in the 1960's, evolutionists expected that proteins such as hemoglobin or cytochrome C, common to many types of creatures, would be more alike for creatures close to each other on the evolutionist's "tree of life", and more unlike for creatures farther apart on the "tree of life". Instead, this comparative biochemistry found that the protein sequences were just as different between creatures near each other on the tree as between those far apart, using percent of sequence differences. We find lots of variation in these proteins, but no evolutionary progression. An old evolution myth still hanging around is the notion that things that look like gill-slits, tails, etc. in developing human embryos show the embryo repeating all the stages of evolution. In 1866, Ernst Haeckel proposed his "biogenitic law" (not to be confused with the law of biogenesis that says life only comes from life). His idea was that growing vertebrate embryos went through all the forms of their supposed evolutionary ancestors ("ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny"). He published drawings comparing growing embryos of a number of animals such as the pig, cat, salamander, etc. to growing human embryos. The similarities that he said he found helped persuade people to believe the theory of evolution. Scientists eventually discovered enough about embryology to quietly discard the "biogenetic law", but it was not until a careful photographic study of growing vertebrate embryos was conducted in 1997 that Haeckel's deceit was fully revealed. They found that his drawings were so far from reality that they could not have been done from the actual embryos.11 He must have faked them. The theory of Evolution violates two laws of science. The Second Law of Thermodynamics (law of increasing entropy) says that things which start out concentrated together spread out over time. If you heat one room in a house, then open the door to that room, eventually the temperature in the whole house evens out (reaches equilibrium). Knowing how far this evening-out has progressed at any point in time tells you the entropy. Entropy can measure the loss of a system's ability to do work. Entropy is also a measure of disorder, and that is where evolution theory hits an impenetrable wall. Natural processes proceed in only one direction, toward equilibrium and disorder. Things fall apart over time, they do not get more organized. We can overcome this by making a machine and adding energy, but the Second Law prevents such a machine from assembling spontaneously from raw materials. The Law of Biogenesis was established by Louis Pasteur three years after Darwin's book was published, and simply says that life only comes from life. Living cells divide to make new cells, and fertilized eggs and seeds develop into animals and plants, but chemicals never fall together and life appears. Evolutionists often call certain chemicals "the building blocks of life", giving people the false impression that you just stack the building blocks together and you get life. No one has ever done that, including the famous 1953 Miller/Urey experiment where all they got were clumps of amino acids. Many people mistakenly think scientists have made life from chemicals in the lab, but they have not (though many have tried very hard). If one were to succeed, you would know about it. He would get every science award there is, be all over the news, and have movies, books, buildings, statues, and schools dedicated to him, so desperate are evolutionists on this matter. For something to be a law of science, it can never be found to have been violated, even once, over thousands of trials. No exceptions. A theory that violates two laws of science is in big trouble. When confronted with the Second Law of Thermodynamics, evolutionists usually use two tricks to try to escape. The first is to state that "it only applies to closed systems, and biological creatures are open systems, so it doesn't affect evolution." The fact is that the Second Law applies to all systems, open or closed, and to all actions and chemical reactions, from molecules to galaxies. The words "except for..." are not in this universal law. A thermodynamics system is simply any part of the universe we want to study. If we are doing an experiment in a bottle, the inside of the bottle is our system and the bottle itself is the "walls" of the system. There are only 3 kinds of systems: if no energy or matter can pass through the walls, it is an isolated system; if energy can pass through but matter cannot, it is a closed system; if both energy and matter can pass through the walls, it is an open system. Now, it is true that the laws of thermodynamics and entropy are defined in terms of isolated systems, because that is the simplest way to express them. However, experts who write textbooks on the subject are quick to say that isolated systems do not occur in nature. For practical applications, a procedure called the Legendre Transform mathematically converts entropy to a variable called Gibbs free energy that is useful for working with real-world systems. Most natural systems are open, but it is convenient to model them as closed. For example, even though a bacterium is an open system, modeling it as a closed system makes it easier to understand chemical reactions in it.2,3 You are an open system. You eat food (which comes from outside yourself) and your body survives and grows. Evolutionists believe that all we need is an open system with sufficient energy flowing into it for evolution to succeed. If that were so, you could just stand right behind a jet engine as the aircraft prepares for takeoff, absorb that blast of energy, and evolve to a higher life form. In reality, of course, you would be incinerated because absorbing energy without a mechanism to convert it to a useful form and employ it is destructive or useless. The mechanism must be very specific. Sticking food in your ear will not work; it must go into your mouth and through the digestive system. And the mechanism must be in place and functioning first, before energy is added, or the energy is wasted. The "open system" ploy is just an attempt to avoid dealing with the Second Law because the Law prohibits any functioning biological mechanism from falling together by pure chance, without assistance or plan, using only the properties of matter. The second trick is to say that "when you freeze water, the disordered molecules become beautifully ordered ice crystals or snowflakes. If water can bypass the Second Law and organize its molecules by a natural process, why not the chemicals of life?" At room temperature, water molecules are bouncing off each other and you have water. When you take away heat and they freeze, water molecules stick to each other with weak molecular bonds, forming ice crystals and snowflakes because of the shape of the H2O molecule. The same thing happens if you put a bunch of weak magnets in a jar and shake it. The magnets bounce around. When you stop, the magnets stick together. They are at a lower energy level. There is order, yet no complexity -just a simple repetitive structure that does not do anything. The Second Law is not bypassed or violated. But guess what. Amino acid molecules that form proteins, and nucleotide molecules that form DNA and RNA resist combining at any temperature. To combine, they need the help of mechanisms in a living cell or a biochemist in an organic chemistry laboratory.5 It means that nothing happens in the primeval soup, the pond of chemicals where evolutionists believe life began. DNA and RNA dissolve in water12, so there could not even be water in the primeval soup. DNA is made of only right-handed versions of nucleotides, while proteins are made of only left-handed versions of amino acids. Yet any random chemical reaction that produced nucleotides or amino acids would make an equal mix of left and right-handed versions of each. Even if the thousands of nucleotides or amino acids needed to form individual DNA or protein molecules were able to combine from this mix, they would be a jumble of left and right-handed versions that could not function at all. Ilya Prigogene coauthored a paper in 1972 that says in an open "system there exists a possibility for formation of ordered, low-entropy structures at sufficiently low temperatures. This ordering principle is responsible for the appearance of ordered structures such as crystals... Unfortunately this principle cannot explain the formation of biological structures."10 Prigogene won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1977 for research on dissipative structures, such as tornados, for contributions to nonequilibrium thermodynamics, and for bridging the gap between biology and other sciences. Evolutionists wrongly claim he won for showing how thermodynamics could explain the formation of organized systems, from fluctuations in chaos, that lead to the origin of life. They thought he was their hero. Over thirty years later, nothing has come of it. There is no escape from the Second Law of Thermodynamics. It prohibits the spontaneous origin of life and the progression from microbes to man. Even a single cell is not simple. In Darwin's day researchers looked at cells under the microscope and saw little balloons filled with goo they called protoplasm, so they thought cells were simple forms of life. Almost 150 years later we know that there are many types of cells, and each cell is a little city at work. The smallest known genome (Mycoplasma genitalium) has 482 genes.6 The minimum possible for an organism to survive is probably 200 to 300 genes. Most bacteria have 1000 to 4000 genes. A popular textbook on the cell1 is 1600 pages long and weighs 7 pounds. Everything about the cell is stunningly complex. Plants and animals are made of a great variety of cells. Cells are made of proteins, and everything that goes on in a creature involves proteins interacting with each other. Proteins are generally 50 to 2000 amino acids long; a typical one has about 300 amino acids.1 A protein is not just a long ribbon of amino acids strung together from the DNA pattern. It folds itself into a 3D structure. The temperature and chemical concentrations must be right for it to fold correctly, and many proteins get help from special proteins called "molecular chaperones". Chaperones can keep proteins separated from each other while they are folding, prevent mistakes in folding, and even unfold mistakes to give the protein a second chance to get it right. After helping one protein fold, a chaperone will go help another one fold. "A chaperone protein (bottom, yellow) called SecB guides the folding of another protein in this artist's illustration." --Science News, December 1, 2007, Vol. 172, p. 342 Making and folding proteins goes on continuously throughout the body. Misfolding can lead to more than proteins that don't work. In humans, bunches of them (aggregates) can lead to diseases such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's, or sickle cell. "Proteins are so precisely built that the change of even a few atoms in one amino acid can sometimes disrupt the structure of the whole molecule so severely that all function is lost."1 All proteins stick (bind) to other molecules. But each can bind to only a few of the thousands it encounters. "An average protein in a human cell may interact with somewhere between 5 and 15 different partners."1 Their shapes fit each other like a hand in a glove. "Proteins can form enormously sophisticated chemical devices." "The most impressive tasks are carried out by large protein assemblies formed from many protein molecules." "Each of the central processes in a cell... is catalyzed by a highly coordinated, linked set of 10 or more proteins."1 The parts of a cell where proteins are made (ribosomes) are themselves made of many different proteins. "The complexity of living organisms is staggering."1 In the face of this breathtaking complexity, evolutionists have tried to find the fewest things necessary for a cell to function. They came up with 15 general categories (such as energy production and conversion, cell division, etc.). Each category requires many proteins. All have to be in place and working together or the cell is wrecked. So evolutionists have to believe that for each protein, pure chance laid out long strings of amino acids that fold themselves into the exact shapes needed to interact with other specialized proteins and, where needed, get help from chaperone proteins which themselves appeared by chance. The necessary proteins cannot be invented one at a time. Either they are all there, ready to work together, or nothing happens and they disintegrate. Yet even if it could design proteins, mutation-natural selection would only work on one at a time sporadically over many years. Considering just the complexity of proteins, the notion of creating them with mutation-natural selection is as silly as asking someone to build a television set with a spoon and a toothbrush. If Darwin had known what we have learned about proteins, he probably would have abandoned the theory of evolution. A new science, Systems Biology, began around the year 2000. At the Institute for Systems Biology website, they write: "As scientists have developed the tools and technologies which allow them to delve deeper into the foundations of biological activity ? genes and proteins ? they have learned that these components almost never work alone. They interact with each other and with other molecules in highly structured but incredibly complex ways, similar to the complex interactions among the countless computers on the Internet. Systems biology seeks to understand these complex interactions, as these are the keys to understanding life." An April 2008 article in Science News magazine adds: "To make sense of the genome, systems biologists think in terms of networks. If two kinds of proteins or other biological molecules interact, they are connected on the network." "These network diagrams... show how individual pathways crisscross to form a tangled web. Each protein in a pathway can interact with molecules in other pathways, sometimes dozens of them." Additionally, "systems biologists produce complex maps of how genes and proteins interact, and these maps help scientists analyze results from drug screening." "Cells 'talk' to each other by passing chemical signals back and forth. They also sense their physical surroundings through proteins on their surfaces called integrins. All these cues serve to orient the cells in the body and inform them about how to behave so that they cooperate with the rest of the cells in the tissue." "The cells are not complete by themselves. They need signals from outside," says Mina J. Bissell of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. "The unit of function literally is the tissue."