Exercise 1. Match the words from the left with the meaning from the right.

struggling An action or event that is a big and important change in development.

Quite good The bad things that can happen to you after you take certain medicine.
Breakthrough Having difficulty managing or handling something.
milestone A sudden, dramatic and important discovery or development
stored Cheerful; optimistic; feeling positive about the future.
Side effects Kept somewhere for future use
upbeat Very, very good

Exercise 2. Listen to the audio and fill out the gaps with the words you hear.

(1) In a year that has largely been full of bad and tragic news because of COVID-19, there is finally some good news.
Scientists have announced a breakthrough in the fight against (2) the virus. The scientists are from the U.S. drug
company Pfizer and the German pharmaceutical company BioNTech. Their researchers (3) say they have developed a
vaccine (4) that has a 90 per cent success rate in protecting against COVID-19. The researchers also say the vaccine
does not cause serious side effects. Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the USA's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases, said the vaccine was positive news. He said: " (5) The results are really quite good, I mean extraordinary."
Health experts say it will be months before the vaccine is widely available (6) for people to take. It needs to be stored at
temperatures of -80º Celsius. However, Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla was upbeat about his company's achievement.
He said: "Today is (7) a great day for science and humanity.... We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine
development program at a time when the world needs it most." He added: "Infection rates are setting (8) new records,
hospitals are nearing over-capacity and economies are struggling to reopen. With today's news, (9) we are a significant
step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global
(10) health crisis."
Read the headline. Guess if 1-10 below are true (T), false (F) or not mentioned (NM).

11. The article said the year 2020 has been only bad news.     T / F / NM
12. There is a COVID-19 vaccine from German and American companies.     T / F / NM
13. The vaccine will cost a lot of money. T / F / NM
14. The article said the vaccine has a 90.2% success rate.     T / F / NM
15. A doctor of infectious diseases called the vaccine extraordinary.     T / F / NM
16. The Humanity has had great days. T / F / NM
17. Health experts say the vaccine will be available within weeks.     T / F / NM
18. The vaccine has to be stored in temperatures just below freezing.      T / F / NM
19. A drug company CEO said it was a great day for science and humanity.    T / F / NM
20. The CEO said the global health crisis is now over.     T / F / NM

Exercise 4. Use a long answer for the following questions.

21. What kind of news did the article say this year has been largely full of?
 The news talked about one of the biggest trends and problems of the year 2020 "COVID-19" and about the
advances that are being made in terms of a future vaccine for this virus What two countries are the
companies that developed the vaccine from?
22. What kind of success rate does the vaccine have?
 So far, the vaccine has a high success rate compared to the short time it has been in development with 90%
success rate.
23. What did the article say the vaccine does not cause?
 According to the article, the COVID-19 "vaccine" does not cause any side effects. What did Dr. Fauci say
about the results, in addition to "quite good"?
24. How long did experts say it would be before the vaccine is available?
 Months, although they didn't specifically say how long, but I hope it will be as soon as possible At what
temperature does the new vaccine need to be stored?
25. What did Pfizer's CEO say "today" was a great day for?
  He said it because the experimental vaccine against the virus has been very efficient in many patients and
that they are advancing more

26. What did the CEO say was nearing over-capacity?

 He said it referring to the fact that the number of people infected with the virus had increased dramatically so
the excess capacity (of sick people) was in the hospitals.
27. What did the CEO say the vaccine could bring an end to?
 The director said that with the arrival of the vaccine, this threat or global health crisis would end, in this case
he was referring to the Covid-19
Exercise 4. Make an audio giving your summary with an opinion of the article.