Pre-class tasks

Task 1: examine the following words

1. Pharmaceutical research (n) /ˌfɑːr.məˈsuː.t̬ɪ.kəl/

Definition: nghiên cứu dược phẩm

2. Bug (n) /bʌɡ/

Definition: an insect

3. Derive (v) /dɪˈraɪv/

Definition: to get or obtain something

4. Compound (n) /ˈkɒm.paʊnd/

Definition: hợp chất

5. Primate (n) /ˈpraɪ.meɪt/

Definition: loài linh trưởng

6. Rub (v) /rʌb/

Definition: chà xát, thoa cái gì đó lên sth

7. Rid sb of sth (v) /rɪd/

Definition: loại bỏ, gỡ bỏ cái gì đó khỏi ai đó

8. Intestinal parasites (adj) /ˌɪnˈtes.tɪn.əl/

Definition: phần ruột( ruột non, già)

9. Have a grasp of sth (n) /ɡræsp/

Definition: to have a clear understanding about sth

10. Extraction (n) /ɪkˈstræk.ʃən/

Definition: sự loại bỏ, chiết xuất từ (khỏi) cái gì đó

11. Modification (n) /ˌmɑd·ə·fɪˈkeɪ·ʃən/

Definition: sự sửa đổi, thường dùng cho việc cải tiến

12. Do sth from scratch (n) /skrætʃ/

Definition: làm việc gì đó từ con số 0, completely from the beginning

13. Hurdle (n) /ˈhɝː.dəl/

Definition: rào cản

14. Mine (v) mɑɪn/

Definition: khai thác, đào mỏ

15. Scratch (v) /skrætʃ/

Definition: to cut or damage a surface or your skin slightly, làm trầy xước

16. Looming health crises (adj) /ˈluː.mɪŋ/

Definition: tiềm ẩn => những cuộc khủng hoảng sức khỏe tiềm ẩn

17. Antibiotic resistance (n) /ˌæn.t̬i.baɪˈɑː.t̬ɪk/

Definition: thuốc kháng sinh => kháng thuốc kháng sinh

18. Terrestrial domain (n) /təˈres.tri.əl/

Definition: relating to the earth, land => terrestrial domain = lãnh thổ

19. Niche (n) /nɪtʃ/

Definition: chỗ hở, khe trống

20. A bewildering array of sth (n) /bɪˈwɪl.dər.ɪŋ/

Definition:
 21. Therapeutic compounds (n) /ˌθer.əˈpjuː.t̬ɪk/

Definition: các hợp chất trị liệu

22. Larva => (plural) larvae (n) /ˈlɑːr.və/

Definition: ấu trùng, nhộng

23. Potent (adj) /ˈpoʊ.t̬ənt/

Definition: powerful, persuasive, or effective

24. Venom (n) /ˈven·əm/

Definition: chất độc, nọc độc

25. A daunting task (n) /ˈdɔn·tɪŋ/

Definition: nhiệm vụ khó khăn, dễ gây nản lòng

26. Secrete (v) /sɪˈkriːt/

Definition: tiết ra

E.g. chất độc được tiết ra từ tuyến nước bọt

27. Ubiquity (n) /juːˈbɪk.wə.t̬i/

Definition: the fact that sth/s.o seems to be everywhere, popular

28. Rear in captivity (v) /rɪr/

Definition: nuôi nhốt

29. Poison (n) /ˈpɔɪ·zən/

Definition: chất độc

30. Subdue prey (v) /səbˈduː/

Definition: khuất phục, làm yếu

 31. Insert sth into sth (v) /ɪnˈsɝːt/

Definition: chèn, nhét cái gì vào cái gì

32. Pitfall (v) /ˈpɪtˌfɔl/

Definition: problems, or difficulties that could potentially happen

33. Precedent (n) /ˈpres.ə.dent/

Definition: tiền lệ

34. Deprive sb of sth (v) /dɪˈpraɪv/

Definition: tước đoạt của ai đó cái gì đó

Task 2: choose the most suitable word to fill in the blanks

a) Pharmaceutical
b) Bugs
c) Primate
d) Rubbed
e) Derive
f) Compounds

1. The British .................... giant AstraZeneca employs about 5,000 people in

the town.
2. Some tiny white .................... had eaten the leaves of my house plants.
3. The institute .................... all its money from foreign investments.
4. Salt is a compound of sodium and chlorine.
5. We hear it all he time: Humans are..................... So we are brother to monkeys?
6. he yawned and ....................her eyes sleepily

a) Have a basic grasp of sth

b) Do sth from scratch
 c) Modification
d) Rid
e) Extraction
f) Intestinal parasites
7. Our aim is to .................... this government of corruption.
8. There is a countless number of....................in our body.
9. He has a good ....................of the issues.
10. The ....................of minerals has damaged the countryside.
