The End of Easy Cures

C2 Proficiency · Word Formation · Cambridge Ready original exercise

For questions 1–8, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the lines to form a word that fits in the gap in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).

REMARK

RESIST

DISCRIMINATE

INFINITE

CONVENIENT

TREAT

ATTRACT

DEFEND

Antibiotics have saved so many lives that it is tempting to assume they will keep working (0) ___ . Bacteria, however, are (1) ___ quick to adapt. Each time a drug is used, the few microbes that happen to survive multiply and pass on their (2) ___ , and the (3) ___ use of these medicines, prescribed for viral illnesses they cannot touch or fed routinely to farm animals, has made matters (4) ___ worse. The consequences are already visible. Infections that were once a minor (5) ___ , cleared up by a few days of tablets, are becoming (6) ___ in some patients, and everyday operations depend on drugs that may one day stop working. New medicines are unlikely to arrive in time. Developing an antibiotic is slow, costly and commercially (7) ___ , since a drug held in reserve for emergencies earns its makers very little. For now, the most realistic (8) ___ is to use the drugs we already have more wisely, prescribing them only when they can genuinely help and regarding each prescription as a resource that belongs to everyone.

The End of Easy Cures

DEFINITE

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