Answer the following questions.

1. What organisms are considered alive?

2. What chemical elements are all living organisms made of?

3. How do we call one-cell organisms?

4. How do we call organisms which have many cells?

5. How do we call animals that cannot move?

6. What is responsiveness? What is the difference between autotrophs and heterotrophs?

7. What are two ways of reproduction?

8. What is the difference between sexual and asexual reproduction?

9. How do the organisms regulate their metabolic process?

10.  How is the sensitivity of organisms controlled?

Read the statements and decide whether they are true (T) or false (F). Correct the wrong statements.

       1. Iron and rocks are examples of living things.

       2. Chemical make up is common to living and non-living things.

       3. Bacteria and amoeba are multicellular organisms.

       4. Heterotrophs produce their own food.

5. Plants can move.

6. Not all living organisms are able to reproduce.

7. Asexual reproduction is the same as sexual.

8. Animals running away when in danger is an example of reproductiveness.

9. All organisms have the same growth rate.

10. Insects and humans have the same life span.

Complete the following sentences using information from the text.

       1. Organisms, which have the property of life are called….

       2. Despite the great diversity, living organisms…..

       3. The structures of all living things are made up…..

       4. Unicellular organisms……

       5. Multicellular organisms…..

       6. Autotrophs…..

       7. Heterotrophs…..

       8. The animals that cannot move …..

       9. In asexual reproduction…….

       10. The sensitivity of organisms is controlled …….

Find in the text the definitions of the following terms.

Match the words to their definitions.

Match the sentence halves

Fill in the gaps

1. We consider something ….. if it has certain characteristics shared by all living things.

2. Some organisms, called … organisms, have one cell.

3. … produce their own food.

4. … get their food from other organisms.

5. The sponge is an excellent example of … organisms.

6. In … reproduction only one parent is involved.

7. Organisms, producing energy by … … or regulating their internal balance, such as the glucose level in human blood, are good examples of homeostasis.

8. An organism’s ability to sense changes, taking place inside and outside its body and to react to these changes is …

9. Each organisms has a certain … …

10. … is an increase in body size.

Find 10 words on the theme “Characteristics of living things”.

Words can be placed horizontally, vertically and diagonally

Summarize the text, using headlines of each abstract as a plan.       

Read the text and answer the questions.

 THE CHEMISTRY OF LIFE

Living organisms are made up of chemical substances. An element is a substance that cannot be broken down into simpler substances by normal chemical reactions. Four basic elements, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, make up 96% of an organism's body.

Carbohydrates

They are the primary energy source for all organisms. Carbohydrates are divided into many types. Some are called sugars. The most important sugar is glucose, because it is very important for brain cells. Mostly we get carbohydrates from plants.

Lipids or fats

They are the secondary source of energy for organisms. They also have protective and supportive functions in organisms. Plant and animals contain fat.

In the human body, excess fat can cause some disorders, such as arteriosclerosis, which is the accumulation of fat molecules on the walls of blood vessels.

Arteriosclerosis blocks the blood flow and may cause heart attack and even death.

Proteins

They have many vital roles in an organisms' body. They are part of many other organic molecules or structures. They are the structural compounds for all organisms. Hair and fingernails are made up of a protein called keratin. They are also used as an energy source. Antibodies, which kill microbes, are also made up of protein.

Vitamins

They are regulator molecules. They regulate normal growth and development.

Vitamin A regulates normal eye function, vitamin D regulates normal growth of bone, and vitamin C is needed for immunity or body defense. They do not provide energy.

Enzymes

They are biological catalysts. Enzymes speed up biochemical reactions.

Without enzymes life processes would be very slow. There are many enzymes in our body, such as pepsin, which acts in protein digestion in the stomach.

Hormones

They are chemical messengers in organisms. They carry messages from one organ to another organ, or to all of the body's organs. Hormones regulate normal body functions. Insulin is a hormone that carries a message from the pancreas to body cells in order to balance the glucose level in the blood.

Nucleic acids

They are master or director molecules. They control all life activities in the cell.

DNA and RNA are the nucleic acids found in the cells. DNA functions like a director, and RNA like a vice-principal.

Exercises

Answer the questions.

1. What is an element?

2. What are the basic elements that make up 96% of an organism body?

3. What are atoms?

4. What are atoms composed of?

5. How many types are compounds divided into?

6. Do inorganic compounds have a carbon skeleton?

7. What is the most important inorganic compound?

8. What do all life processes require?

9. What minerals are needed for bone growth?

10. What is the central component of all organic compounds?

11. What are the major groups of biologically important organic compounds?

12. What do sugars refer to?

13. What are the primary energy sources for all organisms?

14. Why is glucose important?

15. What are the secondary sources of energy for organisms?

16. What functions do lipids or fats have?

17. What is arteriosclerosis?

18. Why is arteriosclerosis harmful?

19. Do proteins have important roles in organisms’ body?

20. How is protein which makes up hair and fingernails called?

21. What are antibodies made of?

22. What compounds speed up biochemical reactions?

23. What are DNA and RNA?