The Bite That Heat

Scientists are unlocking the medical potential of venom.

{A} Michael decided to go for a swim. He was on vacation with his family in Guerrero, Mexico, and it was hotter
than blazes. He grabbed his swimming trunks from where they’d been drying on a chair, slid them on, and jumped into
the pool. Instead of cool relief, a burning pain ripped through the back of his thigh. Tearing off his trunks, he leaped
naked from the pool, his leg on fire. Behind him, a small, ugly, yellow creature was treading water. He scooped it into
a Tupperware container, and the caretaker of the house rushed him to the local Red Cross facility, where doctors
immediately identified his attacker: a bark scorpion, Centruroides sculpturatus, one of the most venomous species in
North America. The fierce pain from a sting is typically followed by what feels like electric shocks racking the body.
Occasionally victims die.
{B} Luckily for Michael (who asked me not to give his full name), the bark scorpion is common in the area, and
antivenom was readily available. He had an injection and was released a few hours later. In about 30 hours the pain
was gone. What happened next could not have been predicted. For eight years Michael had endured a condition called
ankylosing spondylitis, a chronic autoimmune disease of the skeleton, a sort of spinal arthritis. No one knows what
triggers it. In the worst cases, the spine may fuse, leaving the patient forever stooped and in anguish. “My back hurt
every morning, and during bad flare-ups, it was so horrible I couldn’t even walk,” he says.
{C} But days after the scorpion sting, the pain went away, and now, two years later, he remains essentially pain-free
and off most of his medications. As a doctor himself, Michael is cautious about overstating the role of the scorpion’s
venom in his remission. Still, he says, “if my pain came back, I’d let that scorpion sting me again.” Venom- the stuff
that drips from the fangs and stingers of creatures lurking on the hiking trail or hiding in the cellar or under the
woodpile—is nature’s most efficient killer. Venom is exquisitely honed to stop a body in its tracks. The complex soup
swirls with toxic proteins and peptides—short strings of amino acids similar to proteins. The molecules may have
different targets and effects, but they work synergistically for the mightiest punch. Some go for the nervous system,
paralyzing by blocking messages between nerves and muscle. Some eat away at molecules so that cells and tissues
collapse. Venom can kill by clotting blood and stopping the heart or by preventing clotting and triggering a killer
bleed.
{D} All venom is multifaceted and multitasking. (The difference between venom and poison is that venom is injected,
or dibbled, into victims by way of specialized body parts, and poison is ingested.) Dozens, even hundreds, of toxins
can be delivered in a single bite, some with redundant jobs and others with unique ones. In the evolutionary arms race
between predator and prey, weapons and defenses are constantly tweaked. Drastically potent concoctions can result:
Imagine administering poison to an adversary, then jabbing him with a knife, then finishing him off with a bullet to the
head. That’s venom at work.
{E} Ironically, the properties that make venom deadly are also what make it so valuable for medicine. Many venom
toxins target the same molecules that need to be controlled to treat diseases. Venom works fast and is highly specific.
Its active components—those peptides and proteins, working as toxins and enzymes-target particular molecules, fitting
into them like keys into locks. Most medicines work the same way, fitting into and controlling molecular locks to
thwart ill effects. It’s a challenge to find the toxin that hits only a certain target, but already top medicines for heart
disease and diabetes have been derived from venom. New treatments for autoimmune diseases, cancer, and pain could
be available within a decade.
{F} “We aren’t talking just a few novel drugs but entire classes of drugs,” says National Geographic Society Emerging
Explorer Zoltan Takacs, a toxicologist and herpetologist. So far, fewer than a thousand toxins have been scrutinized
for medicinal value, and a dozen or so major drugs have made it to market. “There could be upwards of 20 million
venom toxins out there waiting to be screened,” Takacs says. “It’s huge. Venom has opened up whole new avenues of
pharmacology.” Toxins from venom and poison sources are also giving us a clearer picture of how proteins that
