The Making of a Scientist

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Reading Comprehension 1

AT the age of twenty-two, a former ‘scout of the year’ excited the scientific world with a new theory on how cells work. Richard H. Ebright and his college room-mate explained the theory in an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

It was the first time this important scientific journal had ever published the work of college students. In sports, that would be like making the big leagues at the age of fifteen and hitting a home run your first time at bat. For Richard Ebright, it was the first in a long string of achievements in science and other fields. And it all started with butterflies.

An only child, Ebright grew up north of Reading, Pennsylvania. “There wasn’t much I could do there,” he said. “I certainly couldn’t play football or baseball with a team of one. But there was one thing I could do — collect things.”

So he did, and did he ever! Beginning in kindergarten, Ebright collected butterflies with the same determination that has marked all his activities. He also collected rocks, fossils, and coins. He became an eager astronomer, too, sometimes star-gazing all night.

1. Who excited the scientific world with a new theory on how cells work?
a) Richard H. Ebright
b) Richard’s teacher
c) His college roommate

2. What was special about the article written by Ebright and his roommate?
a) It was about football.
b) It was the first by college students published in an important journal.
c) It was published in a school magazine.

3. What does the comparison “like making the big leagues at the age of fifteen” mean?
a) It shows that Ebright’s achievement was early and extraordinary.
b) It shows that Ebright liked sports.
c) It shows that he played baseball well.

4. What did Ebright collect when he was young?
a) Only rocks
b) Butterflies, rocks, fossils, and coins
c) Books and stamps

5. Why did Ebright begin collecting things as a child?
a) Because he was an only child and had no one to play with
b) Because his teacher told him to
c) Because he wanted to become rich

Answers:

Reading Comprehension 2

From the first he had a driving curiosity along with a bright mind. He also had a mother who encouraged his interest in learning. She took him on trips, bought him telescopes, microscopes, cameras, mounting materials, and other equipment and helped him in many other ways.

“I was his only companion until he started school,” his mother said. “After that I would bring home friends for him. But at night we just did things together. Richie was my whole life after his father died when Richie was in third grade.”

She and her son spent almost every evening at the dining room table. “If he didn’t have things to do, I found work for him — not physical work, but learning things,” his mother said. “He liked it. He wanted to learn.”

And learn he did. He earned top grades in school. “On everyday things he was just like every other kid,” his mother said.

By the time he was in the second grade, Ebright had collected all twenty- five species of butterflies found around his hometown.

1. What kind of curiosity did Richard Ebright have from the beginning?
a) A lazy curiosity
b) A driving curiosity
c) A simple curiosity

2. How did Ebright’s mother encourage his interest in learning?
a) By giving him money
b) By taking him on trips and buying him learning materials
c) By sending him to a hostel

3. What happened to Ebright’s father?
a) He went abroad
b) He died when Ebright was in third grade
c) He worked in another city

4. What did Ebright and his mother usually do in the evenings?
a) They watched television
b) They spent time learning together at the dining table
c) They went for walks

5. What had Ebright achieved by the time he was in second grade?
a) He had collected all twenty-five species of butterflies in his hometown
b) He had written a book
c) He had started teaching his friends

Answers:

Reading Comprehension 3

“That probably would have been the end of my butterfly collecting,” he said. “But then my mother got me a children’s book called The Travels of Monarch X.” That book, which told how monarch butterflies migrate to Central America, opened the world of science to the eager young collector.

At the end of the book, readers were invited to help study butterfly migrations. They were asked to tag butterflies for research by Dr Frederick A. Urquhart of the University of Toronto, Canada. Ebright’s mother wrote to Dr Urquhart, and soon Ebright was attaching light adhesive tags to the wings of monarchs. Anyone who found a tagged butterfly was asked to send the tag to Dr Urquhart.

The butterfly collecting season around Reading lasts six weeks in late summer. (See graph below.) If you’re going to chase them one by one, you won’t catch very many. So the next step for Ebright was to raise a flock of butterflies. He would catch a female monarch, take her eggs, and raise them in his basement through their life cycle, from egg to caterpillar to pupa to adult butterfly. Then he would tag the butterflies’ wings and let them go. For several years his basement was home to thousands of monarchs in different stages of development.

