http://esl-bits.net/ESL.English.Learning.Audiobooks/Rats/16/a.mp3
Chapter 16: The Maze
Questions:
1. When the rat was in the maze, what made him stop running when he got close to escaping to
the outdoors?
2. How did Justin try to escape?
3. Explain how the maze tested intelligence.
4. Why did the workers in the lab not want to harm the rats?
5. Why do you think Dr. Shultz was not surprised when Justin tried to escape?
6. Why do you think they let Justin run around the lab for so long without catching him? What do you think Justin will do next?
Vocabulary
word | definition | sentence |
maze (N) /meɪz/ | a complicated system of paths where you can easily become lost | I had been in what is called a maze, a device to test intelligence and memory. |
control group (N) /kənˈtrəʊl ɡruːp/ | The group in an experiment that does not receive treatment by the researchers and is then used as a benchmark to measure how much the other tested subjects change. | The A group is now three hundred per cent ahead of the control group in learning |
control (N) /kənˈtrəʊl/ | a person or thing that is used to compare with someone or something that is having an experiment done on them | Can you imagine one of the lab rats doing that? Or even one of the controls? |
DNA (N) /ˌdiːenˈeɪ/ | abbreviation for deoxyribonucleic acid; a chemical in the cells of living things that contains genetic information | It’s the new DNA that’s doing it. |
mutation (N) /mjuːˈteɪʃən/ | a permanent change in the genes of an organism | and since it is DNA, we may very well have a true mutation, a brand new species of rat. |