control many of the body’s crucial cellular functions work. Studies of the deadly poison tetrodotoxin (TTX) from
pufferfish, for instance, have revealed intricate details about the way nerve cells communicate.
{G} “We ‘re motivated to look for new compounds to lessen human suffering,” Angel Yanagihara of the University of
Hawaii told me. “But while doing that, you may uncover things you don’t expect.” Driven in part out of revenge for a
box jellyfish sting she endured 15 years ago, Yanagihara discovered a potential wound-healing agent within the
tubules that contain jellyfish venom. “It had nothing to do with the venom itself,” she said. “By getting intimate with a
noxious animal, I’ve been informed way beyond my expectations.”
{H} More than 100,000 animals have evolved to produce venom, along with the glands to house it and the apparatuses
to expel it: snakes, scorpions, spiders, a few lizards, bees, sea creatures such as octopuses, numerous species of fish,
and cone snails. The male duck-billed platypus, which carries venom inside ankle spurs, is one of the few venomous
mammals. Venom and its components emerged independently, again and again, in different animal groups. The
composition of the venom of a single snake species varies from place to place and between adults and they are young.
An individual snake’s venom may even change with its diet.
{I} Although evolution has been fine-tuning these compounds for more than a hundred million years, venom’s
molecular architecture has been in place much longer. Nature repurposes key molecules from around the body—the
blood, brain, digestive tract, and elsewhere—to serve animals for predation or protection. “It makes sense for nature to
steal the scaffolds already in place,” Takacs says. “To make a toxin to wreck the nervous system, it’s most efficient to
take a template from the brain that already works in that system, make some tiny changes, and there you have it: Now
it’s a toxin.” Not all venom kills, of course—bees have it as a nonlethal defense, and the male platypus uses it to show
rival males who’s boss during mating season. But mostly it’s for killing, or at least immobilizing, an animal’s next
meal. Humans are often accidental victims. The World Health Organization estimates that every year some five
million bites kill 100,000 people, although the actual number is presumed to be much higher. In rural areas of
developing countries, where most bites occur, victims may not be able to get treatment or may instead choose
traditional therapies and are therefore not counted.
Questions 1-9
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage? In boxes 1-9 on your answer sheet,
write
TRUE If the statement is True
FALSE If the statement is false
NOT GIVEN If the information is not given in the passage
Question 1:- Michael was unluckily hit by electric shocks and nearly lost his life during his vacation.
Question 2:- The disease Michael had suffered from for eight years was caused by an accident.
Question 3:- Michael is grateful for the bark scorpion bite because it helped him recover from the ankylosing
spondylitis.
Question 4:- No venom is just responsible for one job.
Question 5:- There is no difference between venom and poison.
Question 6:- Venom can kill while it can also be used as medicine to save.
Question 7:- New treatments for cancer are now available in the market.
Question 8:- So far 20 million venom toxins have been checked for medical use.
Question 9:- The majority of mammals carry venom inside their bodies.
Questions 10-14
Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each
answer. Write your answers in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.
Question 10:- The way how venom works is compared to that of______________
Question 11:- A venom source such as____________has helped to present complex facts about how nerve cells
convey information to each other.
Question 12:- Tens of thousands of animals have developed____________ and__________which are respectively
responsible for storing and letting out venom.
Question 13:- The makeup of venom of a snake may change with places, ages, and___________
Question 14:- Some animal uses venom to warn_____________of its exclusive power during the mating season.
VOCAB:
Venom (n) nọc độc
Suffer from (v) chịu đựng
Grateful (a) biết ơn
Recover (v) phục hồi
To be responsible for (adj) chịu trách nhiệm cho việc gì
Treatment (n) sự điều trị
Cancer (n) bệnh ung thư
Mammal (n) động vật có vú
Present (v) trình bày
Complex = complicated = sophisticated (a) phức tạp
Respectively (adv) lần lượt
Nerve cell (n) tế bào thần kinh
Store (v) dự trữ
Exclusive (a) riêng biệt
 Bondi Beach

