Read the following passage.
A. For centuries people knew about diabetes, but it was poorly understood until the end of the 19th century. In 1889 two German researchers, Oskar Minkowski and Joseph von Mering, found that dogs whose pancreas had been removed quickly became severely diabetic, so something in that organ seemed to prevent the disease. At the turn of the 20th century, the only effective treatment was a strict diet, sometimes as low as 500 calories a day, which meant slow starvation. Over the next 30 years hundreds of researchers searched for the missing substance, but their extracts worked poorly and often had harmful side effects.
B. The Toronto work began with an idea. On 31 October 1920, Frederick Banting, a young surgeon in London, Ontario, wrote down a plan for research on the pancreas. John James Rickard Macleod, an expert in carbohydrate metabolism at the University of Toronto, was skeptical but offered Banting lab space, dogs and a student assistant. Charles Best won a coin toss for the job, and the two began their experiments on 17 May 1921. On 30 July they injected an extract into a diabetic dog and saw a sharp drop in its blood sugar. In December Macleod added the biochemist James Collip to the team.
C. In January 1922 the team was ready to treat a person. On 11 January an extract was injected into Leonard Thompson, a 13-year-old boy close to death in Toronto General Hospital, but the test was a failure. Collip then developed a better process that removed toxic contaminants, and when the injections resumed on 23 January, the boy's blood sugar went to normal. That spring the group first used the word "insulin," from a Latin root for islets. In 1923 Banting and Macleod received the Nobel Prize, and each divided his prize money equally with a partner, Banting with Best and Macleod with Collip.
D. For many years the University of Toronto supervised its production through patents and licensed manufacturers, who by the end of 1923 were supplying patients around the world. The first insulin was extracted from beef and pork pancreas and needed several injections a day, so in the 1930s researchers added protamine and later zinc to make it last longer. In 1978 the first human insulin was made with recombinant DNA, and it was on the market by 1982. Most people now take insulin with a needle and syringe, a pen or a pump, and some use an artificial pancreas, a set of three devices that work together.
E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.
Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: D
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph D: the first insulin was extracted from beef and pork pancreas. Beef is meat from cows and pork is meat from pigs.
Passage Reference: The first insulin was extracted from beef and pork pancreas and needed several injections a day, so in the 1930s researchers added protamine and later zinc to make it last longer.
Tips: Find where the passage explains how the earliest kind of insulin was made. Then check where it came from.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: There are animals in paragraph A too. But they are dogs used in an 1889 experiment, not a source of insulin for patients.
- B: The second paragraph describes the Toronto dog experiments of 1921. It does not say where the insulin given to patients came from.
- C: Paragraph C tells the story of the first patient and the Nobel Prize, with no mention of cows or pigs.
- E: Beef and pork pancreas as the first source of insulin is named in paragraph D.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: On 11 January an extract was injected into Leonard Thompson, a 13-year-old boy close to death in Toronto General Hospital, but the test was a failure.
Why this is correct: In paragraph C, an extract was injected into Leonard Thompson on 11 January 1922, but the test was a failure. It worked only when the injections started again on 23 January.
Tips: The passage describes more than one injection. Pick the first one given to a patient, and check whether that very first try worked.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Earlier extracts worked poorly in paragraph A. But those were other researchers' tests, not the first shot given to Toronto's patient.
- B: Paragraph B has an injection into a dog, and that one worked well. No human patient appears yet.
- D: The fourth paragraph is about how insulin was made and taken in later years. The first patient is not mentioned.
- E: Leonard Thompson's first injection, and its failure, are described in paragraph C.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: Charles Best won a coin toss for the job, and the two began their experiments on 17 May 1921.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph B says Charles Best won a coin toss for the job of working with Banting. Tossing a coin is a game of chance, so Best got his place by luck.
Tips: Best appears more than once. Find the part that tells how he got his place in the lab, and check that luck decided it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A covers diabetes before the Toronto team existed, so no helper is chosen there.
- C: Best is named in paragraph C only because Banting shared his prize money with him. How Best joined is not explained there.
- D: In paragraph D, the text follows insulin after the discovery and names none of the researchers.
