NAT-IIB Biological Science Verbal Easy Test

Through the U.S. prides itself on behing a leader in the world community, a recent report shows that it lags far behind other industrialized countries in meeting the needs of its youngest and most vulnerable citizens. The U.S. has a higher infant mortality rate, a higher proportion of low birth weight babies, a smaller proportion of babies immunized against childhood diseases and a much higher rate adolescent pregnancies. These findings, described as a quiet crisis requiring immediate and far-reaching action, appeared in a report prepared by a task force of educators, doctors, politicians and business people. According to the report, a fourth of the nation’s 12 infants and toddlers live in poverty. As many as half confront risk factors that could harm their ability to develop intellectually, physically and socially. Child immunizations are too low, more children are born into poverty, more are in substandard care while their parents work and more are being raised by single parents When taken together, these and other risk factor can lead to educational and health problems that are much harder and more costly to reverse.

The crisis beings in the womb with unplanned parenthood. Women with unplanned pregnancies are less likely to seek pre-natal care. In the U.S. 80% of teenage pregnancies and 56% of all pregnancies are unplanned. The problems continue after birth where unplanned pregnancies and unstable partnerships often go hand in hand. Since 1950, the number of single parent families had nearly tripled. More than 25 percent of all births today are to unmarried mothers. As the number of single parent families grows and more women enter the work force, infants and toddlers are increasingly in the care of people other than their parents.

Most disturbingly, recent statistics show that American parents are increasingly neglecting or abusing their children. In only four years from 1987-1991, the number of children in foster care increased by over 50 percent. Babies under the age of one are the fastest growing category of children entering foster care. The crisis affects children under the age of three most severely the report says. Yet, it is this period-from infancy through preschool years- that sets the stage for a child’s future.

Children falling in which age group are most severely affected by the quite crisis?

The Romans – for centuries is the masters of war and polities across Europe, Northern Africa and Asia Minor – have often been criticized for producing few original thinker outside the realm of positive. This criticism, while in many ways true, is not without its problems. It was, after all the conquest of Greece that provided Rome with its greatest influx of educated subjects. Two of the great disasters intellectual history – the murder of Archimedes and the burning the Alexandria’s library – both occurred under Rome’s watch. Nevertheless, a city that was able to conquer so much of the known world could not have been devoid of the creativity that characterizes so many other ancient emprises.

Engineering is one endeavor in which the Romans showed themselves capable. Their aqueducts carried water hundreds of miles along the tops of vast arcades. Roman roads built for the rapid deployment of troops, criss-cross Europe and still form the basis of numerous modern highways that provide quick access prominence to Rome’s economic and political influence.

Many of these major cities lie for beyond Rome’s original province, and Latin-derived languages are spoken in most Southern European nations. Again a result of military influence the popularity of Latin and its off spring is difficult to overestimate. During the centuries of ignorance and violence that followed Rome’s decline, the Latin language was the glue that held together the identity of an entire continent. While seldom spoken today, it is still studied widely, if only so that such master or rhetoric as Cicero can be read in the original.

It is Cicero and his like who are perhaps the most overlooked legacy of Rome. While far from being a democracy, Rome did leave behind useful political tool that serve the American republic today. “Republic” itself is Latin for “the people’s business,” a notion cherished in democracies worldwide. Senators owe their name to Rome’s class of elders; Representatives owe theirs to the Tributes who seized popular prerogatives from the Senatorial class. The veto was a Roman notion adopted by the historically aware framers of the Constitution, who often assumed pen names from the lexicon of Latin life. These accomplishments, as monumental as any highway or coliseum, remain prominent features of the Western landscape.

According to the passage, which of the following accurately describes the Latin languages?

I. It spread in part due to Rome's military power

II. It is reflected in modern political concepts

III. It is spoken today in some part of Europe

Recent advances in science and technology have made it possible for geneticists to find out abnormalities in the unborn foetus and take remedial action to rectify some defects which would otherwise prove to be fatal to the child. Though genetic engineering is still at tis infancy, scientists can now predict with greater accuracy, a genetic disorder. It is not yet an exact science since they are not in a position to predict when exactly a genetic disorder will set in. While they have not yet been able to change the genetic order of the gene in germs, they are optimistic and are holding about that in the near future they might be successful in achieving this feat. They have, however, acquired the ability to manipulate tissue cells. However, genetic mis-information can sometimes be damaging for it may adversely affect people psychologically. Genetic information may lead to a tendency to brand some people as inferiors. Genetic information can therefore be abused and its application in deciding the sex of the foetus and its subsequent abortion is now hotly debated on ethical lines. But on this issue geneticists cannot be squarely blamed though this charge has often been leveled at them. It is mainly a societal problem. At present genetic engineering is a costly process of detecting disorders but scientists hope to reduce the costs when technology becomes more advanced. This why much progress in this area has been possible in scientifically advanced and rich countries like the U.S.A., U.K., and Japan. It remains to be seen if in the future this science will lead to the development of a race of supermen or will be able to obliterate illness from this world.

Q: Which of the following is true regarding the reasons for progress in genetic engineering?