Coral on thin ice

<span xml:lang="en"><span xml:lang="en"/><span xml:lang="en"/><crosshead>Transcript</crosshead><paragraph>The only living thing on Earth visible from space. But rising temperatures in the Pacific are causing coral in Australia's Great Barrier Reef to decay.</paragraph><paragraph>The key to its survival could be in these pots. Experts in Sydney have taken about eight billion cells and put them in deep freeze.</paragraph><paragraph>They plan to reintroduce some of these samples to see if they can regrow.</paragraph><crosshead>Vocabulary</crosshead><paragraph>to decay - to rot</paragraph><paragraph>pots - containers</paragraph><paragraph>in deep freeze - being held in temporary frozen inactivity</paragraph><paragraph>to reintroduce - to place again in its environment</paragraph><paragraph>samples - small parts of the whole</paragraph><crosshead>Exercise</crosshead><paragraph>Use one of the words or phrases below to complete each of these sentences from BBC news reports.</paragraph><paragraph>Note that you may have to change the form of a word to complete the sentence correctly.</paragraph><paragraph>to decay / pots / in deep freeze / reintroduce / samples</paragraph><paragraph> 1. "Edinburgh Zoo knows that captive pandas are notoriously poor breeders and that only one zoo-reared panda has ever been ____________ into the wild - that unfortunate animal died within a year."</paragraph><paragraph>2. "Language is not a plant that rises and falls, lives and ________. It's a tool that's perfectly adapted by the people using it. Get on with living and talking."</paragraph><paragraph>3. Tahrir Square was full of rubbish left by its occupiers, visitors and scores of vendors of Egyptian fast food - piles of sticky paper mixed with the remains of grilled sweetcorn, roasted sweet potatoes, dense stews of liver and peppers and plastic _________ of kushari, a mixture of pasta, rice and lentils.</paragraph><paragraph>4. About 9,000 cancer patients are being asked take part in new gene tests which could improve therapies. __________ from tumours will be tested for gene faults, and testing laboratories in London, Cardiff and Birmingham will compare the outcome of treatments.</paragraph><paragraph>5. A mother has given birth to what are believed to be the first twins to be born in the UK from frozen eggs. Isabella and Anna Fahey were born three weeks ago from eggs which had been kept ______________ storage at the Midlands Fertility Services (MFS) for two years.</paragraph> <crosshead>Answers</crosshead><span xml:lang="en"/><span xml:lang="en"/><paragraph>1. "Edinburgh Zoo knows that captive pandas are notoriously poor breeders and that only one zoo-reared panda has ever been reintroduced into the wild - that unfortunate animal died within a year."</paragraph><paragraph><link type="page"><caption> Edinburgh Zoo prepares for arrival of pandas from China</caption><url href="http://bbc.in/w2lMYy" platform="highweb"/></link></paragraph><paragraph>2. "Language is not a plant that rises and falls, lives and decays. It's a tool that's perfectly adapted by the people using it. Get on with living and talking."</paragraph><paragraph><link type="page"><caption> Are dying languages worth saving?</caption><url href="http://bbc.in/9l2dBF" platform="highweb"/></link></paragraph><paragraph>3. Tahrir Square was full of rubbish left by its occupiers, visitors and scores of vendors of Egyptian fast food - piles of sticky paper mixed with the remains of grilled sweetcorn, roasted sweet potatoes, dense stews of liver and peppers and plastic pots of kushari, a mixture of pasta, rice and lentils.</paragraph><paragraph><link type="page"><caption> Splintered views threaten collective spirit of Tahrir</caption><url href="http://bbc.in/tHrQhO" platform="highweb"/></link></paragraph><paragraph>4. About 9,000 cancer patients are being asked take part in new gene tests which could improve therapies. Samples from tumours will be tested for gene faults, and testing laboratories in London, Cardiff and Birmingham will compare the outcome of treatments.</paragraph><paragraph><link type="page"><caption> Cancer Research UK starts DNA matching research</caption><url href="http://bbc.in/t0oFKL" platform="highweb"/></link></paragraph><paragraph>5. A mother has given birth to what are believed to be the first twins to be born in the UK from frozen eggs. Isabella and Anna Fahey were born three weeks ago from eggs which had been kept in deep freeze storage at the Midlands Fertility Services (MFS) for two years.</paragraph><paragraph><link type="page"><caption> Twins born after two years on ice</caption><url href="http://bbc.in/sDBIJz" platform="highweb"/></link></paragraph></span>