Page 11 - Mission IELTS Leaflet

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3
5 Underline in the articles in Skills Focus any words that relate to investigation. Add them to your
vocabulary record if they are new to you.
Text 1
A Twice as many girls as boys are being born in some
Arctic villages because of high levels of man-made
chemicals in the blood stream of pregnant women,
according to scientists.
B The scientists, who say the findings could explain
the recent high number of girl babies across much
of the northern hemisphere, are widening their
investigation across the most seriously affected
communities in Russia, Greenland and Canada to
try to discover the size of the imbalance in Inuit
communities.
C In the communities of Greenland and eastern
Russia monitored so far, the ratio was found to be
two girls to one boy. In one village in Greenland
only girls have been born.
D The scientists measured the man-made chemicals
in women’s blood and concluded that they could
produce changes in the sex of unborn children in
the first three weeks of pregnancy. These chemicals
are carried to the baby in the mother’s bloodstream.
Text 2
A Children with older brothers and sisters are
at risk of not growing enough in early life
according to a study which investigates
how much children are affected by having
brothers and sisters and their order in the
family.
B Those with several older brothers are most
affected, the study finds. Medical records
show that by the age of 10, such children
are already significantly shorter than the
average.
C Those born last appear to grow up in
families who have less time, money and
attention to spend on their children.
D David Lawson, a researcher working at
University College London, found that a
child’s height was strongly dependent on
the number of older brothers and sisters
he/she had.