A
Bondi Beach, Australia’s most famous beach, is located in the suburb of Bondi, in the Local Government Area of
Waverley, seven kilometers from the centre of Sydney. “Bondi” or “Boondi” is an Aboriginal word meaning water
breaking over rocks or the sound of breaking waves. The Australian Museum records that Bondi means a place where
a flight of nullas took place. There are Aboriginal Rock carving on the northern end of the beach at Ben Buckler and
south of Bondi Beach near McKenzies Beach on the coastal walk.

B
The indigenous people of the area at the time of European settlement have generally been welcomed to as the Sydney
people or the Eora (Eora means “the people”). One theory describes the Eora as a sub-group of the Darug language
group which occupied the Cumberland Plain west to the Blue Mountains. However, another theory suggests that they
were a distinct language group of their own. There is no clear evidence for the name or names of the particular band(s)
of the Eora that roamed what is now the Waverley area. A number of place names within Waverley, most famously
Bondi, have been based on words derived from Aboriginal languages of the Sydney region.

C
From the mid-1800s Bondi Beach was a favourite location for family outings and picnics. The beginnings of the
suburb go back to 1809, when the early road builder, William Roberts, received from Governor Bligh a grant of 81
hectares of what is now most of the business and residential area of Bondi Beach. In 1851, Edward Smith Hall and
Francis O’Brien purchased 200 acres of the Bondi area that embraced almost the whole frontage of Bondi Beach, and
it was named the “The Bondi Estate.” Between 1855 and 1877 O’Brien purchased Hall’s share of the land, renamed
the land the “O’Brien Estate,” and made the beach and the surrounding land available to the public as a picnic ground
and amusement resort. As the beach became increasingly popular, O’Brien threatened to stop public beach access.
However, the Municipal Council believed that the Government needed to intervene to make the beach a public
reserve.

D
During the 1900s beach became associated with health, leisure and democracy – a playground everyone could enjoy
equally. Bondi Beach was a working-class suburb throughout most of the twentieth century with migrant people from
New Zealand comprising the majority of the local population. The first tramway reached the beach in 1884. Following
this, tram became the first public transportation in Bondi. As an alternative, this action changed the rule that only rich
people can enjoy the beach. By the 1930s Bondi was drawing not only local visitors but also people from elsewhere in
Australia and overseas. Advertising at the time referred to Bondi Beach as the “Playground of the Pacific”.
E
There is a growing trend that people prefer having to relax near seaside instead of living unhealthily in cities. The
increasing popularity of sea bathing during the late 1800s and early 1900s raised concerns about public safety and how
to prevent people from drowning. In response, the world’s first formally documented surf lifesaving club, the Bondi
Surf Bathers’ Life Saving Club, was formed in 1907. This was powerfully reinforced by the dramatic events of “Black
Sunday” at Bondi in 1938. Some 35,000 people were on the beach and a large group of lifesavers were about to start a
surf race when three freak waves hit the beach, sweeping hundreds of people out to sea. Lifesavers rescued 300
people. The largest mass rescue in the history of surf bathing, it confirmed the place of the lifesaver in the national
imagination.

F
Bondi Beach is the endpoint of the City to Surf Fun Run which is held each year in August. Australian surf carnivals
further instilled this image. A Royal Surf Carnival was held at Bondi Beach for Queen Elizabeth II during her first
visited in Australia in 1954. Since 1867, there have been over fifty visits by a member of the British Royal Family to
Australia. In addition to many activities, the Bondi Beach Markets is open every Sunday. Many wealthy people spend
Christmas Day at the beach. However, the shortage of houses occurs when lots of people crushed to the seaside.
Manly is the seashore town which solved this problem. However, people still choose Bondi as the satisfied destination
rather than Manly.

