Assignment C - Part 2.
Authentic Text
✓ Check the Class Description and Notes on Part 2 on the assignment platform before you begin.
✓ The text should be 500 - 700 words long. (4-5 minutes for listening texts).
✓ In this document, provide a copy of the reading text or a transcript of the listening text you
have chosen.
✓ Ensure the text is referenced, and if you have selected a listening text or video, provide a link.
✓ If you choose a reading text, you can shorten and/or adapt it slightly.
✓ Please supply a copy of the original and your adapted version.
✓ If you have adapted the text, briefly explain the decisions you've made about changing the text
in section b) of the essay.
✓ Highlight 12 vocabulary items (words or phrases) which would be useful to pre-teach.
Covid-19 origin likely from bats, animal hosts as pathway: WHO study
The coronavirus probably spread from bats to humans via another animal,
according to the long-awaited results of a joint World Health
Organization{WHO}-China study into the origins of Covid-19.
The authors suggest that the most productive research would be to find such an
animal link, saying the hypothesis of lab leaks was extremely unlikely, according
to a draft of the report. The scientists suggested future studies take a wider
geographical approach, including Southeast Asia, and investigate susceptible
animal species more closely.
The findings agree with what researchers said last month, at the end of their
mission to Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the first Covid cases emerged
at the end of 2019, and in their subsequent public comments. Possible host
species include mink, pangolins, rabbits and ferret badgers, the report said.
The hunt for the virus’s origin has been shrouded in controversy since the start
of the pandemic, with China criticized for delaying access to scientists and both
Beijing and Washington pushing alternative theories about how Covid began.
WHO Director-General said on Monday all hypotheses are on the table and
warrant complete and further studies. The expert team will brief member states
on Tuesday and will then publish the report to the public.
© 2020 The TEFL Academy. All rights reserved. 1
, The Associated Press published comments from the report earlier. It was
conducted by a team made up of both international and Chinese experts. The
WHO has repeatedly said the report’s conclusions are independent and belong
to the authors.
Pandemic prevention
While the search has become highly politicized, governments and scientists
agree that deciphering the virus’s creation story is key to reducing the risk of
future pandemics. The research was aimed at galvanizing efforts to trace the
origin of the virus that touched off the worst pandemic in more than a century, as
well as its route of transmission to humans and the possible role of an
intermediate animal host.
A spillover from bats via another animal is the most likely scenario in the report,
followed by direct spillover. Introduction through frozen food was deemed
possible, and a laboratory accident considered extremely unlikely.
Still, the report noted that the Wuhan CDC laboratory moved in early December
to a location near the Huanan market, and “such moves can be disruptive for the
operations of any laboratory.”
However, the research center didn’t report any disruptions or incidents that
would have been caused by the move, and it wasn’t storing or testing
coronaviruses or bat viruses ahead of the outbreak, the report said. The authors
also said that the three laboratories working in Wuhan on coronaviruses and
vaccines had high biosafety levels and there was no evidence of Covid
spreading among workers there.
The U.S. government has questioned whether the WHO-convened experts were
given enough access to reach a reliable conclusion. Top U.S. administration
officials on Sunday expressed concern about the way the WHO-China report
was crafted, including the possibility that the Chinese government had a hand in
writing it.
China has been trying to deflect criticism of its handling of the pandemic amid
growing scrutiny over the coronavirus's origins, including speculation promoted
by the former Trump administration that the coronavirus leaked from a Wuhan
lab.
Beijing has suggested the virus may have arrived in China through refrigerated
goods and has urged the WHO to carry out investigations in other countries.
© 2020 The TEFL Academy. All rights reserved. 2
Authentic Text
✓ Check the Class Description and Notes on Part 2 on the assignment platform before you begin.
✓ The text should be 500 - 700 words long. (4-5 minutes for listening texts).
✓ In this document, provide a copy of the reading text or a transcript of the listening text you
have chosen.
✓ Ensure the text is referenced, and if you have selected a listening text or video, provide a link.
✓ If you choose a reading text, you can shorten and/or adapt it slightly.
✓ Please supply a copy of the original and your adapted version.
✓ If you have adapted the text, briefly explain the decisions you've made about changing the text
in section b) of the essay.
✓ Highlight 12 vocabulary items (words or phrases) which would be useful to pre-teach.
Covid-19 origin likely from bats, animal hosts as pathway: WHO study
The coronavirus probably spread from bats to humans via another animal,
according to the long-awaited results of a joint World Health
Organization{WHO}-China study into the origins of Covid-19.
The authors suggest that the most productive research would be to find such an
animal link, saying the hypothesis of lab leaks was extremely unlikely, according
to a draft of the report. The scientists suggested future studies take a wider
geographical approach, including Southeast Asia, and investigate susceptible
animal species more closely.
The findings agree with what researchers said last month, at the end of their
mission to Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the first Covid cases emerged
at the end of 2019, and in their subsequent public comments. Possible host
species include mink, pangolins, rabbits and ferret badgers, the report said.
The hunt for the virus’s origin has been shrouded in controversy since the start
of the pandemic, with China criticized for delaying access to scientists and both
Beijing and Washington pushing alternative theories about how Covid began.
WHO Director-General said on Monday all hypotheses are on the table and
warrant complete and further studies. The expert team will brief member states
on Tuesday and will then publish the report to the public.
© 2020 The TEFL Academy. All rights reserved. 1
, The Associated Press published comments from the report earlier. It was
conducted by a team made up of both international and Chinese experts. The
WHO has repeatedly said the report’s conclusions are independent and belong
to the authors.
Pandemic prevention
While the search has become highly politicized, governments and scientists
agree that deciphering the virus’s creation story is key to reducing the risk of
future pandemics. The research was aimed at galvanizing efforts to trace the
origin of the virus that touched off the worst pandemic in more than a century, as
well as its route of transmission to humans and the possible role of an
intermediate animal host.
A spillover from bats via another animal is the most likely scenario in the report,
followed by direct spillover. Introduction through frozen food was deemed
possible, and a laboratory accident considered extremely unlikely.
Still, the report noted that the Wuhan CDC laboratory moved in early December
to a location near the Huanan market, and “such moves can be disruptive for the
operations of any laboratory.”
However, the research center didn’t report any disruptions or incidents that
would have been caused by the move, and it wasn’t storing or testing
coronaviruses or bat viruses ahead of the outbreak, the report said. The authors
also said that the three laboratories working in Wuhan on coronaviruses and
vaccines had high biosafety levels and there was no evidence of Covid
spreading among workers there.
The U.S. government has questioned whether the WHO-convened experts were
given enough access to reach a reliable conclusion. Top U.S. administration
officials on Sunday expressed concern about the way the WHO-China report
was crafted, including the possibility that the Chinese government had a hand in
writing it.
China has been trying to deflect criticism of its handling of the pandemic amid
growing scrutiny over the coronavirus's origins, including speculation promoted
by the former Trump administration that the coronavirus leaked from a Wuhan
lab.
Beijing has suggested the virus may have arrived in China through refrigerated
goods and has urged the WHO to carry out investigations in other countries.
© 2020 The TEFL Academy. All rights reserved. 2