11. A couple of ....................and the speech will be perfect.
12. Would it be better to start from.................... with a new system?

a) Terrestrial domain
b) Hurdle
c) Mine
d) Looming health crises
e) Scratch
f) Antibiotic resistance
13. Getting a work permit was the first ....................to overcome.
14. They are ....................for gold.
15. Be careful not to.................... yourself on the roses.
16. They chatted about football as well as the .................... financial crisis.
17. I'm taking.................... for a throat infection.
18. A variety of simple .................... life-forms can thrive in a medium of liquid water.

a) Therapeutic compounds
b) Larvae
c) Niche
d) A bewildering array of sth
 e) Potent
f) Venom
19. The.................... was just big enough to hold two small candles
20. Buying a car can be a bit .....................
21. I find gardening very .....................
22. At the end of this stage, the .................... will spin a cocoon.
23. This is a very ....................drug and can have unpleasant side-effects.
24. This snake has really potent .....................

a) Ubiquity
b) A daunting task
c) Poison
d) Subdue prey
e) Secrete
f) Rear in captivity
25. Scoring a high band in the IELTS test is a ....................task.
26. Saliva is a liquid .................... by glands in or near the mouth
27. the .................... of fast-food outlets is predictable
28. Being ....................in captivity makes tiger lose their hunting instinct.
29. Some cleaning products are actually .....................
30. She’d be hard to .................... if she got mad.

a) Insert sth into sth

b) Deprive sb of sth
c) Pitfall
d) Precedent
31. It is difficult to .................... the key into the lock when it rusts.
32. Who knows what kind of ....................they’re going to run into.
 33. There are several.................... for promoting people who don't
have formal qualifications.
34. He claimed that he had been.................... of his freedom/rights.

Task 3: read the passage below and answer the questions 1-13

Saving bugs to find new drugs

Zoologist Ross Piper looks at the potential of insects in pharmaceutical research

Main idea: ………………………………………………………………………………….

More drugs than you might think are derived from, or inspired by, compounds found in
living things. Looking to nature for the soothing and curing of our ailments is nothing
new – we have been doing it for tens of thousands of years. You only have to look at
other primates – such as the capuchin monkeys who rub themselves with toxin-
oozing millipedes to deter mosquitoes, or the chimpanzees who use noxious forest
plants to rid themselves of intestinal parasites – to realise that our ancient ancestors
too probably had a basic grasp of medicine.

Main idea: ………………………………………………………………………………….

Pharmaceutical science and chemistry built on these ancient foundations and perfected
the extraction, characterization, modification and testing of these natural products. Then,
for a while, modern pharmaceutical science moved its focus away from nature and into
the laboratory, designing chemical compounds from scratch. The main cause of this shift
is that although there are plenty of promising chemical compounds in nature, finding
them is far from easy. Securing sufficient numbers of the organism in question,
isolating and characterizing the compounds of interest, and producing large
quantities of these compounds are all significant hurdles.

Main idea: ………………………………………………………………………………….