G
Bondi Beach has a commercial area along Campbell Parade and adjacent side streets, featuring many popular cafes,
restaurants, and hotels, with views of the contemporary beach. It is depicted as wholly modern and European. In the
last decade, Bondi Beaches’ unique position has seen a dramatic rise in svelte houses and apartments to take advantage
of the views and scent of the sea. The valley running down to the beach is the famous world over for its view of
distinctive red-tiled roofs. Those architectures are deeply influenced by British coastal town.

H
Bondi Beach hosted the beach volleyball competition at the 2000 Summer Olympics. A temporary 10,000-seat
stadium, a much smaller stadium, 2 warm-up courts, and 3 training courts were set up to host the tournament. The
Bondi Beach Volleyball Stadium was constructed for it and stood for just six weeks. Campaigners oppose both the
social and environmental consequences of the development. The stadium will divide the beach in two and seriously
restrict public access for swimming, walking, and other forms of outdoor recreation. People protest for their human
rights of having a pure seaside and argue for health life in Bondi.

I
“They’re prepared to risk lives and risk the Bondi beach environment for the sake of eight days of volleyball”, said
Stephen Uniacke, a construction lawyer involved in the campaign. Other environmental concerns include the
possibility that soil dredged up from below the sand will acidify when brought to the surface.
Questions 15-19
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 1-5 on your answer
sheet, write
TRUE if the statement is true
FALSE if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN if the information is not given
15. The name of the Bondi beach was first called by the British settlers.
16. The aboriginal culture in Australia is different when compared with European culture.
17. Bondi beach area holds many contemporary hotels.
18. The seaside town in Bondi is affected by British culture for its characteristic red colour.
19. Living near Bondi seashore is not beneficial for health.

Questions 20-24
Answer the questions below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR NUMBERS from the passage for
each answer. Write your answers in boxes 20-24 on your answer sheet
21. At the end of the 19th century, which public transport did people use to go to Bondi?
____________________________________________________________
22. When did the British Royalty first visit Bondi?
____________________________________________________________
23. Which Olympic event did Bondi hold in the 2000 Sydney Olympic games?
____________________________________________________________
24. What would be damaged if the stadium was built for that Olympic event?
____________________________________________________________

Questions 25-28
Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using no more than two words from the
Reading Passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 25-28 on your answer sheet.
Bondi beach holds the feature sports activities every year, which attracts a lot of 25_____________________
choosing to live at this place during holidays. But local accommodation cannot meet with the expanding population, a
nearby town of_______________________________26 is the first suburb site to support the solution, yet people
prefer _______________________________ 27 as their best choice. Its seaside buildings are well-known in the world
for the special scenic coloured______________________________ 28 on buildings and the joyful smell from the sea.
VOCAB:
Settler (n) người định cư
Contemporary (adj) hiện đại, đương thời
Affect (v) ảnh hưởng
Beneficial (adj) có lợi
Distinctive (adj) khác biệt
Wealthy = rich
Risk (v) gây rủi ro
Damage (v) hư hại, hỏng
Accommodation = house
Scenic (adj) có cảnh đẹp thiên nhiên
 Carbon Capture and Storage
High coal dependence
Renewable energy is much discussed, but coal still plays the greatest role in the generation of electricity, with recent
figures from the International Energy Agency showing that China relies on it for 79% of its power, Australia for 78%,
and the US for 45%. Germany has less reliance at 41%, which is also the global average. Furthermore, many countries
have large, easily accessible deposits of coal, and numerous highly skilled miners, chemists, and engineers.
Meanwhile, 70% of the world’s steel production requires coal, and plastic and rayon are usually coal derivatives.
Currently, coal-fired power plants fed voracious appetites, but they produce carbon dioxide (CO2) in staggering
amounts. Urbanites may grumble about an average monthly electricity bill of $113, yet they steadfastly ignore the fact
that they are not billed for the 6-7 million metric tons of CO2 their local plant belches out, which contribute to the
44% of global CO2 levels from fossil-fuel emissions. Yet, as skies fill with smog and temperatures soar, people crave
clean air and cheap power.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that advises the United Nations has testified that the threshold of
serious harm to the Earth’s temperature is a mere 2° Celsius above current levels, so it is essential to reduce carbon
emissions by 80% over the next 30 years, even as demand for energy will rise by 50%, and one proposal for this is the
adoption of carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Underground carbon storage

