Read the passage and mark the letter A , B , C or D to answer the questions from 1 - 7

PANDEMIC DISEASES

Diseases are a natural part of life on earth . If there were no diseases , the population would grow too quickly , and there would not be enough food or other resources , so in a way , diseases are natural ways of keeping the Earth in balance . But sometimes they spread very quickly and kill large numbers of people . For example , in 1918 , an outbreak of the flu spread across the world , killing over 25 million people in only six months . Such terrible outbreaks of a diseases are called pandemics

Pandemics happen when a disease changes in a way that our bodies are not prepared to fight . In 1918 , a new type of flu virus appeared . Our bodies had no way to fight this new flu virus , and so it spread very quickly and killed large numbers of people . While there have been many different pandemic diseases throughout history , all of them have a new thing in common . First , all pandemic diseases spread from one person to another very easily .

Second , while they may kill many people , they generally do not kill people very quickly . A good example of this would be the Marburg virus . The Marburg virus is an extremely infectious disease . In addition , it is deadly . About 70 - 80 % of all people who get the Marburg virus died from the disease . However , the Marburg virus has not become a pandemic because most people die within three days of getting the disease . This means that the virus does not have enough time to spread a large number of people . The flu virus of 1918 , on the other hand , generally took about a week to ten days to kill its victims , so it had more time to spread .

While we may never be able to completely stop pandemics , we can make them less common . Doctors carefully monitor new diseases that they fear could become pandemics . For example , in 2002 , and 2003 , doctors carefully watched SARS . Their health warnings may have prevented SARS from becoming a pandemic .

Question 1 : According to paragraph 1 , how are diseases a natural part of life on Earth ?

A. They prevent pandemics B. They help control the population

C. They led the world grow quickly D. They kill too many people

Question 2 : Based on the information in the passage the term " pandemics " can be explained as .............................................

A. diseases with no cure

B. a deadly kind of flu

C. diseases that spread quickly and kill large numbers of people

D. new disease like SARS or the Marburg virus

Question 3 : According to the passage , all of the following are true of the 1918 flu pandemic EXCEPT that ...............................................

A. it involved a new kind of flu virus B. it killed over 25 million people

C. it was the last pandemic in history D. it took a little over a week to kill ít victims

Question 4 : The word " it " in the passage refers to .......................

A. disease B. flu virus C. pandemics D. bodies

Question 5 : Which of the following is mentioned as a common feature of all pandemic diseases ?

A. They spread from people to people very quickly

B. It kill many people very quickly

C. They do not kill people very quickly

D. They kill all the victims

Question 6 : The word " monitor " in the passage is closest is meaning to ........................

A. fight B. prevent C. watch D. avoid

Question 7 : The author mentions SARS in order to .............................

A. give an example of a highly dangerous disease

B. suggest that SARS will never become a pandemic

C. give an example of the successful prevention of a pandemic

D. suggest that there may be a new pandemic soon .