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PASSAGE 5
Elizabeth Hazen and Rachel Brown copatented one of the most widely acclaimed
wonder drugs of the post-Second World War years. Hazen and Brown's work was
stimulated by the wartime need to find a cure for the fungus infections that afflicted
many military personnel. Scientists had been feverishly searching for an antibiotic
5) toxic enough to kill the fungi but safe enough for human use, since, unfortunately, the
new "wonder drugs" such as penicillin and streptomycin killed the very bacteria in the
body that controlled the fungi. It was to discover a fungicide without that double effect
that Brown, of New York State's Department of Health in New York, began their
Hazen, senior microbiologist at the Department of Health in Laboratories at Albany, and
10) long-distance collaboration. Based upon Hazen's previous research at Columbia
University, where she had built an impressive collection of fungus cultures, both were
convinced that an antifungal organism already existed in certain soils.
They divided the work. Hazen methodically screened and cultured scores of soil
samples, which she then sent to her partner, who prepared extracts, isolated and
15) purified active agents, and shipped them back to New York, where Hazen could study
their biological properties. On a 1948 vacation. Hazen fortuitously collected a clump of
soil from the edge of W. B. Nourse's cow pasture in Fauquier County. Virginia, that,
when tested, revealed the presence of the microorganisms, In farm owner Nourse's
honor, Hazen named it Streptomyces noursei, and within a year the two scientists knew
20) that the properties of their substance distinguished it from previously described
antibiotics. After further research they eventually reduced their substance to a fine,
yellow powder, which they first named "fungiciden," then renamed "nystatin"
(to honor the New York State laboratory) when they learned the previous name was
already in use. Of their major discovery, Brown said lightly that it simply illustrated
"how unpredictable consequences can come from rather modest beginnings."
45. What is the main topic of the passage?
(A) The lives of Hazen and Brown.
(B) The development of a safe fungicide.
(C) The New York State Department of Health.
(D) The development of penicillin.
46. What can be inferred from the passage about penicillin?
(A) It effectively treats fungus infections.
(B) It was developed before nystatin.
(C) It was developed the Second World War.
(D) One of the by-products is nystatin.
47. Why does the author mention Columbia University in lines 10 and 11?
(A) Hazen and Brown developed nystatin there.
(B) Brown was educated there.
(C) Hazen did research there.
(D) It awarded a prize to Hazen and Brown.
48. The word "both" in line 11 refers to
(A) Hazen and Brown
(B) Penicillin and streptomycin
(C) the Department of Health laboratories at Albany and New York
(D) double effect
49. What substance did Brown and Hazen analyze?
(A) Dirt
(B) Streptomycin
(C) Penicillin
(D) Bacteria
50. Who was W. B. Bourse?
(A) A microbiologist
(B) A teacher of Hazen's
(C) A collector of fungi
(D) A farmer