Table of Contents
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 465
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST 465 – PASSAGE – 3
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – 465
READING PASSAGE – 3
Elizabeth Blackburn’s research on Telomeres and Longevity
A. American scientist Elizabeth Blackburn is known for her ground-breaking research into the field of longevity. In the 1980s, Blackburn and her team began research on telomeres, or the caps on our genes which are said to determine our longevity, which wear become shorter each time our cells divide. While working with graduate student Carol Greider at the University of California, Blackburn discovered an enzyme called telomerase. This enzyme is capable of slowing the shortening of telomeres, effectively providing a means of slowing the aging process.
B. 20 years after Blackburn’s discovery, Elissa Epel, a postdoctoral student from UCSF asked Blackburn for help with a study she was carrying out, which was looking into the behaviour and health of mothers of chronically ill children. Epel believed that the wear and tear within cells, which is a key process in ageing, could be affected by the levels of stress experienced. Epel’s test sought to ask these women to assess their own stress levels, after which Epel’s team would measure the mothers’ telomere lengths and telomerase levels.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
C. This collaboration marked the first time Blackburn’s career that her experiments began to focus on the real lives of individuals. Blackburn herself did not think it would be possible to find any meaningful connections between levels of stress and telomerase. Prior to Epel’s experiment, genes were seen as the one and only factor of telomere length. The idea that psychological and environmental factors could impact telomere length was extremely controversial.
D. During the experiment, 58 blood samples were collected-29 samples from stressed mothers and the other half from a control group. To Blackburn’s surprise, the results were extremely suggestive for all participants, the more stressed the mothers were, the lower their levels of telomerase and consequently, the shorter their telomeres. Results indicated differences of up to a decade of ageing between the most stressed mothers and the least stressed ones. For the first 291 time, there was scientific evidence to support the popular belief that stress accelerates the aging process.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
E. As soon as the paper was published, an explosion of further research was triggered. Many scientists regarded the findings with disbelief, and so more evidence to either confirm or deny these findings was sought. However, since Epel’s initial study into the links between stress and telomere length, many other findings have been published which appear to demonstrate a link between environmental factors and telomere length. Studies have demonstrated that a stress hormone called cortisol can significantly reduce telomerase levels. Studies also show that other health conditions such as diabetes and obesity appear to shorten telomeres.
F. The big question now, is whether telomeres work simply as a unit of measurement ve role for the ageing process, or whether they play an active role in age-related health problems. It is known that genetic disorders which affect telomerase generate symptoms of early and accelerated ageing and premature organ failure, but linking reductions in telomere length caused by stress to health problems and accelerated ageing is a more complex matter.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
G. Many believe such a relation to be unlikely due to the wide natural variation in telomere lengths, but Blackburn is now convinced that levels of stress do matter. Currently, in collaboration with the care consortium Kaiser Permanente, Blackburn is concerned with measuring the telomeres of over 100,000 people. Blackburn believes that by combining telomere length with data from medical records, she will find additional links between genetic mutations, diseases, telomere length and levels of telomerase in the body.
Blackburn has already found that people with longer telomeres live longer, as people with shorten telomeres do not usually surpass the 75-year-old mark. Data which shows that the average telomere length is longer at age 75-85 than it is at 65-75 confirms this.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
H. Blackburn now believes that both a healthy lifestyle and emotional support help, but meditation is the most effective way of keeping levels of telomerase high. This is backed up by one of her studies in which Blackburn sent participants to a meditation retreat. The results were astonishing. People who took a three-month meditation course had 30 per cent more telomerase than a similar group who had not yet started the course.
This very same group would them increase their levels by an average of 30 per cent by the completion of the course. It can now be said that meditation does boost the levels of telomerase, but many are still sceptical about the idea that it might be related to stress reduction.
I. Blackburn believes that such scepticism is a product of unfamiliarity with meditation. It is common knowledge that the practice of meditation involves exercises that aim at slow, regular breathing for relaxation. What most people don’t know is that meditation, according to Sara Lazar-a Harvard neuroscientist, or is even capable of changing brain structure. Studies have also reported a broad range of benefits such as depression relief and lowering of high blood pressure.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
Another study of 239 healthy women found that those who were able to keep high concentration levels for longer periods had significantly longer telomeres than those whose minds wandered often. Blackburn’s take on this study is that meditation is indeed a fair topic to study, and that Buddhist and Taoist traditions suggest that more attention should be paid to ancient wisdom and cultures.
J. Now, Blackburn and Epel believe it is time to put these studies into practice by inviting governments to pay more attention to telomeres and the social adversities that erode these protective caps. They believe that children are the age group which is most exposed to damaging behaviours from bullies, abusive parents, rough neighbourhoods, low socio-economic status, and environmental pollution. Blackburn and Epel are determined to find useful methods for TЯW prevention rather than ultimately failing to cure. If action is taken now, the next generations might be protected from stress, which is now, more than ever, a fatal modern disease.
Questions 27-32
Reading Passage 3 has ten paragraphs, A-J.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-G.
27. something Dr Blackburn had not previously experienced
28. a method to increase the levels of an enzyme
29. an invitation that would change the focus of Dr Blackburn’s career
30. A project which Blackburn is currently engaged with
31. an age group at a particular risk
32. an occurrence that started a series of studies
IELTS Academic Reading Test
Questions 33-40
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 33-40 on your answer sheet write
TRUE – if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE – if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN – if there is no information on this
33. Telomerase can slow down the aging process.
34. In the 2000s, Epel was studying the effects of stress on chronically ill children.
35. Some researchers did not accept the idea of stress-related telomere erosion.
36. Stress can be used as a unit of measurement for the ageing process.
37. Meditation can cause the brain to become larger.
38. Meditation lowers high blood pressure and relieves depression.
39. Blackburn believes religious people live longer.
40. Meditation is an efficient method of stress prevention in children.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
IELTS Academic Reading Test
ANSWERS
27. C
28. H
29. B
30. G
31. J
32. E
33. TRUE
34. FALSE
35. TRUE
36. FALSE
37. NOT GIVEN
38. TRUE
39. NOT GIVEN
40. NOT GIVEN
IELTS Academic Reading Test