Food from the air

Everyone has seen plants growing, but have you ever thought where they get their food? In 1652, a European scientist called Van Helmot asked this question. Like most people, he thought that plants must get their food from soil. However, Van Helmot decided to test the theory with experiments. First, he dried some soil, put it into a pot and weighed it. Next he weighed a small tree, planted it in the pot and added rain water. Then, he watered the soil regularly with rain water.

After five years, he removed the tree from the Pot and weighed it again. He found that the tree had gained a huge amount of weight. When he weighed the soil, however, it was almost exactly the same as it had been five years earlier. Van Helmot thought this was strange, but decided that the extra weight of the tree must have come from the water. He did not realise that there was another invisible food which was feeding his tree.

We now know that plants and trees make their own food. Their leaves are like factories producing everything they need, so that plants can change the energy from the sun into chemical energy. During this process, oxygen and sugar are produced. The oxygen is released back into the air, and the sugar is used by the plant as food.

Definitions:

achieve	to succeed in doing something good or getting the result you want
cancer	a serious disease in which cells in someone's body grow in a way that is not normal
cure (n)	medicine or treatment that can make an injury or illness better
diabetes	a disease in which there is too much sugar in your blood
gradually	something that happens slowly, over a long time
result	something that happens or exists because of something else
specialise	to limit most of your study, business, etc., to a particular subject or activity
theory	an explanation for something that has not yet been proved to be true
amount	how much of something there is
invisible	impossible to see
release (v)	let go; stop holding something
gain (v)	to increase in something
process (n)	a series of events or changes that happen naturally
regularly	often, at regular times, for example, every day, week or month

Language Notes

 لاحظ أن الصفات تأتي عادة قبل الأسماء ولكن تأتي بعد الكلمات الآتية:

۩ Something / everything / anything / nothing / somebody etc.

●Have you read anything interesting lately?

●Let's go somewhere quiet.

۩ Rise / rose / risen (I) لا يليها مفعول

= (go up, increaseيزداد , , stand up يقف / ينهض , get out of bedيستيقظ )

• Oil prices are rising all the time. يزداد

• Smoke rose from the chimney. يتصاعد

• The sun rises at around 6 a.m. تشرق

۩ rise (n.) زيادة / ارتفاع (increase / increase in wagesزيادة في الأجور )

• There was a sudden rise in temperature yesterday. ارتفاع

• He got a 10% rise last year. زيادة في الأجر

۩ Raise / raised/ raised (T) يليها مفعول

 Raise your hand if you know the answer. يرفــع

 The government does its best to raise the standard of living. يرفع مستوي المعيشــة

 The concert raised a lot of money for cancer research.يجمع

 Raise your voice ارفع صوتك

 raise hopes/ fears/ suspicionsيثير الخوف/الشك ...

 Raise a subject / question / point يطرح للمناقشة موضوع أو نقطة أو يثير تساؤل

۩ Arise / arose / arisen (بدون مفعول) = begin to happen ينشأ / يحدث

 A lot of problems usually arise at work.

۩ Arouse/aroused/ (يليها مفعول) يثيــر(للمشاعر والأحاسيس) / يوقظ

 Her behavior aroused the suspicions يثير شكوك of the police.

Like = similar to / in the same way as

 He eats like a horse.  He is like a son to me.

 لاحظ استخدام like مع الأفعال الآتية: seem / sound / look / feel / taste

 The garden looks like a jungle.  At last he felt like a real soldier.  It seems like a good idea.

Like = for example  Things like glass, paper, and plastic can all be recycled.

As + job  He works as a doctor.

Such as = for example  Things such as glass, paper, and plastic can all be recycled.

 As = because  He didn't come to school as he was ill.

 As = while / when  I saw Peter as I was getting off the bus.

 As = though / although  Hard as he studied, he failed the test.

 As for + someone / something بالنسبة لـ

 I am good at English. As for my brother, he is good at geography..

 As of / as from = starting from بداية من(وقت معين)

 As from today, you are in charge of the office.

Words often confused:

۩ factor عامل (جمعها عوامل) ۩ factory مصنع

 The weather could be a crucial factor عامل حاسم in tomorrow's game.

 There is a car factory in our town.

۩ tasty = delicious لذيذ الطعم ۩ tasteful ينُم عن الذوق الرفيع

۩ testy = irritable عصبي / سريع الغضب

 The meal was very tasty.

 She bought tasteful furniture.

 He is a testy person.

۩ pricey = expensive غالي الثمن ۩ priceless = of very great value لا يُقدَر بثمن

 The clothes are beautiful but very pricey.

 A priceless collection of paintings was stolen from the museum.

Regrettable (شيء ) يؤسف له  His behaviour at the party was very regrettable.

