Paraphrasing Practice

Choose one of the paragraphs below and copy (Control+C) it, go to the website linked below and then paste (control +V) it into the top box.

Option #1  Pills made of poop

You may want to hold your nose before reading this: Doctors have found a way to put healthy people's poop into pills — and these pills are now being used to cure serious gut infections. Canadian researchers tried this method on 27 patients and cured them all. And this was after strong antibiotics — medicines designed to kill harmful bacteria — had failed to help.

It's a gross topic but a serious problem. Half a million Americans get Clostridium difficile, or C-diff, infections each year, and about 14,000 die. The germ causes upset stomachs, cramping and extremely severe diarrhea. A very strong and expensive antibiotic can kill C-diff, but it also destroys good bacteria that live in the gut and help keep us healthy. This makes future infections more likely.

Recently, studies have shown that fecal transplants — in which infected people are given poop from a healthy person — can restore the good bacteria. And this in turn helps prevent reinfection.

Option #2  Blowing Up Asteroids

WASHINGTON — In May 1995, geophysicist H. Jay Melosh attended a meeting of U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons designers. To his surprise, the former enemies were eager to work together. They warned of an unlikely but dangerous threat from space: asteroids that might someday be headed straight for Earth.

First Edward Teller, the father of the hydrogen bomb, spoke up. He urged the others to consider building huge, new nuclear weapons to protect the planet. Then some top Russian weapons experts lent their support.

It was really strange, Melosh said, to see scientists agree to build "the biggest bombs ever.” 

Since then he has been speaking out against the idea. He argues that non-nuclear solutions are both possible and far less dangerous.

Option #3  Oreos are Addictive

According to a new study from Connecticut College, Oreos may be as addictive as cocaine –– for rats, anyway.

The study was run by neuroscience professor Joseph Schroeder and his students. It was designed to consider the addictiveness of foods with high fat and sugar content. The results were surprising: Cookies activated more neurons in the brain's "pleasure center" than cocaine or morphine.

The study also looked at something else: the associations rats formed between things they liked and the places they received them. It found that the association rats formed between Oreos and a feeding chamber were as strong as associations to places where drugs were given.

"Our research supports the theory that high-fat, high-sugar foods stimulate the brain in the same way that drugs do," Schroeder said. "It may explain why some people can't resist these foods despite the fact that they know they are bad for them."

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