1. What book changed Ebright’s interest in butterfly collecting into a love for science?
a) The Life of Butterflies
b) The Travels of Monarch X
c) The World of Insects

2. What did the book The Travels of Monarch X describe?
a) How butterflies live in forests
b) How monarch butterflies migrate to Central America
c) How to catch butterflies easily

3. Who was Dr Frederick A. Urquhart?
a) A scientist studying butterfly migration
b) Ebright’s teacher
c) A writer of children’s books

4. What did Ebright do to help Dr Urquhart’s research?
a) He painted butterflies
b) He tagged butterflies’ wings with adhesive labels
c) He sent photos of butterflies

5. What was special about Ebright’s basement?
a) It was filled with butterfly pictures
b) It was home to thousands of monarchs in different life stages
c) It was used as a science lab for his school

Answers:

Reading Comprehension 4

“Eventually I began to lose interest in tagging butterflies. It’s tedious and there’s not much feedback,” Ebright said. “In all the time I did it,” he laughed, “only two butterflies I had tagged were recaptured — and they were not more than seventy-five miles from where I lived.”

Then in the seventh grade he got a hint of what real science is when he entered a county science fair — and lost. “It was really a sad feeling to sit there and not get anything while everybody else had won something,” Ebright said. His entry was slides of frog tissues, which he showed under a microscope. He realised the winners had tried to do real experiments, not simply make a neat display.

Already the competitive spirit that drives Richard Ebright was appearing. “I knew that for the next year’s fair I would have to do a real experiment,” he said. “The subject I knew most about was the insect work I’d been doing in the past several years.”

So he wrote to Dr Urquhart for ideas, and back came a stack of suggestions for experiments. Those kept Ebright busy all through high school and led to prize projects in county and international science fairs.

1. Why did Ebright begin to lose interest in tagging butterflies?
a) It was difficult to catch butterflies
b) It was boring and gave little feedback
c) He lost all his equipment

2. How many of Ebright’s tagged butterflies were recaptured?
a) Two
b) Ten
c) Twenty

3. What did Ebright present at his first county science fair?
a) Slides of frog tissues shown under a microscope
b) A butterfly collection
c) A chemistry experiment

4. What did Ebright learn from losing at the science fair?
a) That winning is not important
b) That he should do real experiments, not just make displays
c) That science fairs are unfair

5. How did Dr Urquhart help Ebright later on?
a) He sent him ideas for experiments
b) He gave him money
c) He invited him to Canada

Answers:

Reading Comprehension 5

For his eighth grade project, Ebright tried to find the cause of a viral disease that kills nearly all monarch caterpillars every few years. Ebright thought the disease might be carried by a beetle. He tried raising caterpillars in the presence of beetles. “I didn’t get any real results,” he said. “But I went ahead and showed that I had tried the experiment. This time I won.”

The next year his science fair project was testing the theory that viceroy butterflies copy monarchs. The theory was that viceroys look like monarchs because monarchs don’t taste good to birds. Viceroys, on the other hand, do taste good to birds. So the more they look like monarchs, the less likely they are to become a bird’s dinner.

Ebright’s project was to see whether, in fact, birds would eat monarchs. He found that a starling would not eat ordinary bird food. It would eat all the monarchs it could get. (Ebright said later research by other people showed that viceroys probably do copy the monarch.) This project was placed first in the zoology division and third overall in the county science fair.