Regretful شاعر بالندم  He was regretful when he had to leave his old house.

series سلسلة (أحداث / كتب / أفلام/ اجتماعات) serious جاد / خطير

 They will hold a series of meetings over the next few weeks.

 The government is trying to solve the serious problem of unemployment.

Exercises on Vocabulary and Language Notes:

Choose the correct answer:

1. The (result – outlet – insult – revolt) of the experiment surprised everyone.

2. You will never (relieve – approve – achieve – believe) very much if you do not work hard.

3. At school, students learn many subjects, but when they get to university, they usually (realize – economize – specialize – symbolize).

4. Scientists often do experiments to prove a particular (theory – habit – custom – tradition).

5. I found playing the guitar very difficult at first, but in the last two weeks I've (artificially – brutally - gradually – cheerfully) improved.

6. People who have (diagnosis – diabetes – dialects – diary) must be very careful about what they eat.

7. There are some sports where it is good to (earn – win – defeat – gain) weight, rather than lose it.

8. Farmers water their crops (regularly – bitterly – disorderly – formerly) to make sure they grow well.

9. The little boy who was hiding behind the door thought he was (divisible – edible – legible – invisible), but you could just see the top of his head.

10. If you don't turn the taps off, you can waste a huge (number - amount – account – discount) of water in a short time.

11. Leaves falling from trees in the autumn is a completely natural (excess – business – process – pretence).

12. She has been (diabetic – athletic – allergic - sympathetic) since she was a child. There is too much sugar in her blood.

13. His greatest (agreement – arrangement –achievement - discouragement) was becoming the captain of the national team when he was 16.

14. There was a (manual – punctual – spiritual -gradual) improvement in her schoolwork.

15. My doctor didn't know what was wrong with me, so he sent me to see a (geologist – specialist – physicist – zoologist).

16. (Artistically – Atomically – Theoretically - Historically), anyone can travel to the moon.

17. To (attach – attribute – challenge – achieve) is to succeed in doing something.

18. A/An (theory – practice – experience - experiment) is an explanation for something that has not yet been proved to be true.

19. A/An (operation – experiment – process - illness) is a series of events or changes that happen naturally.

20. (Fever – Paralysis – Flu – Cancer) is a serious disease in which cells in someone's body grow in a way that is not normal.

21. Something which is (compatible – invisible – audible - flexible) is impossible to see.

22. (Gradually – Actually – Mutually - Individually) means something that happens slowly, over a long time.

23. A/An (cause – reason - result - explanation) is something that happens or exists because of something else.

24. To (nationalize – terrorize – sterilize - specialize) is to limit most of your study, business, etc., to a particular subject or activity.

25. An/A (amount – number – equal - extract) means how much of something there is.

26. To (please – decrease – increase - release) means to stop holding something.

27. She gave a (supplies - series – process – service) of lectures at Cairo University.

28. The balloon (raised – aroused - rose – arose) gently in the air.

29. Her parents died when she was a baby and she was (rose – aroused – arose raised) by her grandparents.

30. (As – Like – So – If) it was getting late, I decided to book into a hotel.

31. I've been working all day, but I feel as if I've (attracted – attended - achieved – attempted) nothing.

32. (Gradually – Mathematically – Electrically – Archaeologically), she realized that he wasn't telling her the truth.

33. Some scientists still believe in Darwin's (function - theory – diary – delivery) of evolution.

34. I enjoy working in general medicine, but I hope to be able to (characterize – destabilize – specialize – familiarize) in the future.

35. His broken leg is the direct (result – series – process – sequence) of his own carelessness.

36. These bacteria are (visible – feasible – practical – invisible) unless viewed with a microscope.

37. I (won – took – did – gained) a lot of weight while I was on holiday.

38. They suspected that she had killed him but they could never actually (improve – deprive – prune – prove) that it was her.

39. She was arrested for shoplifting but was (released – based – chased – cheated) on bail.

40. A (clue – cube – pure - cure) has not been found for this disease yet.

Find the mistakes in each of the following sentences then write them correctly:

1. Do you come here regularity? –No, I've only been here once before.

2. The scientist decided to test the theory with experiences.

3. How much do you weight?

4. As most people, he thought that plants get their food from soil.

5. These trees grow well in a sandy cell.

6. He planted a small tree in a put.

7. He proved the old wallpaper and filled the holes in the walls.

8. John has earned a lot of weight recently.

9. He paid regular numbers of money to a charity.

10. The company holds burglar meetings with employees.

11. His height was the like as it had been five years earlier.

12. Using a telescope, Galileo discovered stars that were indivisible to the naked eye.

13. Ageing is the natural recess of getting old.

14. Carbon stored in trees is pleased as carbon dioxide.

15. This restaurant realizes in seafood.

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