Currently, CO2 storage, or sequestration as it is known, is practised by the oil and gas industry, where CO2 is pumped
into oil fields to maintain pressure and ease extraction – one metric ton dissolves out about three barrels, or separated
from natural gas and pumped out of exhausted coal fields or other deep seams. The CO2 remains underground or is
channelled into disused sandstone reservoirs. However, the sale of oil and natural gas is profitable, so the $17-per-ton
sequestration cost is easily borne. There is also a plan for the injection of CO2 into saline aquifers, 1,000 metres
beneath the seabed, to prevent its release into the atmosphere.

Carbon capture
While CO2 storage has been accomplished, its capture from power plants remains largely hypothetical, although CCS
plants throughout Western Europe and North America are on the drawing board.
There are three main forms of CCS: pre-combustion, post-combustion, and oxy-firing. In a 2012 paper from the US
Congressional Budget Office (CBO), post-combustion capture was viewed most favourably since existing power
plants can be retrofitted with it, whereas pre-combustion and oxy-firing mean the construction of entirely new plants.
However, pre-combustion and oxy-firing remove more CO2 than post-combustion and generate more electricity.
Post-combustion capture means CO2 is separated from gas after coal is burnt but before electricity is generated, while
in oxy-firing, coal is combusted in pure oxygen. In pre-combustion, as in an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle
system (IGCC), oxygen, coal, and water ae burnt together to produce a synthetic gas called Syngas – mainly hydrogen
– which drives two sets of turbines, firstly gas-driven ones, then, as the cooling Syngas travel through water, steam-
driven ones. Emissions from this process contain around ten percent of the CO2 that burning coal produces.

The pros and cons of CCS

Several countries are keen to scale up CCS as it may reduce carbon emissions quickly, and powerful lobby groups for
CCS exist among professionals in mining and engineering. Foundries and refineries that produce steel and emit carbon
may also benefit, and the oil and gas industry is interested because power-plant equipment consumes their products. In
addition, recent clean energy acts in many countries mandate that a percentage of electricity be generated by
renewables or by more energy-efficient systems, like CCS.
As with desalination, where powerful lobbies wield influence, states sometimes find it easier to engage in large
projects involving a few players rather than change behaviours on a more scattered household scale. Furthermore,
replacing coal with zero-emission photovoltaic (PV) cells to produce solar energy would require covering an area
nearly 20,720 square kilometres, roughly twice the size of Lebanon or half of Denmark.

Still, there are many reservations about CCS. Principally, it is enormously expensive: conservative estimates put the
electricity it generates at more than five times the current retail price. As consumers are unlikely to want to bear this
price hike, massive state subsidies would be necessary for CCS to work.
The capital outlay of purchasing equipment for retrofitting existing power plants is high enough, but the energy
needed to capture CO2 means one third more coal must be burnt, and building new CCS plants is at least 75% more
expensive than retro-fitting.
Some CCS technology is untried, for example, the Syngas-driven turbines in an IGCC system have not been used on
an industrial scale. Post capture, CO2 must be compressed into a supercritical liquid for transport and storage, which
is also costly. The Qatar Carbonates and Carbon Storage Research Centre predicts 700 million barrels per day of this
liquid would be produced if CCS were adopted modestly. It is worth noting that current oil production is around 85
million barrels per day, so CCS would produce eleven times more waste for burial than oil that was simultaneously
being extracted.
Sequestration has been used successfully, but there are limited coal and oil fields where optimal conditions exist. In
rock that is too brittle, earthquakes could release the CO2. Moreover, proposals to store CO2 in saline aquifers are just
that – proposals: sequestration has never been attempted in aquifers.
Most problematic of all, CCS reduces carbon emissions but does not end them, rendering it a medium-term solution.