-- Patrick Barry. April 5, 2008. You, in a dish: cultured human cells could put lab animals out of work for chemical and drug testing. Science News, Vol. 173, No. 14, pp. 218-220. Only a small portion of a creature's DNA codes for proteins (around 1.5% in humans). In the 1970s, evolutionists began calling the rest of it "junk DNA", saying this collection of useless evolutionary debris showed there was no intelligent design involved. Decades later, researchers are finding that different parts of the "junk" do vital work. Some of this DNA plays a role in turning genes on and off at the right moments in a developing embryo7. Other bits separate coding and regulating sections, like punctuation marks in writing, so that DNA is not a long run-on sentence8. Other bits called Alu elements, found only in primates, can be spliced in or out during RNA processing to make different versions of the same gene. This "alternative splicing" may explain why the approximately 30,000 genes in the human genome produce about 90,000 proteins9. The number of protein-coding genes in organisms ranging from plants to flies to humans is fairly similar. The largest differences in their genomes are the amounts of the other DNA they have. The "junk" label discouraged research into this part of the genome for many years; who would want to waste their time studying it? Consequently, much remains to be discovered about this DNA. Yet already we know that a lot of it is not the junk evolutionists were counting on. There are only two possibilities. Either every part of every living thing arose by random chance, or an intelligence designed them. In spite of the overwhelming evidence that the theory of evolution is dead wrong, many are not ready to throw in the towel. They desperately hope that some natural process will be found that causes things to fall together into organized complexity. These are people of great faith. And they are so afraid of connecting God with science that, like the Japanese Army of World War II, they would rather die than surrender. Unfortunately, the staunchest defenders sit in places of esteem and authority as professors, scientists, and editors, and have the full faith of the news media. The public is naturally in awe of their prestige. But once the facts are spelled out it becomes obvious that the theory of evolution is long overdue for the trash can, and to perpetuate it is a fraud. Perhaps it made sense for what was known when The Origin of Species was published in 1859, but not today. The only tactic left to evolutionists is to ridicule their critics as simpletons who don't understand how their pet theory really works. Here is a link to a roster of hundreds of professionals whose advanced academic degrees certify that they thoroughly understand evolution theory. They also have the courage to defy the high priests of academia by voluntarily adding their names to a skeptics list against Darwinism. Philip S. Skell*, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, wrote in the August 29, 2005 edition of The Scientist: "I recently asked more than seventy eminent researchers if they would have done their work differently if they had thought Darwin's theory was wrong. The responses were all the same: No. I also examined the outstanding discoveries of the past century: the discovery of the double helix; the characterization of the ribosome; the mapping of genomes; research on medications and drug reactions; improvements in food production and sanitation; the development of new surgeries; and others. I even queried biologists working in areas where one would expect the Darwinian paradigm to have most benefited research, such as the emergence of resistance to antibiotics and pesticides. Here, as elsewhere, I found that Darwin's theory had provided no discernible guidance, but was brought in, after the breakthroughs, as an interesting narrative gloss." -- Philip S. Skell. August 29, 2005. Why Do We Invoke Darwin? The Scientist, Vol. 19, No. 16, p. 10. *Philip S. Skell is Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus at Penn State University. He is sometimes called "the father of carbene chemistry" in organic chemistry, and is widely known for the "Skell Rule", which was first applied to carbenes - the "fleeting species" of carbon. The rule, which predicts the most probable pathway through which certain chemical compounds will be formed, found use throughout the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. He says that during World War II "I was personally associated with an antibiotics research group, engaged in the full range of activities, from finding organisms which inhibited bacterial growth to the isolation and proof of structure of the antibiotics they produced." Ernst Chain (1906-1979) and two others were awarded the 1945 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Chain identified the structure of penicillin, and isolated the active substance. He is considered to be one of the founders of the field of antibiotics. Concerning Darwin's theory of evolution, Chain found it to be "a very feeble attempt" to explain the origin of species based on assumptions so flimsy that "it can hardly be called a theory." * He saw the reliance on chance mutations as a "hypothesis based on no evidence and irreconcilable with the facts." ** He wrote: "These classic evolutionary theories are a gross oversimplification of an immensely complex and intricate mass of facts, and it amazes me that they were swallowed so uncritically and readily, and for such a long time, by so many scientists without a murmur of protest." ** Chain concluded that he "would rather believe in fairies than in such wild speculation" as Darwinism.* He was born in Berlin, Germany, and obtained his Ph.D. in biochemistry and physiology there. He worked as a research scientist at Cambridge (also studying for a Ph.D. there), at Oxford University until 1948, and then as a professor and researcher at several other universities. In 1938, Chain came across Alexander Fleming's 1929 paper on penicillin, and showed it to his colleague Howard Florey. In their research, Chain isolated and purified penicillin.--Jerry Bergman, Ph.D. April 2008. Ernst Chain: Antibiotics Pioneer. Acts&Facts, Vol. 37, No. 4, pp. 10-12. * Clark, RW 1985. The Life of Ernst Chain: Penicillin and Beyond. New York: St. Martin's Press, p. 147. ** Chain, E. 1970. Social Responsibility and the Scientist in Modern Western Society (Robert Waley Cohen memorial lecture). London: The Council of Christians and Jews, p. 25. Richard C. Strohman, professor emeritus of molecular and cell biology at Berkeley, and an evolutionist, wrote in the March 1997 edition of Nature Biotechnology: "There is a striking lack of correspondence between genetic and evolutionary change. Neo-Darwinian theory predicts a steady, slow continuous, accumulation of mutations (microevolution) that produces a progressive change in morphology leading to new species, genera, and so on (macroevolution). But macroevolution now appears to be full of discontinuities (punctuated evolution), so we have a mismatch of some importance. That is, the fossil record shows mostly stasis, or lack of change, in a species for many millions of years; there is no evidence there for gradual change even though, in theory, there must be a gradual accumulation of mutations at the micro level." "We currently have no adequate explanation for stasis or for punctuated equlibrium in evolution, or for higher order regulation in cells." "We seem to lack any scientific basis with which to explain, for example, evolution." "Not necessarily so. It does suggest, however, that our evolutionary theory is incomplete." "The theory is in trouble because it insists on locating the driving force solely in random mutations." "It is becoming clear that sequence information in DNA, by itself, contains insufficient information for determing how gene products (proteins) interact to produce a mechanism of any kind. The reason is that the multicomponent complexes constructed from many proteins are themselves machines with rules of their own; rules not written in DNA." "The rules... of brain formation are not reducible to genetic maps and to the rules of genetic theory. Each higher level of organization has its own rules, and there is no continuous gradual transition from one level or hierarchy to the other." "We have been lulled into reasoning that if the gene theory works at one level--from DNA to protein--it must work at all higher levels as well. We have thus extended the theory of the gene to the realm of gene management. But gene management is an entirely different process, involving interactive cellular processes that display a complexity that may only be described as transcalculational, a mathematical term for mind boggling." "Understanding of complex function may in fact be impossible without recourse to influences outside of the genome." --Richard C. Strohman. March 1997. The coming Kuhnian revolution in biology. Nature Biotechnology, Vol. 15, pp. 194-200. Sean B. Carroll, of the Medical Institute and Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the University of Wisconsin--Madison, wrote in a 2001 edition of Nature: "A long-standing issue in evolutionary biology is whether the processes observable in extant populations and species (microevolution) are sufficient to account for the larger-scale changes evident over longer periods of life's history (macroevolution). Outsiders to this rich literature may be surprised that there is no consensus on this issue."-- Sean B. Carroll. 8 February 2001. Nature, Vol. 409, p. 669. A symposium on evolution was held at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany in November 2001, organized by PhD students. The meeting report says that "the symposium ended with a panel discussion about questions of microevolution (evolution within the species) and macroevolution (evolution after speciation). The issue at stake was whether extrapolation from the selection theory operating on organisms is sufficient to explain all patterns of macroevolution. In other words, do we need an independent body of theory to explain the changes occurring above, as opposed to at, the species level? There was no general agreement among the panel members. It seems that the jury is still out on this important question."-- Gáspár Jékely. 2002. Meeting report - Evolution in a nutshell. European Molecular Biology Organization reports, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 307-311. So much for "junk". Here are excerpts from a March 2008 report in Science News magazine: "Many people regard ribonucleic acid, as RNA is formally known, as 'just a middleman between DNA and protein,' says Claes Wahlestedt, a neuroscientist and genome researcher at the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Fla. Shuttling genetic information from DNA to a cell's protein factories has long been recognized as RNA's day job, summarized" as "DNA makes RNA makes protein." "Some researchers estimate that as much as 98 percent of the human genome is copied into RNA, says Sofie Salama of the University of California, Santa Cruz." "Initial observations of the genome showed islands of protein-coding genes separated by vast oceans of DNA--sometimes called junk DNA--where nothing happened. That would mean that only about 2 percent of the human genome is transcribed into RNA. But recent efforts to map all of the RNA transcripts show that virtually every base pair of DNA in the human genome is copied into at least one RNA molecule." "More than 20 classes of noncoding RNA have been discovered in the past decade. Many of these RNAs are much smaller than their protein-coding cousins, the messenger RNAs. Some noncoding RNAs contain a mere 20 nucleotides, the chemical units corresponding to letters in the genetic alphabet. Scientists used to throw away such short bits of RNA, thinking the tiny pieces were nothing more than breakdown products of larger molecules--basically garbage, Wahlestedt says." "Researchers now know that noncoding RNAs get involved in virtually everything that happens in or to a cell, says Georges St. Laurent III, a computational and molecular biologist at George Washington University in Washington, DC" "They monitor temperature, chemical conditions, electrical currents, and other signals from the environment and then tell the cell how to respond." "One class of noncoding RNAs, known as microRNAs, modulates production of proteins. MicroRNAs get their name from their minuscule size--most are only about 22 nucleotides long. These short pieces of RNA find and bind to complementary sequences in messenger RNAs. Usually that binding causes the ribosome, the protein-building machinery in a cell, to grind to a halt. The ribosome remains paused until other signals allow it to resume making protein or until the RNA message is destroyed." " 'It's not only important that you make a particular protein, but when and where you make it,' Salama says."-- Tina Hesman Saey. March 1, 2008. Micromanagers: New classes of RNAs emerge as key players in the brain. Science News, Vol. 173, No. 9, pp. 136-137. ********** 1. Alberts, Bruce, Alexander Johnson, Julian Lewis, Martin Raff, Keith Roberts, Peter Walter. 2008. Molecular Biology of The Cell, 5th edition. Garland Science, New York. 2. Anderson, GM 1996. Thermodynamics of Natural Systems. John Wiley & Sons, INC., Toronto. 3. Cemic, Ladislav. 2005. Thermodynamics in Mineral Sciences. Springer, New York. 4. Gillooly, James F., Andrew P. Allen, Geoffrey B. West, James H. Brown. January 4, 2005. The rate of DNA evolution: Effects of body size and temperature on the molecular clock. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 102, No. 1, pp. 140-145. 5. Gish, Duane T., PhD. Biochemistry. January 2007. A Few Reasons an Evolutionary Origin of Life Is Impossible. Impact #403, Acts and Facts, Institute for Creation Research. 6. Glass, John I., Nacyra Assad-Garcia, Nina Alperovich, Shibu Yooseph, Matthew R. Lewis, Mahir Maruf, Clyde A. Hutchison III, Hamilton O. Smith, J. Craig Venter. January 10, 2006. Essential genes of a minimal bacterium. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 103, No. 2, pp. 425-430. 7. Lowe, Craig B., Gill Bejerano, David Haussler. May 8, 2007. Thousands of human mobile element fragments undergo strong purifying selection near developmental genes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 104, No. 19, pp. 8005-8010. 8. Lunyak, Victoria V., Gratien G. Prefontaine, Esperanza Núñez, Thorsten Cramer, Bong-Gun Ju, Kenneth A. Ohgi, Kasey Hutt, Rosa Roy, Angel García-Díaz, Xiaoyan Zhu, Yun Yung, Lluís Montoliu, Christopher K. Glass, Michael G. Rosenfeld. July 13, 2007. Developmentally Regulated Activation of a SINE B2 Repeat as a Domain Boundary in Organogenesis. Science, Vol. 317, No. 5835, pp. 248-251. 9. Makalowski, Wojciech. May 23, 2003. Not Junk After All. Science, Vol. 300, No. 5623, pp. 1246-1247. 10. Prigogine, Ilya, Gregoire Nicolis, Agnes Babloyants. 1972. Thermodynamics of Evolution. Physics Today, Vol. 25, No. 11, pp. 23-44. 11. Richardson, Michael K., James Hanken, Mayoni L. Gooneratne, Claude Pieau, Albert Raynaud, Lynne Selwood, Glenda M. Wright. July 1997. There is no highly conserved embryonic stage in the vertebrates: implications for current theories of evolution and development. Anatomy and Embryology, Vol. 196, No. 2, pp. 91-106. 12. Wood, Richard D., Michael Mitchell, John Sgouros, Tomas Lindahl. 16 February 2001. Human DNA Repair Genes. Science, Vol. 291, No. 5507, pp. 1284-1289. Darwin is liked by evolutionists because he liberated science from the straitjacket of observation and opened the door to storytellers. This gave professional evolutionists job security so they can wander through biology labs as if they belong there. --- David Coppedge Speaking of Science, Creation Matters, May/June 2003 John Michael Fischer, 2006-2008 www.newgeology.us

