1. To make great discoveries at a breathtaking rate
2. To go way beyond something
3. In contrast to
4. To do something for the first time in history
5. To be starkly revealed
6. To outstrip something
7. To be faced with endless questions
8. To be discovered, addressed and hopefully ruled out (about a problem)
9. A massive problem
10. To run wild (about an epidemic)
11. In a fraction of a second
12. To be in a bad way
13. To be sensitive to something
14. To take something for granted
15. To race against the clock / a race against the clock
16. To make precise decisions
17. To have serious consequences
18. To be ready to vary one’s game plan
19. To go through some revolutionary changes
20. To have an unlimited supply of something
21. To do more harm than good
22. To be given a chance to work
23. To be questioned
24. To slow something down
25. To set off a dangerous chain reaction
26. To be traced back to
27. To wear off (about the effect of something)
28. To take something to an extreme
29. In theory
30. To change somebody’s look on life
31. To be out of danger
Expressions and word combinations used to speak about the human body:
1. The most stunning piece of engineering
2. Untold powers to heal and renew
3. To evolve defenses to fight back
4. Innate powers
5. The body’s standard way of coping with injuries
6. The increased understanding of the ways the human body tries to preserve itself
7. The thing the body tries to preserve almost above anything
8. To cope with large blood losses
9. The way that the body responds to bleeding is by forming a clot.
10. Not to upset the mechanism which is centuries old
11. To be flooded with adrenalin
12. As far as our bodies are concerned we are still just animals fighting for survival, struggling to escape and find a safe place to hide.
13. To release a surge of painkilling hormones
14. to start a long process of self-repair
15. To work in harmony with the body
16. To let the body heal itself
17. To be in an incredibly fragile state
18. To have some physiological reserves
19. To be injured beyond the point of self-repair
20. To be well beyond the body’s ability to heal itself
21. to be in a state of confusion
22. to constrict and redirect the blood flow
23. the lungs work to capture as much oxygen as possible
24. to make a remarkable (extraordinary) recovery
Expressions connected with speaking about trauma:
1. Trauma medicine
2. Treatment of injury
3. The number one public health issue
4. Trauma team
5. Trauma surgeon
6. Paramedic
7. To be rushed to hospital as a result of trauma
8. To suffer horrendous( horrific, massive, intensive, multiple) injuries
9. To be the cutting edge of trauma medicine
Injuries and patients’ state:
1. To show classic symptoms of traumatic shock
2. To be confused and aggressive
3. To suffer permanent brain damage
4. Internal injury (bleeding)
5. A massive head injury
6. To die off
7. A broken neck
8. A fractured skull
9. A huge bleed in the abdomen
10. To fail (about some organ)
11. Multiple organ failure
12. To overreact to trauma
13. To have a tear in one’s liver
14. To be broken in 6 places
15. To have severe injuries into the pelvis
16. To puncture the lungs
17. To bruise the kidneys
18. To erupt the spine
Words and expressions to speak about the things that doctors use and do:
1. To do something with the help of technology like X-ray and ultrasound
2. To go through the standard response
3. To follow three life-saving principles
4. To try and correct something by doing something
5. To replace lost blood and rise blood pressure
6. To be very difficult (about medical circumstances)
7. To make a brave decision
8. To try a radically new treatment
9. Damage control procedure
10. To do the bare minimum necessary to keep the patient alive
11. To reconstruct
12. To sew somebody up
13. To be given an experimental drug
14. To be kept in an intensive care unit
Expressions used to talk about a car crash:
1. To be in a traffic accident
2. To survive one’s trauma without any serious consequences
3. A number one cause of deaths
4. To crash headlong into a bus
5. To be injured in a car crash
6. To collide with a bus
7. To be removed from the car
Answer the following questions:
1. What has remained unchanged over centuries in contrast to everything else in our lives?
2. What outstrips heart disease, stroke and cancer combined?
3. What is the body’s standard way of coping with its injuries?
4. What are the three life- saving principles that the trauma team follow?
5. What organ is particularly sensitive to even a short while without oxygen?
6. What does our body try to preserve above anything else after an injury? Why?
7. What had always been the standard medical response to a situation in which a person had a massive loss of blood, before doctors started to question that method?
8. How does the body respond to bleeding?
9. Why can cold be a life saver?
10. What does damage control procedure involve?
11. Why do many patients die within 2-3 weeks in intensive care units after their operations ? What can help them to be out of danger?
