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2021 ‫מועד אביב‬ - 47 - ‫ פרק שני‬- ‫אנגלית‬

Reading Comprehension

This part consists of two passages, each followed by several related questions. For each
question, choose the most appropriate answer based on the text.

Text I (Questions 13-17)

(1) Germs – microorganisms that cause disease – are among humankind's most
dangerous enemies. They are so small that they can be seen only with a microscope.
For thousands of years people were unaware that germs even exist, and several theories
were suggested to explain what causes illness. Some believed that disease was caused

(5) by an evil spirit in the patient's body; this spirit had to be removed in order for the
patient to feel better. Others believed that disease was caused by poisonous gases in
water.

It was not until the second half of the 19th century that these beliefs were proven
wrong. The two men mainly responsible for this were Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch.

(10) In 1865, the French silk industry was threatened by pebrine, a disease which affects
silkworms. Pasteur, a French scientist, was asked to find out what was causing it. He
discovered that microorganisms living on the silkworms caused pebrine; he also

succeeded in finding a cure for it. Pasteur thus became the first person to prove that
disease is caused by germs. He continued his research on germs until his death in 1895.

(15) Around the time that Pasteur was studying pebrine, Koch, a Prussian country
doctor, was studying anthrax, a disease which affects both animals and humans. In
1876, he proved that this disease is caused by a germ. He also discovered a method of
staining, or colouring, germs with dyes so that they could more easily be seen and
studied under a microscope. The greatest of Koch's discoveries was made in 1882,

(20) when he found the germ that causes tuberculosis. Koch travelled all over the world
studying diseases; after a visit to Egypt and India, he announced that he had found the

germ which causes cholera. Koch received many honours for his work, including the
Nobel Prize for medicine.

Questions

13. The first paragraph describes -

(1) what people once believed to be the causes of disease
(2) the most common types of illnesses in the past
(3) how diseases were treated thousands of years ago
(4) why it was believed that germs cause disease

)‫© כל הזכויות שמורות למרכז ארצי לבחינות ולהערכה (ע"ר‬
.‫ בלא אישור בכתב מהמרכז הארצי לבחינות ולהערכה‬- ‫ כולה או חלקים ממנה‬- ‫ או ללמדה‬,‫אין להעתיק או להפיץ בחינה זו או קטעים ממנה בכל צורה ובכל אמצעי‬