Read more...

[?? ??] teps 2008? 4? 19? h16 p-take 0301 R 03..

10 May 2008 at 9:59am  [?? ??] teps 2008? 4? 19? h16 p-take 0301 R 03..

Unknown length - May 10, 2008

reading comprehension 1. Culture shock is the mental shock of adjusting to anew country and a new culture that is dramatically different from your own. It largely results from the loss of cultural and behavioral cues. Climate, food, landscapes, people and their ways can all seem strange, disturbing or irritating to one experiencing culture shock. However, remember that such reactions are normal, and should be anticipated. As one becomes adjusted to a new culture and attitudes, he or she will begin to ____________. (a) feel normal again (b) appreciate cultural differences (c) learn more about culture shock (d) occasionally desire a change 2. A recent study finds that listening to music before and after surgery helps patients cope with related stress. Blood pressure levels in patients aged 51 to 87 years rose significantly before surgery, but dropped to normal within five minutes of listening to music of their choice. On the other hand, blood pressure levels in a control group remained high. This is convincing evidence that music has beneficial cardiovascular and cognitive effects and __________________ caused by the stress of surgery. (a) quickly eliminates any pain (b) normalizes high blood pressure (c) even disturbs one's peace of mind (d) further increases blood pressure. 3. Dear Ms. Page: Thank you for your recent order from kitchen Tools. However, we regret that we are unable to send you the merchandise you requested because your Visa card has expired. If ___________, please forward your check or other acceptable form of payment and we will be happy to process your order. Thank you. Fran Daniels (a) you want to cancel the order this time (b) you just paid the amount due as of today (c) you have got a new Visa card issued (d) you still want the Power Blender 4. In this age of diversity-worship, it is considered virtually axiomatic that all cultures are ___________. According to this ethos, Western culture is in no way superior to that of African tribalists of Eskimo seal hunters. There are no objective standards that can be used to evaluate the intellectual stature of different cultures, and rather it is considered important to acknowledge the common value of every culture, In this view, to deny the equality of all cultures is to be guilty of the most heinous of intellectual sins, ethnocentrism. (a) equal (b) different (c) connected (d) discriminating 5. 'The Plan Ahead' offers individuals _________________________. Right now you have the opportunity to be part of a proven, successful, rapidly-growing company. Applying for an available position couldn't be any easier. Review the list of available job opening in the geographical area of your choice. Locate a job listing which matches your interests. Click on the job applications button. Complete our simple job application. Upload your resume, and then click send. If you meet the qualifications for that position, 'The Plan Ahead' will notify you to schedule an interview. It's that easy! (a) a time-saving plan for doing research (b) a lifetime guarantee for insurance coverage (c) a convenient opportunity to enter an exciting career (d) a sure way for relocating to a different area 6. You are cordially invited to attend a ceremony given in honor of Mr. Tom Willard, ____________________ M&G Inc. Mr. Willard has been a dedicated member of the company for almost thirty years, and we will all miss his presence. The ceremony will be held at the Convention Center, on Jan. 15, 2003, at 7 pm The company will be presenting Mr. Willard with a gift at that time. A party will follow the ceremony, so be prepared to eat, drink, and dance. We hope you will come and share in this tribute to a fine individual. (a) for his recent appointment at (b) on his twentieth birthday at (c) on his retirement from (d) for his future contribution to 7. William Shakespeare is unequivocally the most famous playwright in the world, but there _________________________. Born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April (probably April 23) of 1564, shakespeare presumably attended the Stratford grammar school, where he could have acquired a respectable knowledge of Latin. There are legends about Shakespeare's youth but no documented facts. The first record we have of his life after his christening is that of his marriage in 1582 to Anne Hathaway. A daughter was born in 1583 and twins, a boy and a girl, in 1585. We possess no information about his activities for the next seven years, but by 1592 he was in London working as an actor and was apparently well known as a playwright. (a) is much controversy about his literary achievement (b) is little consensus on when he started his career (c) are yet many questions about his biographical background (d) is yet more to learn about his work 8. There is little dispute that red wine can help keep the heart healthy. Now it's increasingly clear that grape juice may ___________. Purple grape juice?not the white kind?seems to offset the damaging effects of LDL(or 'bad')cholesterol and keep blood vessels elastic flavonoids?aromatic micronutrients?found in red wine. (a) be even more beneficial (b) have a similar effect (c) completely supplant red wine (d) be used in alternative medicine 9. The first Meal Maker restaurant was started in Maitland, Florida in 1975 with a menu that consisted of just three items: beef fondue, Swiss cheese fondue and milk chocolate fondue for dessert. Since then, the Meal Maker menu has grown immensely, and now serves more than twenty dished. In addition, ___________________________. For example, within six years, five more Meal Maker restaurants have opened in Orlando, Tampa and GainesVille. At latest count, there are 52 restaurants in locations all across the nation. what's more, new restaurants are being launched in new areas every day. (a) more dishes have still been added since (b) the number of restaurants has continually increased (c) a greater number of people came to know how to cook fondue (d) a variety of dishes have been adopted by other restaurants 10. The field of American studies began as an amalgam of history and literature during the pro-World War II period. In the post-was period, it gradually incorporated studies of the arts and material culture, expanding later on to encompass popular culture and media, and growing still further with studies that focused on issues of race, ethnicity, and gender. By the end of the twentieth century, American studies had also incorporated comparative studies of Canada and Latin America. Indeed a transnational, global perspective on American culture has become one of the leading currents in the field as we begin the 21st century. Now most scholars agree that the field as we begin the 21st century. Now most scholars agree that the field of American studies ____________________, encompassing a wide range of disciplines that, in one way or another, are trying to describe the cultures of the United States. (a) began to militate against plurality (b) has a shared basis with gender studies (c) continues to expand (d) is implementing new critical methods 11. In these troubled times, there is still comfort in rediscovering books from childhood. And this holiday season, old fairy tales we read in our childhood are all out in new collections, and are selling well. What makes these old stories so beloved after all these years? There may be many reasons, but one clear thing is that all these stories depict a world in which things always turn out all right in the end. After all, the more people find the real world troubling and aggravating, the more people want to indulge themselves in a world that ___________________________ from time to time. (a) always ends in a blissful marriage (b) fulfills their wish for a happy ending (c) makes their experience substantialized (d) invokes endearing people who are dead now 12. Every profession has its own history in which the accumulation of knowledge is the basis for pushing the frontiers into the unknown. Dali and Picasso are two masters who stood at the vanguard of two opposite attitudes toward artistic traditions in the twentieth century: to use that accumulated knowledge and build upon it, or to discard it. Dali embraced all the science of painting as a way to study the psyche through subconscious images. He believed the artist should allow these images to reach the conscious, and freeze them on canvas to give the consciousness the opportunity to comprehend their meaning. Picasso ____________________ . He completely rejected the methods of painting handed down form his predecessors, emphasizing that the ingenuity of childhood is the basis of art. To him, the less the artist is preoccupied with his craft, the better his art. (a) took the opposite approach to art (b) opened a new horizon in Cubism (c) tried to accommodate as many artistic methods as possible (d) hoped to find a way to follow the images of the subconscious 13. If you think hurricanes and tornadoes are powerful, take a look at the sun's periodic storms. Kicking up twisting arcs of fiery gases, solar eruptions from that great thermonuclear reactor in the sky can stretch as far as the distance from Earth to the moon. The most intense outburst explode a billion tons of material off the sun's searing (6.090?)surface at speeds of millions of kilometers an hour. If these electrically charged particles happen to slam against Earth's atmosphere, they can imperil astronauts or push satellites out of orbit. If they hit the ground, they can knock out electrical-power systems and possibly change the planetary climate. To avoid this kind of disaster, scientists are strenuously attempting to ___________________________ with all the accuracy of terrestrial weather forecasts. (a) predict storms on the sun (b) diminish the degree of percussion (c) find how to react to such a storm (d) keep an eye on the sun's orbit motion 14. All 143 people abroad Gulf Air flight 054 from Cairo to Bahrain were killed when the Airbus A320 plunged into the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf, less than 2 km off the coast of Bahrain. The victims included many families with children returning from summer holidays. As relatives arrived in Bahrain's capital to begin the grim task of identifying bodies, investigators _________________________. It will take more time to discover its exact cause. However, based on the voice and flight date recorders recovered from the wreck, preliminary reports indicated excessive speed may have played a role in the disaster. (a) quickly responded to broadcasting reports (b) chose not to reveal the victim's identities (c) began to cooperate with the Bahrain government (d) searched for clues to the cause of the crash 15. Every culture has certain body movements, gestures and facial expressions that express emotions, comments and reactions without words. These movements are called 'body language.' There are also certain cultural habits, such as the US custom of looking a person in the eye when speaking to that person, and not standing 'too close' to the person while conversing, which are not typical or even acceptable behavior in some other counties. _____________, learning body language is an essential part of getting familiar with a different culture. (a) Therefore (b) Meanwhile (c) Nevertheless (d) Finally 16. The urge to explore the Earth has lured men on dangerous journeys across the waters since very early times. At first, the chief concern was to learn the extent of the oceans. Merely to map the boundaries was a long adventure. Then men moved from the surface of the waters down into the ocean depths. Mountains were found, taller than any that now pierce the sky, and abysses so deep that the water in them lies as quiet as though contained in huge uncorked bottles. And now we are boring into the sea floor itself, dropping thermometers down to help us calculate the heat that comes up from that mysterious furnace, _____________, all these endeavors together have not told us how the oceans work. (a) Consequently (b) Furthermore (c) Nonetheless (d) Instead 17. While many drugs speed up or depress the central nervous system, there is a class of drugs that distorts how we feel, hear, see, smell, taste, and think. Called hallucinogens because users often hallucinate, or experience nonexistent sensations, these drugs are also known as psychedelic or mind-bending drugs. Some hallucinogens come from natural sources, others are made in laboratories. Examples of natural hallucinogens are mescaline, psilocybin, DMT, and marijuana. The effects of hallucinogens on the body are unpredictable. They depend on the amount taken and the user's personality, mood, expectations, and surroundings. Although hallucinogens do not produce a physical addiction, users do develop a tolerance, so that increasing amounts must be taken to achieve the same effect. Psychological dependence on hallucinogens is will documented. Q. Which of the following is correct about hallucinogens according to the passage? (a) They can be considered to be psychologically addictive. (b) They sometimes affect the central nervous system. (c) They affect users in a predictable way. (d) They are largely obtained from natural sources. 18. Senile purpura are black-and-blue marks or bruises that develop spontaneously over the backs of the hands, forearms and occasionally on the legs. It is a rather common condition. Age and sun damage related degeneration of the connective tissue supporting the blood vessels in the skin, and loss of fat are believed to account for the markedly increased blood vessel fragility characteristic of this condition. The blood vessels in people with senile purpura are so fragile that the slightest incidental traumas to the skin, such as brushing against a tabletop or resting the elbows on a table, lead to blood vessel breakage. Q. Which of the following is NOT considered to be among the reasons for senile purpura? (a) Sunburn (b) Getting old (c) Poor diet (d) Loss of fat 19. Amoebas are usually considered the lowest and most primitive form of animal life. But simple as they may seem, these tiny one-celled organisms carry out their activities competently and efficiently. The amoeba feeds mainly on other microscopic, one-celled plants and animals including algae, bacteria, and tiny protozoa in the surrounding water. It has no mouth or other body parts for taking in or digesting food. If it finds itself near something edible, it puts out pseudopods to surround the food and flow over it. In this way, the food, along with a tiny drop of water around it, is completely enclosed in a bubblelike chamber in the amoeba's body. The chamber is called a food vacuole, and an amoeba may have several in its body at the same time. Once the food is digested, the vacuole disappears. Q. Which of the following is correct about amoebas? (a) They can sometimes eat non-unicellular animals or plants. (b) They have relatively simple types of digestive organs. (c) Each of the organs they have is always one-celled. (d) A single amoeba can have more than one food vacuole. 