I now have about 90 free scrambled paragraphs on this blog for you to practice on. You can also broaden your general knowledge by reading the accompanying links and watching the videos. Please feel free to give me feedback using the email address I listed above. I really hope this resource is useful to you. ^^
_____ (Q) Fry also surgically removed a venom gland from a terminally
ill Komodo at Singapore Zoo for the study, and said it contained a highly toxic
poison which would induce potent stomach cramps, hypothermia and a drop in
blood pressure.
"The gods condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly roll a rock to
the top of a mountain," wrote Albert Camus, "then the stone would
fall back of its own weight; they thought that there is no more dreadful
punishment than futile and hopeless labor."
______ (Q) Over and over it happens that a theory or explanation
believed to be well established has to be abandoned or rethought of by researchers in the light
of new findings.
______ (R) Half a century ago Stanley L. Miller demonstrated that
amino acids and other biochemically significant compounds could be easily
synthesized under conditions simulating those of the primitive atmosphere.
______ (S) Like Sisyphus, these researchers trying to discover the origins of
life and study the earliest stages of biological evolution have an uphill
quest because theories must be abandoned and rethought.
______ (T) Nowadays geoscientists tend to doubt that the
conditions of the prebiotic environment were as reducing as Miller and others
had assumed.
______ (U) Of all the examples, maybe one is the most famous.
When he was two years old, Joseph Merrick’s mother noticed that
some areas of his skin began to change.
______ (Q) The right side of his head began to grow, as
did his right arm and hand so that by the time he was 12 years old, Joseph's
hand was so deformed as to be useless; furthermore, the growths on his skin
were now large and repulsive to look at.
______ (R) Over the next years, Joseph left home, tried working in
a factory but was abused by the workers there, and finally ended up in a freak
show.
______ (S) Some darkened, discolored skin growths were appearing,
and they began to look bumpy and rough.
______ (T) Furthermore, the other boys in early grade school were
starting to make fun of him and as Joseph grew older, he began to look even
more strange.
______ (U) Lumps began to grow under the boy's skin, on his neck,
his chest, and the back of his head and Mary Jane Merrick began to worry about
her son, Joseph.
The world's largest lizard, the Komodo dragon, has a snake-like
venom in its bite which sends victims into shock and stops their blood from
clotting, according to Australian research.
_____ (R) But magnetic resonance imagery has for the first time
uncovered venom glands containing a shock-inducing poison which increases blood
flow and decreases blood pressure, scientists say.
_____ (S) Bryan Fry, a leading researcher, said this three-dimensional
computer imaging comparing the Komodo's bite with that of Australia's saltwater
crocodile showed it used a "grip and rip" pulling manoeuvre to tear
deep wounds, similar to a shark or sabre cat.
_____ (T) "Such a fall in blood pressure would be
debilitating in conjunction with blood loss and would render the envenomed prey
unable to escape," he said.
_____ (U) It had previously been widely believed that deadly bacteria in the
carnivorous lizard's mouth helped kill its prey.
Answers:
life: 14253
merrick: 45132
komodo 42351
