Page 86 - Grasp English C1 (Student Book)

Science | Anatomy project

A. Label the parts of the digestive system with words
from the boxes.

liver mouth large intestine oesophagus
stomach rectum small intestine pancreas

B. Read about the digestive system. Complete the
spaces with the words from exercise A.

Animals need food to fuel their bodies for energy,
growth and repair. The digestive system is what converts
our food into simple structures like glucose and fatty
acids, which can be absorbed into the bloodstream
and carried to the cells in our bodies.

The digestive system is about ten metres long and
passes various organs. The digestive process begins
at the 1 , where food is ground
up by teeth and moistened with saliva so that it is
easy to swallow. The saliva also helps to break down
carbohydrates into sugars. As the food travels down the
2 , muscles massage it, softening and
breaking it down further before it reaches the stomach.
Here, food is mixed with gastric juices, which break
the food down chemically, while the muscles in the
3 break it down mechanically. The
food is then squeezed through a tight muscle called a
sphincter into the 4 , also called the
duodenum. In the small intestine, food is mixed with
other digestive enzymes from the 5
as well as insulin, which break down sugars. Meanwhile,
the 6 provides bile, which breaks
down fats and processes proteins and carbohydrates.
As the food travels to the lower parts of the small
intestine, nutrients are absorbed into the body via
millions of tiny finger-like projections called villi. The
villi allow the nutrients to pass into the bloodstream.
Once all the useful nutrients have been absorbed,
the waste is moved into the 7 . Water
is removed, and any remaining waste is stored in the
8 . From here, it passes out of the body
through the anus.

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