20. In the elementary grades, girls and boys have comparable perceptions of their own abilities. But by ninth grade and continuing through high school, on average, girls gradually lower their perceptions of their own abilities compared to boys. A similar trend was noted by the AAUW(American Association of University Women). Girls aged 8 and 9 reported feeling confident, assertive, and authoritative about themselves. But they emerged from adolescence with poor self-image, constrained views of their future and their place in society, and much less confidence about themselves and their abilities. Q. Which would be the best title of the passage? (a) The Self and Others (b) Gender and Self-esteem (c) Girls' Changing Needs (d) Personal and Collective Self-esteem 21. Three basic types of artificial nail products are currently available for those who need them. Glue-on pre-formed artificial nail kits are one option, but frequently contain acrylate adhesives. Allergic reactions to these products are quite common, and acrylates may provoke irritation in the surrounding skin. A second type of artificial nail is a pre-formed nail with and adhesive backing, which you can simply press on. Because no glues are necessary for binding them to your natural nails, this type generally causes the fewest problems. For the third type of artificial nail, a metallized paperboard template is placed around your fingertips, and sculptured nails are formed upon the surface of your natural nails by the application of layers of acrylic polymers, which are them molded to the desired length and thickness. The bonding between the prosthetic and natural nails is permanent, but often causes allergic reactions and infections. Q. Which of the following types of artificial nail is most likely to be recommended by doctors? (a) Sculptured nails (b) Press-on nails (c) Glue-on nails (d) None of the three types 22. Magna Carta, also known as the Magna Charta, was a charter granted by King John of England to the English barons on June 15, 1215. It is considered the basis of English constitutional liberties. The Magna Carta contained the first detailed definition of the relationship between the king and the barons, guaranteed feudal rights, and codified the judicial system. The charter also abolished many abuses of feudal tenures, including taxations by the Crown without consent of the common council of the kingdom. Q. What can be inferred about the time before the Magna Carta was granted? (a) The barons could not live within the king's territory before the charter. (b) The king collected money without the permission of a formal government. (c) The King and the barons had no relationship before the charter was granted. (d) There was no judicial system in England before the charted was granted. 23. In the United States, some 10 to 12 percent of all teenage students fall into the category of exceptional children. They need special teaching and other support to help them learn and prepare for adulthood. This need stems in most cases from general or special learning difficulties resulting from physical or emotional impairment, from communication problems, or from social maladjustment. The exception in this classification is the unusually gifted child. Students of especially high intelligence may also need extra teaching or support to expand and use their capabilities to the fullest extent. Their needs for such support, however, stem from reasons completely opposite from those of other exceptional children. Q. According to the passage, which of the following is correct? (a) Exceptional children are inadequately helped by the educational system. (b) Emotional impairment is the most serious problem of exceptional children. (c) About 20 percent of US students require specialized instruction. (d) Special education is needed for both gifted and learning impaired students. 24. Every civilized society has made arrangements for training its young from preschool through college. The structure of the school system normally reflects the structure of government itself. Canada and the United States, for instance, have federal systems. This implies a division of authority among different levels of government. The school systems in these nations are likewise decentralized. In countries with highly centralized systems of government, the school systems are also centralized?with control being exercised by the national government. This is the case in France, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Russia, and China. In the latter it is the Communist party that controls the school system. Other countries have a third type of school system-with control balanced between national and local government. Great Britain and Japan are example. Q. What is the best title for the passage? (a) Centralized and Decentralized School Systems. (b) Merits and Demerits of Different School System (c) School Systems and Government Systems (d) Civilized Society and School Systems 25. Contrary to general belief, this quest for import relief has hurt more companies than it has helped. As corporations begin to function globally, they develop an intricate web of marketing, production, and research relationships. The complexity of these relationships makes it unlikely that a system of import relief laws will meet the strategic needs of all the units under the same parent company. Q. What can best describe the author's attitude toward import relief? (a) endorsement (b) ambivalence (c) skepticism (d) indifference 26. An arena originally was an open, sandy place, The Romans used the term to describe the venue for gladiatorial combat or an enclosed are in which public entertainment was staged. The seating for spectators was around the arena. In common usage today, the difference between stadium and arena may be negligible. Arena, however, is often used as a name for an enclosed building that can serve as a convention center as well as a theater or sports palace. Q. What is the best title for the passage? (a) Differences between Arenas and Stadiums (b) The Origin of the Term Arena (c) What Is the Arena? (d) How Did Modern Arenas Develop? 27. One of the most popular family sports is boating. The term boat includes: the 'shell,' a slender, highly stylized vessel used exclusively in racing contests; the flat-bottomed 'punt,' which is usually propelled by pushing a pole against the bottom of a stream; and a wide variety of primitive craft used by native peoples in various parts of the world. Also classified as boats are working craft such as the fisherman's 'dory' and the 'scow' used for hauling sand or other bulk cargoes?both flat-bottomed vessels?and the 'lifeboat' found on ships. Q. What is the passage mainly about? (a) Development of boats (b) Boating as a family sport (c) Different types of boats (d) Main uses of boats 28. The United Nations has warned that if the world continues consuming water at the current rate, more than 2.7billion people will face severe water shortages by the year 2025. Mismanagement of existing water resources, population growth and changing weather patterns are the main causes of the looming crisis. The areas most at risk from the growing water scarcity are in semi-arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Even in Europe, at least 120 million people still do not have access to clean water and sanitation. Globally, more than five million people die from waterborne diseases every year. Less than 3% of the Earth's water is fresh, and most of it is in the form of polar ice or is too deep underground to reach. Q. What is the main topic of the passage? (a) The areas threatened most by water scarcity (b) UN's warning of looming water crisis (c) Concerns about wasteful water consumption (d) The main causes of water crisis 29. Most intelligence tests are designed so that they have certain statistical characteristics. For example, if the average score is 100, 50% of the people from the general population who take the tests will score 100 or above, and 50% will score below 100. About 68% of the general population will earn IQ scores between 85 and 115. Only about 16% of the population will receive scores below 85, and only 16% will score above 115. Note, however, that these figures hold true for white, native-born American whose first language is Standard English. Whether IQ tests should even be used with ethnic minority-group students is hotly debated. Q. Which of the following is the best title of the passage? (a) How is Intelligence Measured (b) What Does An IQ Score Mean? (c) Why Is and IQ Score Important (d) How Do We Check an IQ Score? 30. The game of darts, one of England's oldest sports, is played by throwing darts at a circular, numbered board divided into grids of different values. The game is most popular in English pubs, or public houses, and the similar American neighborhood taverns as a friendly competition between individuals or teams. The game of darts may go back as far as the 12th century. It began as butts, an indoor form of archery, with the butts, or rounded ends, of barrels as targets. By the 16the century, it had become a tournament pastime. The pilgrim settlers who came to North America aboard the Mayflower in 1620 played darts during their journey. In Britain today there are about 7,000 dart clubs in the National Darts Association. Other groups that oversee dart-playing contests are the British Darts Organization and the Scottish Darts Association. In addition to a million registered players, there are more than 5million players who are not affiliated with clubs. Q. Which is correct according to the passage? (a) The game of darts is growing in popularity in England recently. (b) Most dart players in England and Scotland belong to a dart club. (c) The game of darts was introduced to North America in the 17th century. (d) Today, North Americans adapted darts to their unique interests. 31. A 60th anniversary edition of Orson Welles' Citizen Kane was released on DVD last week. This is no mean trick for a movie that many viewers feel that they have seen more than enough of. The film had to come to DVD sooner or later, and here it is, with two long commentaries by a film critic and Welles' biographer, a fine documentary about the conflict between Welles and William R. Hearst, on whose life the film was based, and a variety of extras from storyboards to ad campaigns. Q. Which of the following is correct about the new DVD, according to the review? (a) It came out on the 60th birthday of the director. (b) It is likely to attract many viewers despite its age. (c) It is a documentary film about Welles' life. (d) It was released despite great controversy. 32. You can contribute to your own good health and longevity with the following basic measure. Above all, stop smoking. Smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable illness in the county. Avoid excessive alcohol consumption. Otherwise, you will put your health in danger. Maintain a healthy weight. Excessive weight is linked to heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes,? back problems, and a host of other ailments. If you need to lose weight, do so gradually. Exercise. Inactivity puts you at risk for ailments ranging from heart disease to osteoporosis. Never drink and drive, and avoid riding with a driver who has been drinking. Finally, fasten your seat belt every time you drive or ride in a car. Seat belts afford even more protection than air bags. Q. How many basic rules are proposed for a healthy and long life in the passage? (a) 4 (b) 5 (c) 6 (d) 7 33. Many counties have national holidays. Tradition or law has established certain days for the whole country to celebrate. Strictly speaking, however, the United States has no national holidays. Congress and the president may declare legal public holidays only for the District of Columbia and, nationwide, for federal employees. Each state and territory decides for itself what days will be legal holidays within its borders. For example, several states have designated the traditional date of May 30 as Memorial Day, though some agencies in those states observe the legal holiday on the last Monday in May. A number of Southern states have set aside a Confederate Memorial Day, but the date of its observance varies; four states celebrate the holiday in April, three in May, and two in June. Q. According to the passage, which of the following is correct about national or legal holidays in the US (a) They are often observed only by federal employee. (b) They have been introduced mainly by tradition. (c) Some holidays are not nationally observed. (d) Memorial Day is observed nationwide on the same day. 34. From ancient times, marriage has been strictly regulated by both customary law and religious practice. The ancient concept of marriage, one that survives in some places, was that of a legal transaction between families. The basic issues were the economic dependence of women and the ownership of property. A wedding represented the transfer of a woman from the control of and economic dependence upon her family to domination by her husband. There was also a transfer of the woman's property, usually called a dowry, form father to husband. This transfer of property was made whether the marriage was voluntary on the part of the couple or an arranged marriage. Q. Which of the following best characterizes marriage in ancient times? (a) The change of a woman's independence to her dependence on her husband (b) The handing over of a woman and her property from her father to her husband (c) The payment of a dowry by a woman's father or her family to her husband (d) The transfer of a woman's rights to her husband for the sake of her family 35. Hi-tech industry manufacturer is seeking motivated individuals with entrepreneurial drive for US and Canadian expansion. Huge compensation and benefits program offered! Due to our overwhelming growth of nearly 100% over the last three years, we have an immediate need and are willing to train and develop even non-experienced individuals in local markets. Now you can have your very own part-time or full-time business backed with full company support and start up capital if needed, and can work right from the comfort of your home. Create your own hours! Q. What is this passage about? (a) An advertisement seeking entrepreneurs (b) An offer to start a company (c) A training offer for small-sized business (d) A creative way to spend time 36. Almost every family has one hypochondriac. Ours was Uncle Sam. As soon as Uncle Sam heard about a disease, he was sure that he had it. Once he worried several weeks because he was certain that he had cancer. A month later, he was convinced that he had malaria. Then for quite a while he was afraid his heart was giving out. Yet according to his doctor, the only thing wrong with Uncle Sam was his overly active imagination. Q. According to the passage who do you think is a hypocondriac (a) A person who gets sick easily (b) A person who has high potentiality of illness (c) A person who cannot identify his own disease (d) A person who is too much preoccupied with his own health 37. Different groups of people use libraries. Each group and each person has different library needs. Because no one library can cater to everyone's unique needs, there are different kinds. Because the money to run a public library comes form taxes, it is a free service to the public-everyone living in a certain neighborhood, city, county, or province. Such a library serves all ages and groups as an information center. There were early types of public libraries in ancient Greece and Rome. However, they did not lend materials freely as do the world's public libraries today. Q. According to the passage, which of the following is correct about public libraries? (a) They are generally run by a state government. (b) They are known to have first developed in ancient Rome. (c) They do not require its users to pay for its services. (d) They cost more to run than other types of libraries. 38. It is easy for us to make excuses about not having enough time for regular exercise, but it only requires about 15-20 minutes a day. (a) Doing exercise as soon as you get up will make you more able to cope with any problems that the day might bring. (b) A few simple breathing exercises practised at lunch time can give an energy boost for the day. (c) Exercising right before you go to bed will help to promote a peaceful night's sleep and ensure that you awake more refreshed next morning. (d) The best times for practising are either first thing in the morning or last thing at night. 39. Ever since 1906, when German physician Alois Alzheimer described the degenerative brain disorder that bears his name, doctors have argued about what exactly causes the disease. (a) Dr. Alzheimer carefully noted two main features of the autopsied brains of his patients. (b) One way of fighting Alzheimer's is to boost the immune system to a maximized degree. (c) He found the dense clumps, or plaques, of protein that showed up where nerve cells should have been and the tortured tangles that many of the neurons had become. (d) But whether the plaques or the tangles triggered the illness, no one could say for sure. 40. The term ecology was coined a hundred years ago by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel. (a) The eco-, from the Greek oikos (house), is the same as the eco-in economics. (b) According to an old definition, what ecologists study is 'the economy of animals and plants.' (c) 'Ecosystem' means the community of living things and the physical environment in the segment of nature an ecologist is studying. (d) In the now-standard definition, ecology is the science of the relations between organisms and their environment.

