Neosplasms

Vocabulary (5 Minutes)

Directions: Try to guess the meaning of the highlighted words based on your knowledge of English. In each set of words, underline the two words that have similar meanings to the words in bold letters on the left. Use your dictionaries if necessary. The first one has been done for you.

1. benign Answer "a" and "c"	a. harmless	b. kind	c. safe
2. malignant Answer "b" and "c"	a. evil	b. harmful	c. dangerous
3. sophisticated Answer "b" and "c"	a. easy	b. complex	c. high-level
4. erudite Answer "a" and "b"	a. well-educated	b. scholarly	c. bookish
5. malevolent Answer "a" and "c"	a. harmful	b. spiteful	c. dangerous
6. irritation Answer "a" and "c"	a. soreness	b. annoyance	c. tenderness
7. island Answer "a" and "b"	a. atoll	b. isle	c. land mass
8. premise Answer "b" and "c"	a. argument	b. principle	c. idea
9. primitive Answer "b" and "c"	a. very simple	b. primeval	c. primordial

Rapid Reading Warm-Up (30 Seconds)

Directions: The exercise below has 25 problems that will help you read faster. You will have only 30 seconds to finish. You will probably not finish all 25 problems, but you are to work as quickly as you can. Be careful not to make any error, so read rapidly but carefully. In this exercise, there are six words: one word to the left of the line and five to the right. Read the word on the left and then find it among the five words to the right. Once you have found it, circle it.

Example

raft	rift	rate	raft	rote	reef
1. medicine	medical	medics	medicine	medicines	medic
2. cancer	cancers	canker	concern	cancer	cannon
3. sanitize	sanity	sanitary	sanitize	sensitive	sensitivity
4. means	mean	mane	mares	moans	means
5. found	fount	foundry	fondle	finds	found
6. increase	increase	increment	increases	incredible	increased
7. growth	grown	grout	grunt	growth	growths
8. cells	calls	culls	cells	cell	cellular
9. necessary	necessarily	necessitate	necessary	necrosis	needs
10. response	responds	responses	respondent	response	responded
11. range	ranged	ranger	ranges	ranging	range
12. discovered	discovery	discovered	discovers	discovering	discord
13. behind	behold	beyond	behest	benign	behind
14. stages	stooges	stage	staged	stages	stags
15. left	lift	loft	left	lifts	lofted
16. still	stall	still	stile	stool	stalls
17. lose	lose	loser	loses	loose	looser
18. longer	longer	linger	lunge	longest	lunges
19. broken	bracken	broker	brook	break	broken
20. type	tape	types	taper	tips	type
21. run	ruin	runt	run	ran	rune
22. likely	lackey	likes	likely	liken	lily
23. treat	trait	trot	trout	tree	treat
24. more	mare	moor	moron	more	main
25. termed	tamed	terms	tamer	termed	tames

First Reading (3 Minutes for Preview – 3½ Minutes for Reading)

Directions: Starting with the first sentence of the passage, read as quickly as you can for three and a half minutes. Circle the last word you read when the time is up.

Second Reading (3½ Minutes)

Directions: Starting with the first sentence of the passage, read as quickly as you can for three and a half minutes. Circle the last word you read when the time is up.

Third Reading (3½ Minutes)

Directions: Starting with the first sentence of the passage, read as quickly as you can for three and a half minutes. Circle the last word you read when the time is up.

Fourth Reading (3½ Minutes)

Directions: Starting with the first sentence of the passage, read as quickly as you can for three and a half minutes. Circle the last word you read when the time is up.

