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The Human Hands (Gifts Part 2)

Task 1

Match the verbs with the nouns, then together with the other groups of words use them in the sentences:

1.

thread                a portrait
swing                 the piano
paint                  an ax
play                   a needle


2. adept, so expressive, so sensitive, and so versatile
3. warmth and affection
4. the bones, the joints, the ligaments
5. fur, paper, skin, metal, water, or wood
6. flexibility and strength
7. bulky and unwieldy
8. texture, temperature, wetness, vibration, pressure, and pain

Our hands are beautiful instruments of amazing precision. With them we can ______________________. Our hands are also highly sensitive. Even a brief touch may reveal whether a substance is ____________________. Yes, our hands are much more than implements for grasping and manipulation. They are also a source of knowledge about our world. And they are a means of conveying ___________________.


Why is the human hand so _________________________? The reasons are many. Consider four.


1. Our two hands have a total of more than 50 bones, about a quarter of all the bones in the body. The intricate assembly of the parts of the hand—_______________________—gives the human hand extraordinary flexibility.


2. The hand has an opposable thumb mounted on a saddle joint, an ingenious configuration of two saddle-shaped surfaces at right angles to each other. This joint, along with the associated muscles and other tissues, gives the thumb amazing _________________.


3. Three sets of muscles control the hand. The two most powerful sets—the extensors and the flexors—are in the forearm and operate the fingers by means of tendons. How _________________ the hand would be if these muscles were located in it! The third set, much smaller, which does lie within the hand, gives the fingers precision of movement.


4. Your fingers are, in effect, living sensors—the fingertips having about 2,500 receptors in just one sixth of a square inch (1 sq cm). Moreover, the receptors are varied, each kind having its own function, enabling you to feel _____________________ . As a result, the human finger is the most sensitive touch sensor known.

 

Glossary

Use the following words to fill in the blanks:

Precision - the quality of being very exact or correct.

Adept - good at doing something that is quite difficult.

Affection - the feeling of liking or loving somebody/something very much and caring about them.

Bulky - large and difficult to move or carry.

Ingenious - (of an object, a plan, an idea, etc.) very suitable for a particular purpose and resulting from clever new ideas.

Implement - a tool or an instrument, often one that is quite simple and that is used outdoors.

 

  1. The technology allows surgeons to perform extremely complicated operations with incredible _____________
  2. The room was full of ____________ old furniture.
  3. Genuine love is more than just ____________ or sentiment.
  4. This design is so ____________ that human engineers have copied it.
  5. What of our infinitely more complex solar system, with the Sun and its planets revolving around it with split-second ___________ century after century?
  6. The way the eye processes information attests to its _____________ engineering.
  7. 
A pen is an ____________ for writing with ink or similar fluid.
  8. A visit to the markets demonstrates that the people of Myanmar are very talented— ___________ at weaving silk, handcrafting jewelry, and carving wood.
  9. Make sure that all sharp ___________, such as scythes, have covers.
  10. The door was opened by a tall, ___________ man in his late sixties.
  11. However, in 1985 a group of Indian women came up with an __________ method for saving water.

  12. Farming ___________ mentioned as suitable for getting rid of “troublesome plants.
  13. “Love and ____________ have to be shown in numerous ways,” the professor added, “such as by hugs and kisses, by expressions of warmth, understanding, happiness, generosity, and forgiveness and, when necessary, by reasoned discipline.

  14. The boxes were ___________ and difficult to move.
  15. Of all our staffs, Peter is the most __________ at dealing with difficult customers.
  16. Also, the physical universe displays evidence of mathematical ____________ and order.
  17. It is understandable that we might feel some ____________ for the land, the culture, the language, and the food of the country we were raised in.
  18. He became ___________ at getting even the shyest students to talk.


 

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