1. What was Ebright’s eighth-grade science project about?
a) The migration of butterflies
b) Finding the cause of a viral disease in monarch caterpillars
c) Studying how butterflies change color

2. What did Ebright think caused the disease in caterpillars?
a) A virus from plants
b) A beetle that carried the disease
c) Dust in the air

3. What theory did Ebright test in the next year’s project?
a) That viceroy butterflies copy monarchs
b) That butterflies live longer in groups
c) That monarchs eat special plants

4. What did Ebright find out about the starling’s eating habits?
a) It refused to eat any butterflies
b) It preferred monarchs to ordinary bird food
c) It ate only viceroys

5. What prize did Ebright’s butterfly project win?
a) First in zoology and third overall in the county science fair
b) Second in zoology and first overall
c) Fourth overall in the national science fair

Answers:

Reading Comprehension 6

In his second year in high school, Richard Ebright began the research that led to his discovery of an unknown insect hormone. lndirectly, it also led to his new theory on the life of cells.

The question he tried to answer was simple: What is the purpose of the twelve tiny gold spots on a monarch pupa?

“Everyone assumed the spots were just ornamental,” Ebright said. “But Dr Urquhart didn’t believe it.”

To find the answer, Ebright and another excellent science student first had to build a device that showed that the spots were producing a hormone necessary for the butterfly’s full development.

This project won Ebright first place in the county fair and entry into the International Science and Engineering Fair. There he won third place for zoology. He also got a chance to work during the summer at the entomology laboratory of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

1. What did Richard Ebright begin researching in his second year of high school?
a) The migration of monarch butterflies
b) The purpose of the twelve tiny gold spots on a monarch pupa
c) The life cycle of beetles

2. What did most people think about the gold spots on the pupa?
a) They were meant to protect the butterfly
b) They were just ornamental
c) They helped the butterfly to fly

3. What did Ebright and another science student discover about the gold spots?
a) They were scars
b) They produced a hormone needed for full development
c) They were used for breathing

4. What awards did Ebright win for this project?
a) First place in the county fair and third place in the International Science and Engineering Fair
b) Second place in the state fair
c) Only a certificate of participation

5. Where did Ebright get a chance to work after winning?
a) At the University of Toronto
b) At the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
c) At his school laboratory

Answers:

Reading Comprehension 7

As a high school junior, Richard Ebright continued his advanced experiments on the monarch pupa. That year his project won first place at the International Science Fair and gave him another chance to work in the army laboratory during the summer.

In his senior year, he went a step further. He grew cells from a monarch’s wing in a culture and showed that the cells would divide and develop into normal butterfly wing scales only if they were fed the hormone from the gold spots. That project won first place for zoology at the International Fair. He spent the summer after graduation doing further work at the army laboratory and at the laboratory of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The following summer, after his freshman year at Harvard University, Ebright went back to the laboratory of the Department of Agriculture and did more work on the hormone from the gold spots. Using the laboratory’s sophisticated instruments, he was able to identify the hormone’s chemical structure.

1. What did Ebright’s project as a high school junior win?
a) Second place at the state level
b) First place at the International Science Fair
c) Third place in zoology

2. What did Ebright discover in his senior year experiment?
a) The hormone from the gold spots helped butterfly wing cells develop normally
b) The gold spots were only for decoration
c) The cells could grow without any hormone

3. Where did Ebright work during the summer after his graduation?
a) Only at Harvard University
b) At the army laboratory and the U.S. Department of Agriculture
c) At the University of Toronto

4. What did Ebright do after his freshman year at Harvard?
a) He stopped working on butterflies
b) He continued researching the hormone at the Department of Agriculture laboratory
c) He started studying astronomy

5. What was Ebright able to identify using advanced instruments?
a) The hormone’s chemical structure
b) The butterfly’s DNA pattern
c) The reason monarchs migrate

Answers:

Reading Comprehension 8

A year-and-a-half later, during his junior year, Ebright got the idea for his new theory about cell life. It came while he was looking at X-ray photos of the chemical structure of a hormone.

When he saw those photos, Ebright didn’t shout, ‘Eureka!’ or even, ‘I’ve got it!’ But he believed that, along with his findings about insect hormones, the photos gave him the answer to one of biology’s puzzles: how the cell can ‘read’ the blueprint of its DNA. DNA is the substance in the nucleus of a cell that controls heredity. It determines the form and function of the cell. Thus DNA is the blueprint for life.

Ebright and his college room-mate, James R. Wong, worked all that night drawing pictures and constructing plastic models of molecules to show how it could happen. Together they later wrote the paper that explained the theory.