Read more...

[?? ??] teps 2008? 4? 19? h16 p-take 0301 R .avi

10 May 2008 at 7:36am  [?? ??] teps 2008? 4? 19? h16 p-take 0301 R .avi

Unknown length - May 10, 2008

reading comprehension 1. Culture shock is the mental shock of adjusting to anew country and a new culture that is dramatically different from your own. It largely results from the loss of cultural and behavioral cues. Climate, food, landscapes, people and their ways can all seem strange, disturbing or irritating to one experiencing culture shock. However, remember that such reactions are normal, and should be anticipated. As one becomes adjusted to a new culture and attitudes, he or she will begin to ____________. (a) feel normal again (b) appreciate cultural differences (c) learn more about culture shock (d) occasionally desire a change 2. A recent study finds that listening to music before and after surgery helps patients cope with related stress. Blood pressure levels in patients aged 51 to 87 years rose significantly before surgery, but dropped to normal within five minutes of listening to music of their choice. On the other hand, blood pressure levels in a control group remained high. This is convincing evidence that music has beneficial cardiovascular and cognitive effects and __________________ caused by the stress of surgery. (a) quickly eliminates any pain (b) normalizes high blood pressure (c) even disturbs one's peace of mind (d) further increases blood pressure. 3. Dear Ms. Page: Thank you for your recent order from kitchen Tools. However, we regret that we are unable to send you the merchandise you requested because your Visa card has expired. If ___________, please forward your check or other acceptable form of payment and we will be happy to process your order. Thank you. Fran Daniels (a) you want to cancel the order this time (b) you just paid the amount due as of today (c) you have got a new Visa card issued (d) you still want the Power Blender 4. In this age of diversity-worship, it is considered virtually axiomatic that all cultures are ___________. According to this ethos, Western culture is in no way superior to that of African tribalists of Eskimo seal hunters. There are no objective standards that can be used to evaluate the intellectual stature of different cultures, and rather it is considered important to acknowledge the common value of every culture, In this view, to deny the equality of all cultures is to be guilty of the most heinous of intellectual sins, ethnocentrism. (a) equal (b) different (c) connected (d) discriminating 5. 'The Plan Ahead' offers individuals _________________________. Right now you have the opportunity to be part of a proven, successful, rapidly-growing company. Applying for an available position couldn't be any easier. Review the list of available job opening in the geographical area of your choice. Locate a job listing which matches your interests. Click on the job applications button. Complete our simple job application. Upload your resume, and then click send. If you meet the qualifications for that position, 'The Plan Ahead' will notify you to schedule an interview. It's that easy! (a) a time-saving plan for doing research (b) a lifetime guarantee for insurance coverage (c) a convenient opportunity to enter an exciting career (d) a sure way for relocating to a different area 6. You are cordially invited to attend a ceremony given in honor of Mr. Tom Willard, ____________________ M&G Inc. Mr. Willard has been a dedicated member of the company for almost thirty years, and we will all miss his presence. The ceremony will be held at the Convention Center, on Jan. 15, 2003, at 7 pm The company will be presenting Mr. Willard with a gift at that time. A party will follow the ceremony, so be prepared to eat, drink, and dance. We hope you will come and share in this tribute to a fine individual. (a) for his recent appointment at (b) on his twentieth birthday at (c) on his retirement from (d) for his future contribution to 7. William Shakespeare is unequivocally the most famous playwright in the world, but there _________________________. Born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April (probably April 23) of 1564, shakespeare presumably attended the Stratford grammar school, where he could have acquired a respectable knowledge of Latin. There are legends about Shakespeare's youth but no documented facts. The first record we have of his life after his christening is that of his marriage in 1582 to Anne Hathaway. A daughter was born in 1583 and twins, a boy and a girl, in 1585. We possess no information about his activities for the next seven years, but by 1592 he was in London working as an actor and was apparently well known as a playwright. (a) is much controversy about his literary achievement (b) is little consensus on when he started his career (c) are yet many questions about his biographical background (d) is yet more to learn about his work 8. There is little dispute that red wine can help keep the heart healthy. Now it's increasingly clear that grape juice may ___________. Purple grape juice?not the white kind?seems to offset the damaging effects of LDL(or 'bad')cholesterol and keep blood vessels elastic flavonoids?aromatic micronutrients?found in red wine. (a) be even more beneficial (b) have a similar effect (c) completely supplant red wine (d) be used in alternative medicine 9. The first Meal Maker restaurant was started in Maitland, Florida in 1975 with a menu that consisted of just three items: beef fondue, Swiss cheese fondue and milk chocolate fondue for dessert. Since then, the Meal Maker menu has grown immensely, and now serves more than twenty dished. In addition, ___________________________. For example, within six years, five more Meal Maker restaurants have opened in Orlando, Tampa and GainesVille. At latest count, there are 52 restaurants in locations all across the nation. what's more, new restaurants are being launched in new areas every day. (a) more dishes have still been added since (b) the number of restaurants has continually increased (c) a greater number of people came to know how to cook fondue (d) a variety of dishes have been adopted by other restaurants 10. The field of American studies began as an amalgam of history and literature during the pro-World War II period. In the post-was period, it gradually incorporated studies of the arts and material culture, expanding later on to encompass popular culture and media, and growing still further with studies that focused on issues of race, ethnicity, and gender. By the end of the twentieth century, American studies had also incorporated comparative studies of Canada and Latin America. Indeed a transnational, global perspective on American culture has become one of the leading currents in the field as we begin the 21st century. Now most scholars agree that the field as we begin the 21st century. Now most scholars agree that the field of American studies ____________________, encompassing a wide range of disciplines that, in one way or another, are trying to describe the cultures of the United States. (a) began to militate against plurality (b) has a shared basis with gender studies (c) continues to expand (d) is implementing new critical methods 11. In these troubled times, there is still comfort in rediscovering books from childhood. And this holiday season, old fairy tales we read in our childhood are all out in new collections, and are selling well. What makes these old stories so beloved after all these years? There may be many reasons, but one clear thing is that all these stories depict a world in which things always turn out all right in the end. After all, the more people find the real world troubling and aggravating, the more people want to indulge themselves in a world that ___________________________ from time to time. (a) always ends in a blissful marriage (b) fulfills their wish for a happy ending (c) makes their experience substantialized (d) invokes endearing people who are dead now 12. Every profession has its own history in which the accumulation of knowledge is the basis for pushing the frontiers into the unknown. Dali and Picasso are two masters who stood at the vanguard of two opposite attitudes toward artistic traditions in the twentieth century: to use that accumulated knowledge and build upon it, or to discard it. Dali embraced all the science of painting as a way to study the psyche through subconscious images. He believed the artist should allow these images to reach the conscious, and freeze them on canvas to give the consciousness the opportunity to comprehend their meaning. Picasso ____________________ . He completely rejected the methods of painting handed down form his predecessors, emphasizing that the ingenuity of childhood is the basis of art. To him, the less the artist is preoccupied with his craft, the better his art. (a) took the opposite approach to art (b) opened a new horizon in Cubism (c) tried to accommodate as many artistic methods as possible (d) hoped to find a way to follow the images of the subconscious 13. If you think hurricanes and tornadoes are powerful, take a look at the sun's periodic storms. Kicking up twisting arcs of fiery gases, solar eruptions from that great thermonuclear reactor in the sky can stretch as far as the distance from Earth to the moon. The most intense outburst explode a billion tons of material off the sun's searing (6.090?)surface at speeds of millions of kilometers an hour. If these electrically charged particles happen to slam against Earth's atmosphere, they can imperil astronauts or push satellites out of orbit. If they hit the ground, they can knock out electrical-power systems and possibly change the planetary climate. To avoid this kind of disaster, scientists are strenuously attempting to ___________________________ with all the accuracy of terrestrial weather forecasts. (a) predict storms on the sun (b) diminish the degree of percussion (c) find how to react to such a storm (d) keep an eye on the sun's orbit motion 14. All 143 people abroad Gulf Air flight 054 from Cairo to Bahrain were killed when the Airbus A320 plunged into the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf, less than 2 km off the coast of Bahrain. The victims included many families with children returning from summer holidays. As relatives arrived in Bahrain's capital to begin the grim task of identifying bodies, investigators _________________________. It will take more time to discover its exact cause. However, based on the voice and flight date recorders recovered from the wreck, preliminary reports indicated excessive speed may have played a role in the disaster. (a) quickly responded to broadcasting reports (b) chose not to reveal the victim's identities (c) began to cooperate with the Bahrain government (d) searched for clues to the cause of the crash 15. Every culture has certain body movements, gestures and facial expressions that express emotions, comments and reactions