Tasks: The Human Body

Here are 8 paragraph headings. Scan the 8 paragraphs below and match a heading to each one. (It may be easier to print out the text or copy it into your text editor so that you can see the whole text at once.)

Think of vampires!

Hold your breath!

Survival of the species

To hop, jump or just blink

What happens to hamburgers?

The foundation structure

Getting rid of the waste

The message carriers

• The skeletal system: About 206 bones make up the skeleton, the supporting structure, of an adult person. These bones are as strong and tough as concrete and can support great weights without bending, breaking or being crushed. Bones are linked together by joints and moved by muscles.
• The muscular system: Every movement of the body, from the blink of an eyelid to a leap into the air, is made possible by muscles and tendons. Tendons are extensions of the muscles and they play a very important role in transmitting power from a muscle to the bone it moves.
• The nervous system: The main parts of the nervous system are nerves, which connect the central nervous system in the brain to all other parts of the body. A nerve is a bundle of motor and sensory fibres, together with connective tissue and blood vessels. There are 43 major nerves. Eyes, ears, etc. are also part of this system.
• The respiratory system: Awake or asleep, we breathe an average of 12 times a minute. In 24 hours we breathe in and breathe out more than 8000 liters of air. The purpose of moving so much air in and out of the body is to make the lungs do two things: to get the oxygen we need to live and to rid the body of carbon dioxide, the waste product of internal chemical processes.
• The cardiovascular system: It consists of the heart and the network of blood vessels. Made almost entirely of muscle, the heart is responsible for pumping blood around the body. Blood is essential to body functions.
• The digestive system: Digestion is the process which breaks down food into substances that can be absorbed and used by the body for energy, growth and repair. The mouth, teeth, stomach and liver are all parts of this system.
• The excretory system: Excretion is the system by which the body rids itself of waste products. These are products which must be removed so that the body is not poisoned. The large intestine and the urinary system are parts of the excretory system.
• The reproductive system: Sexual activity is a basic drive and one that humans share with all other animals. We need to reproduce in order for the species to survive. The male genital system is designed to produce sperm and to deposit them in the female. The female's reproductive system must not only receive the sperm but also produce eggs for fertilization. She must also nurture one egg if it is fertilized, so that a baby can develop. This happens in the uterus.

The Human Body and How It Works (nationalgeographic.com)