12. What can be called the revolutionary change in modern medicine?
BBC SUPERHUMAN
PART 2
Spare parts
Useful expressions:
1. To enable somebody to do something
2. A well-oiled machine
3. To have an advantage
4. In principle
5. To overcome a problem
6. To be tricky
7. To run very close to something
8. To reduce the chance of something happening
9. A warning system
10. To emerge into the world
11. To relate something to something
12. Crude
13. To report something
14. Compared to
15. It’s early days yet
16. A mismatch between expectations and reality
17. To go bananas
18. Feedback
19. To compete with
20. Versatile
21. Sophisticated
22. To choose something in preference to something
23. To live on the outskirts
24. To be familiar with
25. To be too well aware of
26. To be involved in something
27. To wake up to something
28. Overwhelmed
29. To be at peace with oneself
30. To be a hard thing to accept
31. To be content with something
32. When it comes to…
33. Miracle
34. To be programmed to behave somehow
35. To be well worth something
36. To leave somebody with mixed emotions
37. Immediate reaction
38. To reconsider something
39. The risks outweigh the benefits
40. Inevitable
41. To come to terms with something
42. A good start
43. To look very different
44. Controversial
45. To benefit in the race
46. To be routinely available
Expressions for the topic “Medicine”:
1. To lose one’s limb in an accident
2. Artificial leg / arm
3. To be a science fiction vision of something
4. Transplanted hand
5. To match the incredible complexity of a human body
6. To get a severe hearing loss
7. Auditory nerve
8. Cochlea
9. Bionic replacement
10. To be accidentally damaged
11. To be paralysed for the rest of one’s life
12. To insert an implant
13. To drill a hole
14. To treat certain types of deafness
15. Eyeball
16. Retina
17. To replace the damaged cells with an electronic chip
18. To be routinely available
19. To have one of the most advanced artificial arms in the world
20. Carbon fibre
21. To be attached to the body
22. Robotic arm
23. A sense of touch
24. Nerve receptor
25. Hand transplant patient
26. Hyperacute rejection
27. To make a miraculous recovery
28. To have serious side effects
29. To carry out a hand- transplant
30. Donor hand
31. To connect arteries, veins, tendons and nerves
32. Tissue
33. To do something to a limited degree
34. To be handicapped
35. To lose all sensation
36. To be indicators of something
37. The risks include +noun
38. To keep the immune system suppressed
39. A major supply of human organs
40. Operating theatre
41. To volunteer for an experiment
42. To have something injected into someone’s brain
43. Foetus
44. Foetal
45. To coat something with something
46. To recognize something as foreign
Questions
1. What is human body often compared to? What advantage do machines have in comparison with it? What idea seems to be very seductive ? Can it easily be fulfilled?
2. What normally happens when a sound enters the ear? What can be the solution for deaf people? Why can operations be tricky? What does the brain nerve have to learn after the cochlea implant is switched on? How long does the implant stay in its place?
3. Is it possible to cure certain types of blindness with the help of bionics? Are the experts optimistic about the problem?
4. What causes mismatches between the expectations and reality about bionic arms? How does a robotic arm work? What does a person have to do to use the arm? What does the robotic arm have to try to match?
5. What is hyperacute rejection? Why is it considered to be a very serious problem? What are the ways of suppressing it? Are they absolutely safe for the patient?
6. What steps does the arm transplant operation involve?
7. Are all the patients always content with their arm transplants? Why?
8. What organs can be transplanted?How does a person’s appearance change after a heart transplant operation?
9. What is one of the most controversial ways of coping with the shortage of human organs?What difficulties does it involve? Have the doctors started transplanting pig parts into humans?
10. What made Jim Finn volunteer for the operation of injecting pig cells into his brain? What kind of pig cells were used for the operation? What do doctors do to help the pig cells be accepted by the organism?