Line No		Word Count
5 10 15 20 25 30 35	Code of Denial by Tena Moyer The medical term for cancer is neoplasia. The root of the word, -plasia, means growth. Neo means new, so neoplasia means, literally, new growth. In theory, neoplasia can refer to either benign or malignant growth, but in practice we use it to mean cancer. Neoplasia is a sophisticated and erudite substitution for the ugly and banal word cancer. It titillates the ears and the intellect, and it sanitizes cancer of its malevolent and frightening connotations. Tumor refers to any kind of swelling, whether cancerous or not. It is the word we use to tell our patients we have found something, but we don’t know what it is. Hyperplasia is an increase in cell numbers and rate of growth, but the cells are still normal, and they are recognizable as the tissue from which they originated. Hyperplasia is not necessarily abnormal or a harbinger of neoplastic disease. In fact, it often represents the body’s normal growth or healthy response to some irritation or insult. Thus, the white spots on those red, swollen, and painful tonsils represent islands of hyperplastic white cells multiplying in response to infection. Hyperplasia is usually benign (doctorese for harmless) and will usually resolve itself spontaneously or with appropriate treatment. Occasionally, however, it progresses to a level of cellular abnormality called dysplasia – deranged growth. Dyplastic cells are more clearly precancerous and range from mild to moderate to severe. As they progress through these stages, the cells become increasingly abnormal in appearance. Dysplasia discovered and treated early can be cured. This is the premise behind those yearly Pap smears that women endure. But dysplasia left undetected will almost invariably progress to neoplasia. Neoplastic cells can still resemble their parent tissue type, but they will gradually lose their ability to perform their original function. Thus, thyroid cells look less and less like normal thyroid tissue and progressively lose their ability to synthesize and secrete thyroid hormones. Eventually, the cells become so regressed and primitive that they no longer resemble any identifiable tissue type. They are misshapen and grotesque with broken chromosomes and distorted cellular structures, and on the thin glass of a microscope slide, they stain dark blue because they are dividing at an accelerated rate. Neoplasia, at this stage, is termed anaplasia – backward growth. Anaplastic gradations run from mildly to moderately to highly anaplastic. As the level of cellular deformation and disorganization increases, the tumor becomes increasingly aggressive and malignant, more likely to metastasize and more difficult to treat.		50 107 156 201 248 296 352 410

Reading Comprehension (10 Minutes)

Directions: Circle the letter next to the statement that best answers the following questions.

1. This article is missing a/an _____.

a. introduction and conclusion

b. thesis statement and conclusion

c. main points and conclusion

Answer b

2. The article has _____ main points.

a. 2

b. 3

c. 4

Answer b

3. According to the article, why do most people use the word “neoplasia” rather than “cancer.”?

a. The word “cancer” is more frightening than “neoplasia.”

b. Individuals want other people to think they are educated.

c. The word “neoplasia” is the term used by scientists and doctors.

Answer a

4. What is the main idea of paragraph 3?

a. Hyperplasia, the second stage leading to neoplasia, represents the body’s response to irritation or infection.

b. Hyperplasia, the second stage of neoplasia, always progresses to dysplasia.

c. Hyperplasia, the second stage of neoplasia, is white spots on tonsils.

Answer a

5. At which stage do cells become increasingly abnormal in appearance?

a. hyperplasia

b. dysplasia

c. anaplasia

Answer b

6. Which type of may be cancerous?

a. dysplasia

b. neoplasia

c. anaplasia

Answer c

7. Doctors use the term _____ when they are unsure what they have found.

a. cancer

b. sanitize

c. tumor

Answer c

8. Women have yearly Pap smears because _____.

a. dysplasia can be cured if it is detected early

b. doctors recommend they have Pap smears at least once a year

c. dysplasia means neoplasia will develop

Answer a

9. What is the thesis of this article?

a. Doctors should use words that do not frighten their patients.

b. Cancer can be treated if it is discovered in its early stage.

c. There are three stages of development leading to neoplasia.

Answer c

10. Because neoplastic cells still resemble their parent tissue type, they gradually are unable to perform their original function.

a. True

b. False

Answer b

11. In line 15, “swollen” means _____.

a. enlarged

b. collapsed

c. reduced

Answer a

12. In line 17, “resolve” means _____.

a. solve

b. decide

c. determine

Answer a

13. In line 17, “spontaneously” means _____.

a. suddenly

b. unexpectedly

c. on its own accord

Answer c

14. In line 19, “deranged” means _____.

a. crazy

b. abnormal

c. insane

Answer b

15. In line 29, “synthesize” means _____.

a. produce

b. integrate

c. combine

Answer a

16. In line 36, “misshapen” does not mean _____.

a. well-formed

b. malformed

c. distorted

Answer b

17. In line 31, “grotesque” means _____.

a. extremely strange

b. beautiful

c. smart

Answer a

18. In line 38, “metastasize” means _____.

a. disappear

b. spread

c. vanish

Answer b