Humanities Lecture On Mad Cow Disease - IELTS Listening Sample

IELTS Listening section examines a candidate’s listening skills through four sections. IELTS listening section contains Humanities Lecture On Mad Cow Disease. This section contains a total of ten questions and two question types:

• Summary completion
• Sentence completion

IELTS listening practice papers are helpful preparation materials for candidates.

Audio Transcript

You will hear part of a humanities lecture on Mad Cow Disease.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to this humanities lecture. Today we are going to continue our look at the modern diseases that afflict society. Today we are looking at quite a famous but rare disease. The popular name for this disease is mad cow disease. It has been so named because it is most often found in the brains of cattle. It attacks the nervous functions of the brain and leads to unusual behavior by the cattle. Thus we familiarly say that the cow is therefore mad and hence, mad cow disease. Mad cow disease is the commonly used name but its medical title is Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or BSE. It is a slowly progressive, degenerative, fatal disease affecting the nervous system of adult cattle. The exact form of BSE is not known but it is generally accepted by the scientific community that the likely cause is an infectious form of a type of protein known as a prion. This protein develops abnormalities and apparently seems to encourage other proteins to become similarly misshapen, affecting their ability to function. In cattle with BSE, these abnormal prions initially occur in the small intestines, tonsils, and central nervous tissues.

There is a similar disease to BSE called Creutzfeld Jacob Disease or CJD that is found in people. A variant form of CJD is believed to be caused by eating contaminated beef products from BSE-affected cattle. The abnormal prions in infected cattle products are consumed by humans as they are resistant to common food disinfection treatments such as heat. The disorder is rare occurring in about 1 out of 1,000,000 people. To date, there have been 155 confirmed and probable cases of CJD worldwide among the hundreds and thousands of people that may have consumed BSE contaminated beef products. Most of the cases have occurred in the UK. The one US case was in a young woman who contracted the disease while residing in the UK and developed symptoms after moving to the US.

CJD is a disorder involving a rapid decrease in mental function and movement. As with BSE in cattle, these abnormalities are believed to be caused by damage done to the brain by prions, though it is has been proved that in rare cases it can be genetically inherited. CJD tends to affect younger people, beginning between the ages of 20 and 70, with the average age at onset of symptoms in the late 50s. Early symptoms include personality changes and difficulty with coordination. Once symptoms appear, the disorder progresses rapidly and may be confused with other types of dementia such as Alzheimer’s Disease. CJD though is distinguished by extremely rapid progression from onset to symptoms to disability and death.

So, how did BSE and CJD come about? We’ve not read about them in the history books. These appear to be new diseases. BSE was first reported in the United Kingdom. The exact origins of BSE remain uncertain, but it is thought that cattle initially may have become infected when given feed contaminated with scrapie-infected sheep meat and bone meal. Scrapie is a sheep prion disease similar to BSE in cattle. The scientific evidence suggests that the UK BSE outbreak in cattle was then spread by feeding BSE contaminated cattle protein to calves. Thus, we have created the disease ourselves. Cattle naturally are grazers, feeding on grass. We have given cattle feed derived from sheep, an unnatural food for cattle. We have compounded our mistake by also feeding young cattle with feed derived from older cattle making them cannibals. There is a kind of horror associated with it when we look at it like this. There is also a kind of poetic justice that the disease is passed down to us as we consume the animals that we have infected. Moving on now, are there any questions about what I have said so far?

Questions 31 - 35

Complete the sentences below.

Write NO MORE THAN 3 WORDS for each answer.

31. Mad cow disease attacks the ______________ of the affected cows brains.
32. BSE is thought to be caused by infectious forms of ______________ known as prions.
33. Abnormal prions in BSE infected cattle are found in the small intestines, ______________ and the central nervous tissues.
34. Humans can take in the abnormal prions when they eat infected beef as the prions are resistant to the usual _______________ such as heat.
35. The one American case of CJD was a woman who caught it in _______________ before going to the US.

Question 31.

Answer: nervous functions

Explanation: In the monologue, it is mentioned that the disease attacks the nervous function of the brain and leads to unusual behavior by the cattle.

Also, check:

Question 32.

Answer: protein

Explanation: generally it is accepted that it is possible that the BSE is caused by an infectious form of a type of protein.

Question 33.

Answer: tonsils

Explanation: The abnormal prions initially occur in the small intestines, tonsils, and central nervous tissues.

Question 34.

Answer: (food) disinfection treatment

Explanation: Humans are likely to intake these abnormal prions in the form of beef as they are resistant to common food disinfection treatments such as heat.

Question 35.

Answer: the UK

Explanation: The monologue mentioned one case of a young woman who caught this disease. She developed symptoms after she moved to the US.

Questions 36 - 40

Complete the summary below of the second half of the humanities lecture on BSE.

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

CJD causes gradual loss of mental function and movement due to brain damage

from abnormal prions or it can be possibly (36) _______________. CJD usually

affects younger people (between ages 20 to 70) usually showing symptoms in

patients (37) _______________. Symptoms include personality changes and

problems with (38) _______________. Once symptoms appear, the disorder

progresses quickly to disability and death.

The exact causes of BSE are unknown but the first UK cases have indicated that

it could come from a prion disease in (39) _______________ called scrapie that

was fed to cattle. Dead cattle with scrapie were then fed to (40) _______________

making them cannibals. So, we are in turn infected by the disease that we created

when we eat infected beef.

Question 36.

Answer: genetically inherited

Explanation: it is also been proven that this disease can also be genetically inherited.

Question 37.

Answer: late 50s

Explanation: CJD is a disease that tends to affect the average age at the onset of symptoms in the late 50s.

Question 38.

Answer: coordination

Explanation: The early symptoms of this disease involve personality changes and difficulty with coordination.

Question 39.

Answer: sheep

Explanation: Scrapie is a sheep prion disease similar to BSE in cattle.

Question 40.

Answer: calves, young cattle

Explanation: The monologue provides evidence suggesting that that the BSE outbreak in cattle was expanded by feeding BSE contaminated cattle protein to calves.