11. What race is now on? Who should win it for the people to benefit?
BBC SUPERHUMAN
PART 3
Self-repair
Useful expressions:
1. In other words
2. When/as the need arises
3. To have no other options left
4. To respond to sudden demands
5. Ultimate aim
Expressions for the topic” Medicine”:
1. A wonderful ability to regenerate
2. To match something
3. To regrow missing or damaged parts
4. To harness new knowledge to help the body repair itself
5. Embryo
6. Blood vessels
7. Tissue engineers
8. To repair damage done by terrible diseases and the worst kind of accidents
9. To collapse
10. Vertebra
11. To shatter completely
12. Spinal cord
13. To paralyze the limbs
14. Advanced medical care
15. To carry signals between brain and limbs
16. To fuse
17. To heal
18. Expert of self-repair
19. To have some improvement in one’s condition
20. Back to normal
21. The power of healing
22. To get steadily worse
23. A severe cramp
24. Angina
25. To have heart bypass operation
26. To encourage the growth of
27. To become a guinea-pig for some experiment
28. Raw material
29. To circumcise
30. Internal body parts
31. 3 dimensional
32. To fit together perfectly
33. To be seeded with living cells
34. Bladder
35. Ingenious combination of materials
36. To revert to an earlier form
37. Stem cells
38. Stroke
39. Permanently damaged
40. To return to normal movement
41. At a very early stage
42. To apply the same technology successfully to human
43. To be amazed by the extent of somebody’s recovery
44. To be confined to a wheelchair
Answer the questions:
1. What cannot a human body do for all its sophistication?
2. What have doctors started to learn?
3. What happened to Penny Roger’s body when she hit the ground?
4. What saved her life? What cannot be fixed in her body?
5. What is crucial if the body is to move with speed and precision?
6. What is spinal cord?
7. Who are the real experts of self-repair?
8. At what age can people do the same?
9. Do we lose this ability completely when we get older?
10. How much tissue do people replace during their life?
11. What made Charles and Roger become guinea-pigs for a very daring experiment?
12. What was the aim of the operation?
13. What is the area in which the creation of new tissue is a great success?
14. Why is it far easier to grow flat pieces of skin than to grow body parts?
15. How did some tissue engineers manage to grow an ear on the back of the mouse?
16. What organ did the scientists try to make and why?
17. Why is it impossible to grow a spinal cord?
18. How does a salamander regrow a new limb?
19. Do people contain any cells of this kind? What can they help us to do?
20. What can the process of regrowing a rat’s spinal cord be compared to?
21. What were the ingredients for regrowing the spinal cord?
22. What possibilities do these experiments give to people?
BBC SUPERHUMAN
PART 4
THE ENEMY WITHIN
New words:
1. To lead to a discovery
2. To cast a new light on something
3. Worldwide
4. To combat a disease
5. To exploit
6. To take a first- hand look at advances in cancer treatment
7. To undergo gene therapy
8. To search for a miracle
9. Conventional treatment
10. To cut out
11. To spread into
12. Chemotherapy
13. To volunteer to try an experimental drug
14. To be aimed at combating the disease
15. To be based on something
16. To be tested as potential drugs
17. False lead
18. Dead end
19. Bush willow
20. Minute
21. To be about to do
22. To reduce the blood supply
23. To be encouraging
24. To deprive
25. Free radicals
26. To develop novel ways to attack advanced cancers
27. To irritate delicate tissue
28. Exposure to
29. To trigger something
30. To refuse to give up
31. To pin one’s hopes on
32. To only give temporary relief
33. Cancerous growth
34. Lifespan
35. To set off an unstoppable chain reaction
36. DNA
37. To get to the heart of
38. Emergency room
39. To be unlikely to harm somebody
40. Early trial
41. To go through gene therapy trial
42. Time-bomb
43. To be in one’s infancy
44. To survive a fatal disease
45. A waiting list
46. To rule something out completely
47. To progress (about a tumour)
48. The moment of truth
49. To maintain something
50. To look dramatically different
51. To make a breakthrough
52. To spot something
53. To be vulnerable to
54. To have high rates of
55. To develop a disease
56. To take a blood sample
57. To lack (a crucial repair gene)
58. A preventive measure
59. To help early detection
60. To improve chances of survival
61. A rapidly growing threat
62. Somebody’s prospects
63. Literally
64. To opt for something
65. To delude oneself
66. Scan
67. To tame a disease
Questions:
1. Why do many anti-cancer drugs that work in laboratory fail on people?
2. What triggers cancer? What can speed up the release of free radicals? What do they do to the organism? How can people slow the free-radicals damage down? Can the change of diet help once the tumour takes hold and begins to grow?
3. Does gene therapy give any guarantees? How does it work?
4. What’s the point of injecting a drug derived from the African bush willow into a patient’s cancer?
5. Why have the Icelanders been so badly hit by some kinds of cancer?
6. What does a cancer vaccine consist of? How does it work? Is it suitable for any kind of treatment? What are the benefits of undergoing such treatment?