without words. These movements are called 'body language.' There are also certain cultural habits, such as the US custom of looking a person in the eye when speaking to that person, and not standing 'too close' to the person while conversing, which are not typical or even acceptable behavior in some other counties. _____________, learning body language is an essential part of getting familiar with a different culture. (a) Therefore (b) Meanwhile (c) Nevertheless (d) Finally 16. The urge to explore the Earth has lured men on dangerous journeys across the waters since very early times. At first, the chief concern was to learn the extent of the oceans. Merely to map the boundaries was a long adventure. Then men moved from the surface of the waters down into the ocean depths. Mountains were found, taller than any that now pierce the sky, and abysses so deep that the water in them lies as quiet as though contained in huge uncorked bottles. And now we are boring into the sea floor itself, dropping thermometers down to help us calculate the heat that comes up from that mysterious furnace, _____________, all these endeavors together have not told us how the oceans work. (a) Consequently (b) Furthermore (c) Nonetheless (d) Instead 17. While many drugs speed up or depress the central nervous system, there is a class of drugs that distorts how we feel, hear, see, smell, taste, and think. Called hallucinogens because users often hallucinate, or experience nonexistent sensations, these drugs are also known as psychedelic or mind-bending drugs. Some hallucinogens come from natural sources, others are made in laboratories. Examples of natural hallucinogens are mescaline, psilocybin, DMT, and marijuana. The effects of hallucinogens on the body are unpredictable. They depend on the amount taken and the user's personality, mood, expectations, and surroundings. Although hallucinogens do not produce a physical addiction, users do develop a tolerance, so that increasing amounts must be taken to achieve the same effect. Psychological dependence on hallucinogens is will documented. Q. Which of the following is correct about hallucinogens according to the passage? (a) They can be considered to be psychologically addictive. (b) They sometimes affect the central nervous system. (c) They affect users in a predictable way. (d) They are largely obtained from natural sources. 18. Senile purpura are black-and-blue marks or bruises that develop spontaneously over the backs of the hands, forearms and occasionally on the legs. It is a rather common condition. Age and sun damage related degeneration of the connective tissue supporting the blood vessels in the skin, and loss of fat are believed to account for the markedly increased blood vessel fragility characteristic of this condition. The blood vessels in people with senile purpura are so fragile that the slightest incidental traumas to the skin, such as brushing against a tabletop or resting the elbows on a table, lead to blood vessel breakage. Q. Which of the following is NOT considered to be among the reasons for senile purpura? (a) Sunburn (b) Getting old (c) Poor diet (d) Loss of fat 19. Amoebas are usually considered the lowest and most primitive form of animal life. But simple as they may seem, these tiny one-celled organisms carry out their activities competently and efficiently. The amoeba feeds mainly on other microscopic, one-celled plants and animals including algae, bacteria, and tiny protozoa in the surrounding water. It has no mouth or other body parts for taking in or digesting food. If it finds itself near something edible, it puts out pseudopods to surround the food and flow over it. In this way, the food, along with a tiny drop of water around it, is completely enclosed in a bubblelike chamber in the amoeba's body. The chamber is called a food vacuole, and an amoeba may have several in its body at the same time. Once the food is digested, the vacuole disappears. Q. Which of the following is correct about amoebas? (a) They can sometimes eat non-unicellular animals or plants. (b) They have relatively simple types of digestive organs. (c) Each of the organs they have is always one-celled. (d) A single amoeba can have more than one food vacuole. 20. In the elementary grades, girls and boys have comparable perceptions of their own abilities. But by ninth grade and continuing through high school, on average, girls gradually lower their perceptions of their own abilities compared to boys. A similar trend was noted by the AAUW(American Association of University Women). Girls aged 8 and 9 reported feeling confident, assertive, and authoritative about themselves. But they emerged from adolescence with poor self-image, constrained views of their future and their place in society, and much less confidence about themselves and their abilities. Q. Which would be the best title of the passage? (a) The Self and Others (b) Gender and Self-esteem (c) Girls' Changing Needs (d) Personal and Collective Self-esteem 21. Three basic types of artificial nail products are currently available for those who need them. Glue-on pre-formed artificial nail kits are one option, but frequently contain acrylate adhesives. Allergic reactions to these products are quite common, and acrylates may provoke irritation in the surrounding skin. A second type of artificial nail is a pre-formed nail with and adhesive backing, which you can simply press on. Because no glues are necessary for binding them to your natural nails, this type generally causes the fewest problems. For the third type of artificial nail, a metallized paperboard template is placed around your fingertips, and sculptured nails are formed upon the surface of your natural nails by the application of layers of acrylic polymers, which are them molded to the desired length and thickness. The bonding between the prosthetic and natural nails is permanent, but often causes allergic reactions and infections. Q. Which of the following types of artificial nail is most likely to be recommended by doctors? (a) Sculptured nails (b) Press-on nails (c) Glue-on nails (d) None of the three types 22. Magna Carta, also known as the Magna Charta, was a charter granted by King John of England to the English barons on June 15, 1215. It is considered the basis of English constitutional liberties. The Magna Carta contained the first detailed definition of the relationship between the king and the barons, guaranteed feudal rights, and codified the judicial system. The charter also abolished many abuses of feudal tenures, including taxations by the Crown without consent of the common council of the kingdom. Q. What can be inferred about the time before the Magna Carta was granted? (a) The barons could not live within the king's territory before the charter. (b) The king collected money without the permission of a formal government. (c) The King and the barons had no relationship before the charter was granted. (d) There was no judicial system in England before the charted was granted. 23. In the United States, some 10 to 12 percent of all teenage students fall into the category of exceptional children. They need special teaching and other support to help them learn and prepare for adulthood. This need stems in most cases from general or special learning difficulties resulting from physical or emotional impairment, from communication problems, or from social maladjustment. The exception in this classification is the unusually gifted child. Students of especially high intelligence may also need extra teaching or support to expand and use their capabilities to the fullest extent. Their needs for such support, however, stem from reasons completely opposite from those of other exceptional children. Q. According to the passage, which of the following is correct? (a) Exceptional children are inadequately helped by the educational system. (b) Emotional impairment is the most serious problem of exceptional children. (c) About 20 percent of US students require specialized instruction. (d) Special education is needed for both gifted and learning impaired students. 24. Every civilized society has made arrangements for training its young from preschool through college. The structure of the school system normally reflects the structure of government itself. Canada and the United States, for instance, have federal systems. This implies a division of authority among different levels of government. The school systems in these nations are likewise decentralized. In countries with highly centralized systems of government, the school systems are also centralized?with control being exercised by the national government. This is the case in France, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Russia, and China. In the latter it is the Communist party that controls the school system. Other countries have a third type of school system-with control balanced between national and local government. Great Britain and Japan are example. Q. What is the best title for the passage? (a) Centralized and Decentralized School Systems. (b) Merits and Demerits of Different School System (c) School Systems and Government Systems (d) Civilized Society and School Systems 25. Contrary to general belief, this quest for import relief has hurt more companies than it has helped. As corporations begin to function globally, they develop an intricate web of marketing, production, and research relationships. The complexity of these relationships makes it unlikely that a system of import relief laws will meet the strategic needs of all the units under the same parent company. Q. What can best describe the author's attitude toward import relief? (a) endorsement (b) ambivalence (c) skepticism (d) indifference 26. An arena originally was an open, sandy place, The Romans used the term to describe the venue for gladiatorial combat or an enclosed are in which public entertainment was staged. The seating for spectators was around the arena. In common usage today, the difference between stadium and arena may be negligible. Arena, however, is often used as a name for an enclosed building that can serve as a convention center as well as a theater or sports palace. Q. What is the best title for the passage? (a) Differences between Arenas and Stadiums (b) The Origin of the Term Arena (c) What Is the Arena? (d) How Did Modern Arenas Develop? 