Alternatives
There are at least four reasonably-priced alternatives to CCS. Firstly, conventional pulverised coal power plants are
undergoing redesign so more electricity can be produced from less coal. Before coal is phased out – as ultimately it
will have to be – these plants could be more cost-e ffective. Secondly, hybrid plants using natural gas and coal could be
built. Thirdly, natural gas could be used on its own. Lastly, solar power is fast gaining credibility.
In all this, an agreed measure of cost for electricity generation must be used. This is called a levelized cost of energy
(LCOE) – an average cost of producing electricity over the lifetime of a power plant, including construction,
financing, and operation, although pollution is not counted. In 2012, the CBO demonstrated that a new CCS plant had
an LCOE of about $0.09-0.15 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), but according to the US Energy Information Administration,
the LCOE from a conventional natural gas power plant without CCS is $0.0686/kWh, making it the cheapest way to
produce clean energy.
Solar power costs are falling rapidly. In 2013, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power reported that energy
via a purchase agreement from a large solar plant was $0.095/kWh, and Greentech Media, a company that reviews
environmental projects, found a 2014 New Mexico solar project that generates power for $0.0849/kWh.
Still, while so much coal and so many coal-fired plants exist, decommissioning them all may not be realistic.
Whatever happens, the conundrum of cheap power and clean air may remain unsolved for some time.

Questions 29-30
Choose the correct letter A, B, C, or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 27-28 on your answer sheet.
29. What is the global average for electricity generated from coal?
A. 41% B. 44% C. 49% D. 70%

30. What does the average American pay each month for CO2 produced by a local power plant?
A. $17 B. $80 C. $113 D. Nothing
Questions 31-36
Complete the table below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
Write your answer in boxes 31-36 on your answer sheet.

Advantages of CCS Disadvantages of CCS

The construction of new and the conversion of existing
power plants and the liquefaction and transport of CO2
are very costly. While sequestration is possible, the scale
would be enormous. Therefore, CCS would need
Sequestration is already used in the oil and gas sector. 34_________________________.
CCS may cut 31____________________in a short time. Some CCS technology is 35______________________.
32__________________________ in labour, industry, Gas-driven turbines for IGCC have not been used on an
and states already support CCS. industrial scale.
Alternatives, like 33_____________________ energy, Shallow underground storage may be limited; deep
take up vast amounts of space. ocean storage is currently impossible. Geologists fear
leaks in quake-prone regions.
Natural gas and solar PVs are cheaper. LCOE estimates
for CCS = $0.09-15/kWh; for natural gas=
36________________________;
and, for solar PV = $0.0849/kWh.
VOCAB:
Generation of electricity (n) sự phát điện (tạo ra điện)
Average (adj) trung bình
Monthly: mỗi tháng
Reduce (v) = cut: giảm
Labour (n) nhân công (người làm việc cho …)
Take up (v) chiếm … (về mặt không gian) = require (+ không gian) : yêu cầu
Vast (a) rộng lớn
Expensive = costly
Conventional (a) thông thường
Pros and cons = advantage and disadvantage
The bar chart below shows shares of expenditures for five major categories in the United States, Canada, the United
Kingdom, and Japan in the year 2009. Summarise the information by selecting reporting the main features, and make
comparisons where relevant.

Expenditure (n) chi tiêu

Category (n) loại (kind)
The graph below gives information about car ownership in Britain from 1971 to 2007. Summarise the information by
selecting reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Ownership (n) sự sở hữu