Laboratory-based drug discovery has achieved varying levels of success, something

which has now prompted the development of new approaches focusing once again
on natural products. With the ability to mine genomes for useful compounds, it is now
evident that we have barely scratched the surface of nature’s molecular diversity. This
realization, together with several looming health crises, such as antibiotic resistance,
has put bioprospecting – the search for useful compounds in nature – firmly back on
the map.

Main idea: ………………………………………………………………………………….

Insects are the undisputed masters of the terrestrial domain, where they occupy every
possible niche. Consequently, they have a bewildering array of interactions with
other organisms, something which has driven the evolution of an enormous range of
very interesting compounds for defensive and offensive purposes. Their remarkable
diversity exceeds that of every other group of animals on the planet combined. Yet even
though insects are far and away the most diverse animals in existence, their potential as
sources of therapeutic compounds is yet to be realised.

Main idea: ………………………………………………………………………………….

From the tiny proportion of insects that have been investigated, several promising
compounds have been identified. For example, alloferon, an antimicrobial compound
produced by blow fly larvae, is used as an antiviral and antitumor agent in South Korea
and Russia. The larvae of a few other insect species are being investigated for the potent
antimicrobial compounds they produce. Meanwhile, a compound from the venom of the
wasp Polybia paulista has potential in cancer treatment.

Main idea: ………………………………………………………………………………….

Why is it that insects have received relatively little attention in bioprospecting? Firstly,
there are so many insects that, without some manner of targeted approach, investigating
this huge variety of species is a daunting task. Secondly, insects are generally very small,
and the glands inside them that secrete potentially useful compounds are smaller still.
This can make it difficult to obtain sufficient quantities of the compound for subsequent
testing. Thirdly, although we consider insects to be everywhere, the reality of this
ubiquity is vast numbers of a few extremely common species. Many insect species are
infrequently encountered and very difficult to rear in captivity, which, again, can leave us
with insufficient material to work with.

Main idea: ………………………………………………………………………………….

My colleagues and I at Aberystwyth University in the UK have developed an approach in

which we use our knowledge of ecology as a guide to target our efforts. The creatures
that particularly interest us are the many insects that secrete powerful poison for
subduing prey and keeping it fresh for future consumption. There are even more
insects that are masters of exploiting filthy habitats, such as faeces and carcasses, where
they are regularly challenged by thousands of micro-organisms. These insects have
many antimicrobial compounds for dealing with pathogenic bacteria and fungi,
suggesting that there is certainly potential to find many compounds that can serve
as or inspire new antibiotics.

Main idea: ………………………………………………………………………………….

Although natural history knowledge points us in the right direction, it doesn’t solve
the problems associated with obtaining useful compounds from insects. Fortunately,
it is now possible to snip out the stretches of the insect’s DNA that carry the codes for the
interesting compounds and insert them into cell lines that allow larger quantities to be
produced. And although the road from isolating and characterizing compounds with
desirable qualities to developing a commercial product is very long and full of
pitfalls, the variety of successful animal-derived pharmaceuticals on the market
demonstrates there is a precedent here that is worth exploring.

Main idea: ………………………………………………………………………………….

With every bit of wilderness that disappears, we deprive ourselves of potential medicines.
As much as I’d love to help develop a groundbreaking insect-derived medicine, my main
motivation for looking at insects in this way is conservation. I sincerely believe that all
species, however small and seemingly insignificant, have a right to exist for their
own sake. If we can shine a light on the darker recesses of nature’s medicine cabinet,
exploring the useful chemistry of the most diverse animals on the planet, I believe we can
make people think differently about the value of nature

Summarize the passage by summarizing the main idea of each paragraph

1. Paragraph A:

2. Paragraph B:

3. Paragraph C:

4. Paragraph D:

5. Paragraph E:

6. Paragraph F:
7. Paragraph G:

8. Paragraph H:

9. Paragraph I: