A Personalized mRNA Vaccine Offers Hope Against Pancreatic Cancer—But Researchers Still Seek Answers

Study the questions and tasks

Work through the material below, or start the interactive practice above to complete an attempt. Try the exercises before opening any answer or transcript sections, then use them to review your work.

Practice level

C2. Try this level if you can follow the instructions and understand most of the language; choose an earlier level if you need more support.

Question formats

Single choice

How to approach this practice

Read the passage for its main idea, then return to the relevant sentence or paragraph for each question. Base answers on the passage.

1. Question 1 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What is the article’s central claim about Gustafson’s experience?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. It conclusively proves pancreatic cancer vaccines are reliable.
   2. It demonstrates promise without establishing universal effectiveness.
   3. It shows chemotherapy is unnecessary after vaccination.
   4. It explains why all cancer-vaccine trials succeed.
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   It demonstrates promise without establishing universal effectiveness.

   Her outcome is encouraging evidence, but it remains scientifically limited.

   Gustafson’s case is therefore both encouraging and scientifically unresolved: her long-term health offers evidence of possibility, not a universal solution.

2. Question 2 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   Why does the article mention Gustafson’s active lifestyle?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. To establish the treatment’s financial cost.
   2. To contrast her lifestyle with researchers’ expectations.
   3. To illustrate the practical significance of her health.
   4. To identify the trial’s principal medical endpoint.
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   To illustrate the practical significance of her health.

   The detail concretely illustrates her unusually sustained recovery.

   At 72, the retired accountant hikes, travels, lifts weights, and enjoys an active life with Ed, her husband of 50 years.

3. Question 3 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What does “this approach” refer to in the second paragraph?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. A broadly administered chemotherapy regimen.
   2. A vaccine tailored to one tumor’s biological features.
   3. A trial involving sixteen unrelated patients.
   4. A method for measuring patients’ exercise levels.
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   A vaccine tailored to one tumor’s biological features.

   It refers to a vaccine adapted to one patient’s tumour biology.

   Unlike a treatment intended to work broadly across patients, this approach was tailored to the biological features of one person’s tumor.

4. Question 4 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What relationship does the third paragraph establish?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. Small trials can reveal promising outcomes without proving reliability.
   2. Survival depends entirely on receiving nine vaccine doses.
   3. Most participants rejected surgery and chemotherapy.
   4. The vaccine worked equally well across all patients.
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   Small trials can reveal promising outcomes without proving reliability.

   It connects trial size, apparent efficacy, and survival among responders.

   The vaccine appeared to work in half of the participants; seven of those eight patients were still alive when the account was published.

5. Question 5 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   Why does the article introduce skin-cancer research?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. To argue skin cancer is more dangerous than pancreatic cancer.
   2. To show mRNA research extends beyond one disease.
   3. To explain why Gustafson changed hospitals.
   4. To replace the pancreatic-cancer trial’s findings.
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   To show mRNA research extends beyond one disease.

   The example situates pancreatic research within expanding mRNA applications.

   Interest in mRNA cancer vaccines has expanded beyond pancreatic disease.

6. Question 6 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What can be inferred from the contrast between possibility and solution?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. A successful case may justify further study without settling efficacy.
   2. A universal solution is already available to patients.
   3. Researchers regard the vaccine as entirely ineffective.
   4. Long-term survival invalidates controlled clinical trials.
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   A successful case may justify further study without settling efficacy.

   The author distinguishes proof of concept from dependable clinical generalization.

   Gustafson’s case is therefore both encouraging and scientifically unresolved: her long-term health offers evidence of possibility, not a universal solution.

7. Question 7 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   How is the article primarily organized?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. Chronologically through the development of chemotherapy.
   2. From a case study toward wider scientific implications.
   3. By comparing hospitals in New Jersey and Florida.
   4. Through a debate between two named researchers.
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   From a case study toward wider scientific implications.

   It moves from one patient’s outcome to trial limits and broader research.

   For now, however, Gustafson’s experience remains an exceptional result within a field whose potential is substantial but whose limits are not yet fully understood.

8. Question 8 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What limitation does the final paragraph emphasize?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. The vaccines cannot be adapted to individual tumors.
   2. Researchers lack sufficient evidence about the field’s limits.
   3. Artificial intelligence has already replaced genomic analysis.
   4. The technology applies only to pancreatic disease.
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   Researchers lack sufficient evidence about the field’s limits.

   The field’s promise remains constrained by incomplete knowledge of its boundaries.

   For now, however, Gustafson’s experience remains an exceptional result within a field whose potential is substantial but whose limits are not yet fully understood.

What to review next

Find the words that support each answer. For a mistake, compare the question with the evidence and identify the detail or inference you missed.

A focused practice result shows how you did on these tasks. Use several activities across skills to decide what to study next; one practice score does not certify an overall CEFR level.

Before you practise: a worked example

Look for evidence in the text. Separate what the writer says from what you already know about the topic.

The library normally closes at six, but on Fridays it stays open until eight. When does it close on Friday?

The answer is eight. But introduces an exception to the normal closing time, so the first time mentioned is not the answer.

This teaching example is separate from the scored questions. After your test, compare any mistakes with the explanation and revisit the topic before trying again.