Test tube hamburgers to be served this year

The world's first test tube hamburger will be served up this October after scientists perfected the art of growing beef in the lab.

By generating strips of meat from stem cells researchers believe they can create a product that is identical to a real burger.The process of culturing the artificial meat in the lab is so laborious that the finished product will cost about £220,000. But researchers expect that after producing their first patty they will be able to scale up the process to create affordable artificial meat products.

Last autumn the Telegraph reported that Prof Mark Post of Maastricht University in the Netherlands had grown small strips of muscle tissue from a pig's stem cells. Prof Post said his team has successfully replicated the process with cow cells, bringing the first artificial burger a step closer.

Mass-producing beef, pork, chicken and lamb in the lab could satisfy the growing global demand for meat - forecast to double within the next 40 years - and dramatically reduce the harm that farming does to the environment.

Although it is possible to extract a limited number of stem cells from cows without killing them, Prof Post said the most efficient way of taking the process forward would still involve slaughter.

He said: "Eventually my vision is that you have a limited herd of donor animals in the world that you keep in stock and that you get your cells form there."

The only person to have tried the lab-grown meat so far is a Russian journalist who snatched a sample of pork during a visit to Prof Post's lab at Maastricht University last year and declared himself unimpressed.

Question 1. (2 points) Indicate whether these sentences are true or false. Justify your answers with evidence from the text.

a) Scientists predict the process will be cheaper in the future.
b) People will need more meat in the future.
c) They can get as many stem cells as they like from a living cow.
d) Their intention is to breed animals specifically for this purpose.

Question 2. (2 points) Answer the following questions in your own words.

a) What is the main problem to produce tube meat at the moment?
b) What are the main advantages the researchers foresee?

Question 3. (1.5 points) Find a word or a phrase in the text that means the same as

a) increase proportionally (par. 2) b) reproduce (par.3) c) requirement (par. 4)

Question 4. (1.5 points) Rewrite the following sentences without changing the meaning

a) He said: "Eventually my vision is that you have a limited herd of donor animals in the world that you keep in stock and that you get your cells form there."
He said that...
b) This process could satisfy the growing global demand for meat.
The growing...
c) People will find it difficult to study English although there are good websites.
If ………………………………………………

Question 5. (3 points) Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the following topic:

“Many people say that the food we eat nowadays is nothing like the food our grandparents ate”. Do you agree?