Bones, muscles, joints

From our head to our toes, our bones provide support for our bodies and help form our shape. The skull protects the brain and forms the shape of our face. The spinal cord is protected by the backbone, or spinal column. The ribs form a cage that shelters the heart, lungs, liver, and spleen, and the pelvis helps protect the bladder, intestines, and in women, the reproductive organs.

Joints occur where two bones meet. They make the skeleton flexible - without them, movement would be impossible. Muscles are also necessary for movement: they are the masses of tough, elastic tissue that pull our bones when we move. Together, our bones, muscles, and joints - along with tendons, ligaments, and cartilage - form our musculoskeletal systems and enable us to do everyday physical activities.

The human skeleton has 206 bones. Our bones begin to develop before birth. Bone building continues throughout your life, as your body constantly renews and reshapes the bones' living tissue. Bones are made up of calcium, phosphorus, sodium, and other minerals, as well as the protein collagen. Bones are made up of two types of material - compact bone and cancellous bone. Compact bone is the solid, hard, outside part of the bone. It looks like ivory and is extremely strong. Cancellous bone, which looks like a sponge, is inside the compact bone. It is made up of a mesh-like network of tiny pieces of bone called trabeculae. Bones are fastened to other bones by long, fibrous straps called ligaments. Cartilage, a flexible, rubbery substance in our joints, supports bones and protects them where they rub against each other.

The human body has more than 650 muscles, which make up half of a person's body weight. They are connected to bones by tough, cord-like tissues called tendons, which allow the muscles to pull on bones. Humans have three different kinds of muscle: skeletal, smooth and cardiac.

Joints allow our bodies to move in many ways. Joints are classified by their range of movement. Immovable, or fibrous, joints don't move.

Partially movable, or cartilaginous, joints move a little. They are linked by cartilage, as in the spine. Freely movable, or synovial, joints move in many directions. The main joints of the body - found at the hip, shoulders, elbows, knees, wrists, and ankles - are freely movable.

Exercise 8. Answer the following questions:

How many bones has the human skeleton?

What are bones made up of?

What are muscles connected to bones by?

What do the joints do?

What do our bones provide support for?

How many muscles has the human body?

What is the spinal cord is protected by?

What do the ribs form?

When do our bones begin to develop?

What is compact bone?

Exercise 9. Dwell upon:

compact bone;

cancellousbone;

skeletal muscle;

smooth, or involuntary, muscle;

cardiac muscle;

partially movable, or cartilaginous,joints;

freely movable, or synovial,joints;

Exercise 10. Put in the correct verb forms (Simple Past / Past Continuous):

Начало формы

1. A: What (you, do) when the accident occurred?
B: I (try) to change a light bulb that had burnt out.

2. The doctor (say) that Tom (be) too sick to go to work and that he (need) to stay at home for a couple of days.

3. Sebastian (arrive) at Susan's house a little before 9:00 pm, but she (be, not) there. She (study, at the library) for her final examination in French.

4. Sandy is in the living room watching television. At this time yesterday, she (watch, also) television. That's all she ever does!

5. A: I (call) you last night after dinner, but you (be, not) there. Where were you?

B: I (work) out at the fitness center.

6. I (watch) a mystery movie on T.V. when the electricity went out. Now I am never going to find out how the movie ends.

7. Sharon (be) in the room when John told me what happened, but she didn't hear anything because she (listen, not).

8. It's strange that you (call) because I (think, just) about you.

9. She was so annoying! She (leave, always) her dirty dishes in the sink. I think she (expect, actually) me to do them for her.

Exercise 11. Make up sentences with the following words and word combinations:

our bones, joints, muscles, compact bone, trabeculae, ligaments, cartilage,

tendons, fibrous, partially movable, synovial joints

Exercise 12. Choose the correct answers:

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