Secondary 1 Superstar (English)

Lesson 6: Worksheet

COMPREHENSION [25 marks]

Text 2 7E.6.1
The text below is about bacteria and how they have affected humans over the years.
Read it carefully and answer Questions 1 to 8.

1 Bacteria are the most primitive of life forms, the most simple and among the
smallest. They each weigh around .00000000001 gram, yet once a few start
to reproduce, they can sicken or kill a blue whale weighing 100000
kilogrammes. And viruses are even smaller and apparently more insignificant.
Our bodies have been engaged in an endless war with bacteria over millions 5
of years. Our lives and deaths have been shaped by this lasting battle.

2 A few decades ago, it was a war that everyone thought we were winning.
Penicillin, the polio vaccine, antibiotics and massive public health drives all
combined to support this impression. Doctors enthusiastically set out to
immunise the world and target bacterial infection using antibiotics – magic 10
bullets which attacked diseases.

3 The effect on public health was immense. One hundred years ago, two-thirds
of children died before adolescence. A simple cut could lead to a lethal blood
infection. Polio could kill or cripple a child for life. Once vaccines and
antibiotics became commonplace, life expectancy increased by decades. 15
They are without doubt the great life-savers of modern medicine. Everyone
started to believe that we were on the way to eliminating infectious diseases
from the planet.

4 But decades of success led to complacency and the pace of research into
bacterial and viral infection slowed. This was a mistake; we simply did not 20
anticipate what would happen next. New and lethal viruses began to appear.
No one knew where they came from and how they emerged. Some were
entirely different from all known viruses, and many caused horrific diseases.

5 There is a danger which overshadows even these new and exotic diseases, a
danger which is mostly of our own making. Over the past fifty years, medical 25
practitioners have thoroughly embraced antibiotics, using them liberally even
for minor infections such as a sore throat. They are a cheap and easy form of
infection control. But there is a price to pay for what many people consider to
be the over-enthusiastic use of antibiotics. Old infections are coming back to
haunt us, in the form of new and powerful superbugs. 30

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Lesson 6: Worksheet

6 It is difficult to recall just how serious a simple infection used to be before

antibiotics were available just sixty or seventy years ago. A simple cut or
scratch on a finger could cause septicaemia 1 . Wound infection after the
simplest surgical procedure was extremely common, and often untreatable,
leading sometimes to deadly results. 35

7 The development of penicillin was truly one of the greatest events in medical
history, absolutely justifying the Nobel prizes awarded to Fleming, Florey and
Chain. But soon came the discovery of penicillinase, which occurred naturally
and destroyed the antibiotic. Bacteria resistance to antibiotics is one of the
most important medical problems of our time. Resistance means simply that 40
the bacteria put up a strong defence against the drug. They go on multiplying
and producing their deadly effects whether the drug is present or not.

8 In fact, all antibiotic resistance has a genetic basis. Some bugs are naturally
resistant to antibiotics. This resistance probably evolves because of exposure
to naturally occurring antibiotics in the environment. When an antibiotic is 45
given to a person, some of the bacteria die rapidly – but equally rapidly, those
with resistance multiply unchecked.

9 The situation is made worse because bacteria can acquire resistance to

antibiotics. During their rapid reproduction – a new generation of bacteria can
be produced every fifteen minutes – they can undergo mutation. Human 50
evolution has taken a very long time because we only have one generation
every twenty years or so. There would have been about 25,000 generations
in the half-a-million-year history of the modern man. The same number of
bacterial generations can occur within just eight months.

10 But being simpler organisms, bacteria mutate at a much faster rate than 55
humans, and new resistant genes occur very frequently. The ability of
bacteria to evolve rapidly and develop resistance is why over-use of
antibiotics is so dangerous. Killing bacteria can only make them stronger.
New and more powerful strains will arise, causing our current antibiotics to
become useless. We are then forced to develop new ones, which in turns 60
continue the vicious cycle -- the resistant bacteria multiply and become
stronger still.

1
a potentially life-threatening infection in which large amounts of bacteria are present in the blood

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Lesson 6: Worksheet

11 The sheer strength of these new resistant strains has left us wondering
where it all went wrong. It is a humbling experience. The golden age when
antibiotics and vaccination were medical miracles is long gone.

Adapted from Superhuman – The Awesome Power Within

by Robert Winston and Lori Oliwenstein

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Lesson 6: Worksheet

1. Here is a part of a conversation between two students, Sam and Sue, about [1] 7E.6.2
the topic of bacteria.

No, they cannot be

Bacteria are so underestimated!
small, we can’t even
see them! What is
there to worry about?

Sam Sue

With reference to Paragraph 1, how would Sue explain her view to Sam?

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2. What does the word “massive” (line 8) tell you about the public health drives [1] 7E.6.3
that were held?

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3. Antibiotics are described as “magic bullets” (line 10). What do these two words [2] 7E.6.4
tell you about the way antibiotics work on diseases? [Use of Language]

Description How it works

magic

bullets

4. Why are antibiotics regarded as “the great life-savers of modern medicine” (line [1] 7E.6.5
16)?

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Lesson 6: Worksheet

5. In your own words, explain what the “mistake” (line 20) refers to. [2] 7E.6.6

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6. What evidence in paragraph 6 suggests that sixty to seventy years ago, we [1] 7E.6.7
struggled to deal with simple infections?

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7. The writer concludes that what we have learnt about bacteria is a “humbling [2] 7E.6.8
experience” (line 62). Using the following information, explain why it is humbling
for us.

Detail from the passage Why it is humbling

“golden age when

antibiotics and vaccination
were medical miracles is
long gone”

“wondering where it all

went wrong”

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Lesson 6: Worksheet

8. Using only material from lines 28 to 62, summarise the problems associated 7E.6.9
with over-use of antibiotics. Your summary must be in continuous writing (not
note form). It must not be longer than 80 words, not counting the words given
to help you begin. [15m]

One of the major problems associated with the over-use of antibiotics …

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Lesson 6: Worksheet

No. Points from Text Paraphrase 7E.6.10

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Content /8
Language /7
Total /15

Summary answers 7E.6.11

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