Section B  Audio-visual Tasks

Task3  Spot Dictation

        Listen to a passage threetimes and while listening, you are to put the missing word in each numberedblank according to what you hear.

A man and a woman are considered infertile if theycannot produce a (1) pregnancy after twelve months of trying. For centuries, the lackof ability to have children was (2) blamed only on women.Scientists now know that men, too, can be infertile.

There are many different causes of infertility.Some are (3) genetic.Others involve physical problems or injuries. Still others are environmental,like (4) pesticidesand other chemicals. Experts say diet and the use of alcohol and drugs can alsoaffect fertility.

Some of these causes are (5) preventable. Soare others, such as infections spread through sex. Dirty conditions duringchildbirth can also cause infections that make women infertile. So can (6) unsafe ways to endunwanted pregnancies.

In industrial countries, the best-known (7) currenttreatment for infertility is a process called invitro (8) fertilization.This involves joining an egg with sperm in a laboratory. Once fertilized, theegg is placed in the woman to develop into a (9) fetus. Treatments can also involvethe use of fertility drugs to increase the production of eggs.

But experts say cultural and (10) religious beliefsmay prevent people from seeking modern treatments.

In any case, technologies for (11)assistedreproduction cost thousands of dollars. So public health systems usually do notoffer them. Many experts say public health systems should do more to (12) educate peopleabout preventable causes of infertility.