Unit 23

UNIT 23 WORD LIST artery An artery is a tube that takes blood from the heart to the rest of the body. Eating healthily keeps your arteries clean so blood can flow with ease. deterioration Deterioration is the act of becoming worse. The lack of care led to the deterioration of the house. elusive If things or people are elusive, they are hard to find. The elusive fish only came out at night. ensure When you ensure something, you make sure it happens. Saving now will ensure we have enough money for our retirement. induce To induce something means to make it happen. Running without good shoes may induce leg pain. inseparable If two things are inseparable, they can't be separated. Denise and Diana have been inseparable since they first met. invalid If something is invalid, it is not correct. The way to winning debates is to avoid invalid arguments. magnify To magnify something means to make it look bigger than it really is. Astronomers use telescopes to magnify faraway stars. mainstream The mainstream is what is considered normal and accepted by most people. Before punk rock music became part of the mainstream, only a few people liked it. microbe A microbe is a very small living thing that often makes people sick. The first step in curing a disease is finding the microbe that causes it.

minor A minor problem is a very small and unimportant problem. This is a minor problem. negligible If something is negligible, it is extremely small and not important. The amount she owed was negligible. It was less than ten cents. paralysis Paralysis is the loss of the ability to move all or part of your body. His paralysis meant that he had to use a wheelchair to get around. pest A pest is an animal or insect that hurts plants or food. Many farmers put up scarecrows to keep pests off their corn. prevail To prevail means to be accepted or very common. Unfortunately, injustice still prevails in the country's court system. pursuit When you are in pursuit of something, you are chasing it. The pursuit of happiness is a basic human right. rupture To rupture means to tear or burst open. Sarah put too much water into the balloon, and it ruptured. savage If things or people are savage, they are very violent or cruel. Wild animals are very savage when defending their babies. stun To stun someone means to make them unable to speak due to surprise or shock. Tim fell off the swing and was too stunned to cry. susceptible If one is susceptible to something like a disease, they are easily harmed by it. Not eating enough vegetables makes you more susceptible to getting sick.

Dangerous Bites There are many animals with dangerous bites in the world, but which one is the worst? People assume snakes are the most dangerous. Some would say that the elusive short-tailed mamushi has the worst bite. The snake only goes into homes in pursuit of pests such as mice. Otherwise it stays in the fields, where it's dangerous to people who search for food there. Usually, it is reluctant to attack humans, but if someone stuns it by accidentally stepping on it, it bites to protect itself. At first, the effects of the bite may seem minor and negligible because it doesn't cause a lot of bleeding. However, after a few moments, the venom induces paralysis in the area where the individual was bitten. Furthermore, the venom can also interfere with breathing. If the person doesn't go to the doctor, they are susceptible to kidney deterioration. Others would argue that tigers have the worst bite. Mother tigers are inseparable from their babies and seem to be the gentlest creatures when they are around their young. However, if the babies are threatened, the mother tiger's savage nature prevails to ensure their safety. With strong jaws and the ability to move quickly, the tiger can kill someone with one bite. That's because it always tries to bite an important artery when it attacks. If the artery is ruptured, the victim will bleed to death. In the mainstream, animal bites are seen as the most dangerous. But some scientists think this idea is invalid. In fact, the most dangerous bite might be the human bite. When scientists magnified the contents in human saliva, they found about three hundred different microbes in it. A human bite can be dangerous if the bacteria enters the body through a cut, which can make people very sick. Furthermore, most people don't realize how serious a human bite can be, so they don't go to the doctor right away. This gives the wound a chance to get infected and cause more problems.