English Evaluation Test

Name: ______________________

Read the text carefully.

Designer baby row over clinic that offers eye, skin

and hair colour

The Fertility Institutes clinic in Los Angeles has just

started offering prospective parents the opportunity to select
physical traits of future offspring thanks to "cosmetic
5 medicine". But other fertility experts are outraged that the
clinic is seeking to capitalise on dramatic advances in
embryo cell analysis designed to identify dangerous diseases
and defects in the unborn. They are angered that the
bespoke baby in vitro fertilisation service is distracting public
10 attention from how the pioneering medical technology can
have children free of debilitating genetic conditions.
Clinic director Dr Jeff Steinberg, who as a young medic
was part of the team involved in the birth in Britain in 1978 of Louise Brown, the world's
first test tube baby, is undeterred."It's incredibly exciting," he told The Sunday
15 Telegraph. "I live in LA and everyone here wants to have a straight nose and high
cheekbones and are perfectly happy to pay for cosmetic surgery. "I understand the
trepidation and concerns, but we cannot escape the fact that science is moving forward.
If I have to get smacked around by people who think it is inappropriate, then I'm willing
to live with that."
20 The ground-breaking science is based on a procedure known as pre-implantation
genetic diagnosis (PGD) that for years has allowed doctors to identify potentially lethal
diseases and conditions in embryos. But scientists have recently made startling
advances in their ability to analyse the make-up of a single cell taken from a three-day-
old embryo. At a meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics late last year,
25 William Kearns, a leading medical geneticist, outlined how he had managed to obtain
sufficient DNA from the cell to identify thousands of characteristics from the embryo. Dr
Kearns explained the technique for medical purposes, but Dr Steinberg quickly spotted
other uses. He said parents might seek the clinic's services for both medical and
30 cosmetic reasons. Some couples might, for example, already have a child with a skin
cancer such as melanoma and want their next baby to have a darker complexion for
medical reasons, but others might just want a blonde girl with green eyes. "Is it medical
or cosmetic or both?" he asked.
His proposal to offer trait selection has outraged Dr Kearns. "I won't sell my soul
35 for any amount," he said. "Steinberg has jumped on my research but I'm totally against
this. My goal is to screen embryos to help couples have healthy babies free of genetic
diseases. Traits are not diseases."

And Mark Hughes, one of the "fathers" of PGD, is just as bitterly opposed to the
40 trait selection service on offer from the Fertility Institutes. "It's ridiculous and
irresponsible," said the director of Genesis Genetics in Detroit. "There are thousands of
desperate couples who have no hope of having healthy children without this technology,
and here we are talking about this."

"If we're going to produce children who are claimed to be superior because of
their particular genes, we risk introducing new sources of discrimination" in society, says
Marcy Darnovsky, director of the California-based Centre for Genetics and Society. Now
it's eyes and hair colour. What happens if it's height and intelligence? Some parents may
have qualms about that, but still feel under pressure to go down that route."
 The row about the selection of these physical traits is doubtless only a taste of the
furore that will follow if scientists are able to work out which human genome
combinations predicate height, sporting prowess and perhaps the ultimate taboo,
intelligence.

Britain, in common with most European nations, has banned the process of
gender selection. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine has issued guidelines
against gender selection - trait selection is so new that it has not yet been considered -
but it has fiercely opposed the sort of government regulations that are imposed in
Europe.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/

A. Are the following statements TRUE or FALSE? Find evidence in the

text to justify your answer.

1. People are now given the chance to have some characteristics chosen for their
babies.
2. Some experts believe this new service on offer is only being used to make
money.
3. The pioneering technology has been used for many years to select desired
physical traits.
4. Dr Kearns and Dr Steinberg have the same attitude towards the new advances.
5. More controversy is likely to be raised if experts manage to identify some
specific characteristics.

B. Complete the sentences according to the ideas expressed in the text.

1. Due to the improvements made in DNA analysis, scientists

2. America opposes the laws in European nations where

C. Find in paragraphs 3 the synonyms for the following words.

1. cutting-edge
2. capable of causing death
3. improvements
4. look for
5. characteristics

D. Answer the following questions on the text, using your own words as
far as possible.

1. What does Dr Jeff Steinberg think about the new service provided by his clinic?

2. How do other fertility experts feel about this issue? Mention their reasons.
(Three different ones).

E. Fill in the blanks using words from the box below.

afford preventable totalitarian advantages unmodified

therapy enhanced ethical offspring design
The potential to genetically engineer humans has raised
many _____1_____arguments for and against. They include the belief that every
fetus has an inherent right to remain genetically _____2_____, the belief that
parents hold the rights to modify their unborn _____3_____, and the belief that
every child has the right to be born free from _____4_____ diseases.

Molecular Biologist Lee M. Silver has posited that unlike Aldous Huxleys Brave
New World, where a _____5_____ government employs eugenics to control the
genetic makeup within society, the use of gene therapy to _____6_____ children
will be spread through what he calls free market eugenics. Wealthy families will
opt to design their child with genetic _____7_____ because other families are doing
so. Silver believes this use of germline gene _____8_____ will mean wealthy
families pass down _____9_____ traits to their children, potentially disadvantaging
poorer families that can not _____10_____ the technology.

II - Use of Language
A. Rewrite the following sentences in the Passive Voice.

1. Parents may seek the clinics services for both medical and cosmetic reasons.
2. Dr Steinberg's clinic has already received "five or six" requests from couples
for the new service.
3. In the future authorities will have to pass new laws to regulate this process.

B. Complete the sentences below, writing the verbs in brackets in the

correct tense.

1. Many parents ___________ (be) tempted to choose this new technology if it

becomes legal.
2. If the procedure was legal in Britain, couples _______________ (not have) to
travel to other countries.
3. He would have achieved better results if he _____________ (do) more research
on this topic.
4. If scientists ____________ (not carry) out many experiments, the procedure
wouldnt have evolved.
5. Parents wouldnt think of having this service if they _______ (know) something
wrong might happen.

C. Rewrite the following sentences starting them as suggested. Keep

the same meaning.

1. Scientists must be careful about this new technology or it may be used for
wrong purposes. Unless

2. They expect that the first trait selection baby will be born next year.
The first trait selection baby

3. As this process is forbidden in Europe, couples dont consider it as a possible

option.
If this process

4. Dr Kearns didnt fully understand the reasons for his colleague s decision.
The reasons
5. The possibility of cloning other mammals was considered because Dolly was
cloned successfully.
If Dolly

III Writing
Choose one of the topics below and write your composition on it. (150
200 words)

1. Write an opinion article stating the pros and cons of engineering.

2. Comment on the following quotation having in mind what we have

discussed about vegetarianism.

It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living, by its purely physical effect
on the human temperament, would most beneficially influence the lot of
mankind.

Albert Einstein

Test specification

A. B. C. D. E. II- A. B. C. III Total

5x6 2x8 5x4 15+19 10x1 3x5 5x2 5x5 40 200
30 16 20 34 10 15 10 25 40 200