Surprising no one who knew him, Richard Ebright graduated from Harvard with highest honours, second in his class of 1,510. Ebright went on to become a graduate student researcher at Harvard Medical School. There he began doing experiments to test his theory.

1. When did Ebright get the idea for his new theory about cell life?
a) During his senior year at high school
b) During his junior year in college
c) During his first year at Harvard

2. What inspired Ebright’s new theory?
a) X-ray photos of the chemical structure of a hormone
b) A lecture at Harvard
c) A book on DNA

3. What did Ebright believe the photos helped him understand?
a) How butterflies migrate
b) How the cell can read the blueprint of its DNA
c) How cells divide

4. Who worked with Ebright on the new theory?
a) Dr Urquhart
b) His college roommate, James R. Wong
c) A Harvard professor

5. What did Ebright achieve at Harvard University?
a) He graduated with highest honours, second in his class
b) He became a sports champion
c) He stopped doing research

Answers:

Reading Comprehension 9

If the theory proves correct, it will be a big step towards understanding the processes of life. It might also lead to new ideas for preventing some types of cancer and other diseases. All of this is possible because of Ebright’s scientific curiosity. His high school research into the purpose of the spots on a monarch pupa eventually led him to his theory about cell life.

Richard Ebright has been interested in science since he first began collecting butterflies — but not so deeply that he hasn’t time for other interests. Ebright also became a champion debater and public speaker and a good canoeist and all-around outdoors-person. He is also an expert photographer, particularly of nature and scientific exhibits.

In high school Richard Ebright was a straight-A student. Because learning was easy, he turned a lot of his energy towards the Debating and Model United Nations clubs. He also found someone to admire — Richard A. Weiherer, his social studies teacher and adviser to both clubs. “Mr Weiherer was the perfect person for me then. He opened my mind to new ideas,” Ebright said.

1. What might Ebright’s theory help scientists understand better?
a) The migration of butterflies
b) The processes of life and ways to prevent diseases
c) The history of monarch butterflies

2. What led Ebright to his theory about cell life?
a) His research on the gold spots of a monarch pupa
b) His college experiments on frogs
c) His study of astronomy

3. Which of the following was not one of Ebright’s interests outside science?
a) Debating
b) Photography
c) Acting

4. What kind of student was Ebright in high school?
a) Average student
b) Straight-A student
c) Poor in science

5. Who was Richard A. Weiherer?
a) Ebright’s science teacher
b) His social studies teacher and club adviser who inspired him
c) A Harvard professor

Answers:

Reading Comprehension 10

“Richard would always give that extra effort,” Mr Weiherer said. “What pleased me was, here was this person who put in three or four hours at night doing debate research besides doing all his research with butterflies and his other interests.

“Richard was competitive,” Mr Weiherer continued, “but not in a bad sense.” He explained, “Richard wasn’t interested in winning for winning’s sake or winning to get a prize. Rather, he was winning because he wanted to do the best".

And that is one of the ingredients in the making of a scientist. Start with a first-rate mind, add curiosity, and mix in the will to win for the right reasons. Ebright has these qualities. From the time the book, The Travels of Monarch X, opened the world of science to him, Richard Ebright has never lost his scientific curiosity.

1. How many hours did Richard usually spend at night doing debate research?
a) One hour
b) Two hours
c) Three or four hours

2. What does Mr Weiherer say about Richard’s competitiveness?
a) It was in a bad sense
b) It was positive because he wanted to do his best
c) It made him proud and rude

3. What did Richard Ebright want when he worked hard?
a) To win prizes and fame
b) To do his best and learn more
c) To impress his teacher

4. According to the passage, what are the ingredients in the making of a scientist?
a) Hard work, curiosity, and teamwork
b) A good mind, curiosity, and the will to win for the right reasons
c) Luck, talent, and opportunity

5. Which book first inspired Ebright’s interest in science?
a) The Life of Insects
b) The Travels of Monarch X
c) The Wonders of Nature

Answers:

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