27. One of the most popular family sports is boating. The term boat includes: the 'shell,' a slender, highly stylized vessel used exclusively in racing contests; the flat-bottomed 'punt,' which is usually propelled by pushing a pole against the bottom of a stream; and a wide variety of primitive craft used by native peoples in various parts of the world. Also classified as boats are working craft such as the fisherman's 'dory' and the 'scow' used for hauling sand or other bulk cargoes?both flat-bottomed vessels?and the 'lifeboat' found on ships. Q. What is the passage mainly about? (a) Development of boats (b) Boating as a family sport (c) Different types of boats (d) Main uses of boats 28. The United Nations has warned that if the world continues consuming water at the current rate, more than 2.7billion people will face severe water shortages by the year 2025. Mismanagement of existing water resources, population growth and changing weather patterns are the main causes of the looming crisis. The areas most at risk from the growing water scarcity are in semi-arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Even in Europe, at least 120 million people still do not have access to clean water and sanitation. Globally, more than five million people die from waterborne diseases every year. Less than 3% of the Earth's water is fresh, and most of it is in the form of polar ice or is too deep underground to reach. Q. What is the main topic of the passage? (a) The areas threatened most by water scarcity (b) UN's warning of looming water crisis (c) Concerns about wasteful water consumption (d) The main causes of water crisis 29. Most intelligence tests are designed so that they have certain statistical characteristics. For example, if the average score is 100, 50% of the people from the general population who take the tests will score 100 or above, and 50% will score below 100. About 68% of the general population will earn IQ scores between 85 and 115. Only about 16% of the population will receive scores below 85, and only 16% will score above 115. Note, however, that these figures hold true for white, native-born American whose first language is Standard English. Whether IQ tests should even be used with ethnic minority-group students is hotly debated. Q. Which of the following is the best title of the passage? (a) How is Intelligence Measured (b) What Does An IQ Score Mean? (c) Why Is and IQ Score Important (d) How Do We Check an IQ Score? 30. The game of darts, one of England's oldest sports, is played by throwing darts at a circular, numbered board divided into grids of different values. The game is most popular in English pubs, or public houses, and the similar American neighborhood taverns as a friendly competition between individuals or teams. The game of darts may go back as far as the 12th century. It began as butts, an indoor form of archery, with the butts, or rounded ends, of barrels as targets. By the 16the century, it had become a tournament pastime. The pilgrim settlers who came to North America aboard the Mayflower in 1620 played darts during their journey. In Britain today there are about 7,000 dart clubs in the National Darts Association. Other groups that oversee dart-playing contests are the British Darts Organization and the Scottish Darts Association. In addition to a million registered players, there are more than 5million players who are not affiliated with clubs. Q. Which is correct according to the passage? (a) The game of darts is growing in popularity in England recently. (b) Most dart players in England and Scotland belong to a dart club. (c) The game of darts was introduced to North America in the 17th century. (d) Today, North Americans adapted darts to their unique interests. 31. A 60th anniversary edition of Orson Welles' Citizen Kane was released on DVD last week. This is no mean trick for a movie that many viewers feel that they have seen more than enough of. The film had to come to DVD sooner or later, and here it is, with two long commentaries by a film critic and Welles' biographer, a fine documentary about the conflict between Welles and William R. Hearst, on whose life the film was based, and a variety of extras from storyboards to ad campaigns. Q. Which of the following is correct about the new DVD, according to the review? (a) It came out on the 60th birthday of the director. (b) It is likely to attract many viewers despite its age. (c) It is a documentary film about Welles' life. (d) It was released despite great controversy. 32. You can contribute to your own good health and longevity with the following basic measure. Above all, stop smoking. Smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable illness in the county. Avoid excessive alcohol consumption. Otherwise, you will put your health in danger. Maintain a healthy weight. Excessive weight is linked to heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes,? back problems, and a host of other ailments. If you need to lose weight, do so gradually. Exercise. Inactivity puts you at risk for ailments ranging from heart disease to osteoporosis. Never drink and drive, and avoid riding with a driver who has been drinking. Finally, fasten your seat belt every time you drive or ride in a car. Seat belts afford even more protection than air bags. Q. How many basic rules are proposed for a healthy and long life in the passage? (a) 4 (b) 5 (c) 6 (d) 7 33. Many counties have national holidays. Tradition or law has established certain days for the whole country to celebrate. Strictly speaking, however, the United States has no national holidays. Congress and the president may declare legal public holidays only for the District of Columbia and, nationwide, for federal employees. Each state and territory decides for itself what days will be legal holidays within its borders. For example, several states have designated the traditional date of May 30 as Memorial Day, though some agencies in those states observe the legal holiday on the last Monday in May. A number of Southern states have set aside a Confederate Memorial Day, but the date of its observance varies; four states celebrate the holiday in April, three in May, and two in June. Q. According to the passage, which of the following is correct about national or legal holidays in the US (a) They are often observed only by federal employee. (b) They have been introduced mainly by tradition. (c) Some holidays are not nationally observed. (d) Memorial Day is observed nationwide on the same day. 34. From ancient times, marriage has been strictly regulated by both customary law and religious practice. The ancient concept of marriage, one that survives in some places, was that of a legal transaction between families. The basic issues were the economic dependence of women and the ownership of property. A wedding represented the transfer of a woman from the control of and economic dependence upon her family to domination by her husband. There was also a transfer of the woman's property, usually called a dowry, form father to husband. This transfer of property was made whether the marriage was voluntary on the part of the couple or an arranged marriage. Q. Which of the following best characterizes marriage in ancient times? (a) The change of a woman's independence to her dependence on her husband (b) The handing over of a woman and her property from her father to her husband (c) The payment of a dowry by a woman's father or her family to her husband (d) The transfer of a woman's rights to her husband for the sake of her family 35. Hi-tech industry manufacturer is seeking motivated individuals with entrepreneurial drive for US and Canadian expansion. Huge compensation and benefits program offered! Due to our overwhelming growth of nearly 100% over the last three years, we have an immediate need and are willing to train and develop even non-experienced individuals in local markets. Now you can have your very own part-time or full-time business backed with full company support and start up capital if needed, and can work right from the comfort of your home. Create your own hours! Q. What is this passage about? (a) An advertisement seeking entrepreneurs (b) An offer to start a company (c) A training offer for small-sized business (d) A creative way to spend time 36. Almost every family has one hypochondriac. Ours was Uncle Sam. As soon as Uncle Sam heard about a disease, he was sure that he had it. Once he worried several weeks because he was certain that he had cancer. A month later, he was convinced that he had malaria. Then for quite a while he was afraid his heart was giving out. Yet according to his doctor, the only thing wrong with Uncle Sam was his overly active imagination. Q. According to the passage who do you think is a hypocondriac (a) A person who gets sick easily (b) A person who has high potentiality of illness (c) A person who cannot identify his own disease (d) A person who is too much preoccupied with his own health 37. Different groups of people use libraries. Each group and each person has different library needs. Because no one library can cater to everyone's unique needs, there are different kinds. Because the money to run a public library comes form taxes, it is a free service to the public-everyone living in a certain neighborhood, city, county, or province. Such a library serves all ages and groups as an information center. There were early types of public libraries in ancient Greece and Rome. However, they did not lend materials freely as do the world's public libraries today. Q. According to the passage, which of the following is correct about public libraries? (a) They are generally run by a state government. (b) They are known to have first developed in ancient Rome. (c) They do not require its users to pay for its services. (d) They cost more to run than other types of libraries. 38. It is easy for us to make excuses about not having enough time for regular exercise, but it only requires about 15-20 minutes a day. (a) Doing exercise as soon as you get up will make you more able to cope with any problems that the day might bring. (b) A few simple breathing exercises practised at lunch time can give an energy boost for the day. (c) Exercising right before you go to bed will help to promote a peaceful night's sleep and ensure that you awake more refreshed next morning. (d) The best times for practising are either first thing in the morning or last thing at night. 39. Ever since 1906, when German physician Alois Alzheimer described the degenerative brain disorder that bears his name, doctors have argued about what exactly causes the disease. (a) Dr. Alzheimer carefully noted two main features of the autopsied brains of his patients. (b) One way of fighting Alzheimer's is to boost the immune system to a maximized degree. (c) He found the dense clumps, or plaques, of protein that showed up where nerve cells should have been and the tortured tangles that many of the neurons had become. (d) But whether the plaques or the tangles triggered the illness, no one could say for sure. 40. The term ecology was coined a hundred years ago by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel. (a) The eco-, from the Greek oikos (house), is the same as the eco-in economics. (b) According to an old definition, what ecologists study is 'the economy of animals and plants.' (c) 'Ecosystem' means the community of living things and the physical environment in the segment of nature an ecologist is studying. (d) In the now-standard definition, ecology is the science of the relations between organisms and their environment.