- E: Best's coin toss is reported in paragraph B, where Banting's work begins.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: At the turn of the 20th century, the only effective treatment was a strict diet, sometimes as low as 500 calories a day, which meant slow starvation.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph A: at the turn of the 20th century, the only effective treatment was a strict diet. It was sometimes as low as 500 calories a day. A very limited diet is the same idea in other words.
Tips: The statement is about the years before a new medicine was found. Check what treatment people relied on then, and whether anything else worked.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Paragraph B is about Banting's idea and the first dog tests. No diet for patients is described.
- C: In paragraph C, a boy is treated with an extract, not with food limits.
- D: The fourth paragraph describes later forms of insulin and ways to take it. Eating is not discussed.
- E: The strict diet of about 500 calories a day is given in paragraph A.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: Collip then developed a better process that removed toxic contaminants, and when the injections resumed on 23 January, the boy's blood sugar went to normal.
Why this is correct: In paragraph C, the injections given on 23 January brought Thompson's blood sugar to normal. The story of the boy ends there. We are not told how long he lived afterwards.
Tips: A good result on one day is not the same as a long life. Check how far the story goes.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A covers the years before any extract worked, so Thompson and his recovery do not appear there.
- B: The second paragraph ends before any patient is treated, so it cannot tell us about Thompson's later life.
- C: Paragraph C is the nearest because it reports that Thompson's treatment worked. His life after that is not described.
- D: Patients around the world come up in paragraph D, but only in general. Thompson himself is not mentioned.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: On 30 July they injected an extract into a diabetic dog and saw a sharp drop in its blood sugar.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph B: on 30 July Banting and Best injected an extract into a diabetic dog. They saw a sharp drop in its blood sugar. A dog is an animal, and a drop means less sugar.
Tips: Both a dog and a boy have their blood sugar lowered. The word 'animal' tells you which one.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The dogs in paragraph A became diabetic after surgery in 1889. But no extract lowered their blood sugar.
- C: Paragraph C also reports blood sugar going to normal, but the patient there is a boy, not an animal.
- D: The fourth paragraph is about later insulin products and has no animal test.
- E: The dog test of 30 July, with its sharp drop in blood sugar, is in paragraph B.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: Most people now take insulin with a needle and syringe, a pen or a pump, and some use an artificial pancreas, a set of three devices that work together.
Why this is correct: Paragraph D ends by saying some people use an artificial pancreas, a set of three devices that work together. An artificial pancreas is a man-made system that does the organ's job.
Tips: 'Today' points to the paragraph that ends in the present.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The pancreas comes up in the 1889 dog study in paragraph A, but no device of any kind.
- B: In paragraph B, the research on the pancreas is only planned in 1920. Modern equipment is far in the future there.
- C: The third paragraph covers the first patient in 1922 and the prize, with no devices.
- E: The artificial pancreas made of three devices is the last point of paragraph D.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: In 1978 the first human insulin was made with recombinant DNA, and it was on the market by 1982.
Why this is correct: In paragraph D, human insulin was first made in 1978 and was on the market by 1982. The same paragraph says the first insulin came from beef and pork. It never compares the cost of the two kinds.
Tips: Find where animal and human insulin are both described. Then check what the passage says about their cost to patients.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A is set before insulin existed, so it has neither kind to compare.
- B: The second paragraph tells of the 1921 experiments. Prices and human insulin do not come into it.
- C: You will find prize money in paragraph C, but not the price of any medicine.
- D: Paragraph D is the closest, since it names both the animal and the human insulin. Which one was cheaper is not said.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: In 1923 Banting and Macleod received the Nobel Prize, and each divided his prize money equally with a partner, Banting with Best and Macleod with Collip.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph C: Banting and Macleod received the Nobel Prize in 1923. Each divided his prize money equally with a partner. Dividing equally means giving half.
Tips: The statement says each winner gave half away. Look for words that mean splitting something into two parts of the same size.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A names two German researchers of 1889, not any prize winners.
- B: Banting, Macleod, Best and Collip are all introduced in paragraph B. But it ends in 1921, before any prize.
- D: In paragraph D, 1923 is the year insulin reached patients widely. The Nobel Prize is not part of that paragraph.
- E: The sharing of the Nobel Prize money is at the end of paragraph C.
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