Read more...

I'll Always Be With You - Original Song - Cure Alzheimer's

18 Nov 2007 at 11:07pm  I'll Always Be With You - Original Song - Cure Alzheimer's
CarolSueKirkpatrick
4 min - Nov 19, 2007

©2001 Words & music written and performed by Carol Sue Kirkpatrick. All rights reserved. Special thanks to Andy Foyston (AndyF) for his online orchestration additions! Video featuring my mother, family and myself. I wrote this song for my mother shortly after taking her to have her legal will done. Thank you for listening... ~Lyrics~ "I'LL ALWAYS BE WITH YOU" (Amazing Grace & The Old Rugged Cross) I asked my momma today what will I do when you're gone She's getting up in age and her memories are not as strong And she said, play Amazing Grace and the Old Rugged Cross And she spoke of her will what to do when she is gone tears fell from my eyes for my heart it's not that strong And she said, don't worry baby I won't be far away I'll always be with you and we'll meet again someday Her wish is to leave this world before I do I looked her in the eyes and I said forgive me momma if I leave before you I said, play Amazing Grace and the Old Rugged Cross I said, don't worry momma I won't be far away I'll always be with you and we'll meet again someday I said my prayers tonite I asked the Lord what will you do and he said, Don't worry child I'm not far away, I'll always be with you and we'll meet someday I heard, Amazing Grace and the Old Rugged Cross. ~End Lyrics~ ©2001 Words & music written and performed by Carol Sue Kirkpatrick - (vocals, guitars and warm pad keys) Special thanks to Andy Foyston (AndyF) for his online orchestration additions to include: Strings, Oboe, Alto Flute, Celesta, Piano, choral, Choir and Vocal Effects. All rights reserved. ©2001 - 2007 Copyright - All rights reserved; music, images, original artwork by Carol Sue Kirkpatrick, word descriptions, video production & all it's content. Video produced by Carol Sue Kirkpatrick. Content may not be copied in whole or part, or reproduced without expressed or written consent by it's copyright owner, Carol Sue Kirkpatrick.

Read more...

Long Shadows - Stories from a Jewish Home

28 Jul 2007 at 2:00am  Long Shadows - Stories from a Jewish Home
SBS TV/Melodrama Pictures
3 min - Jul 28, 2007

The largest population of Holocaust survivors, per capita, outside Israel lives in Melbourne Australia. These survivors are facing death ... all » and terror for the second time. Dementia, memory loss and physical immobility contribute to a splintering of identity. Removed from their homes, families and possessions past horrors come flooding back. Exploring three levels of care from the most independent to the most dependent at Melbourne?s biggest Jewish aged care facility, Long Shadows examines the impact of institutionalisation for three survivors and their spouses. Harold, guides us flamboyantly through this teeming ?tower of Babel? that houses up to 600 residents, and through his personal tale of tragedy and love. Evelyne, a child survivor aged 60 suffering bi-polar disorder navigates institutionalisation prematurely when an accident renders her dependent. And life inside the Dementia Unit for Alzheimer?s sufferer Dora shows how massive sufferers of trauma effects sufferers of dementia and the people who love and care for them. All three stories are peppered with humour, delivered with honesty and underscore the importance of love for survival.

Read more...

Grid-based Integrated Bioinformatics Systems for High Throughput

15 Sep 2006 at 2:00am  Grid-based Integrated Bioinformatics Systems for High Throughput
Google engEDU
45 min - Sep 15, 2006

Google Tech Talks September 15, 2006 Natalia Maltsev

Read more...