Vocabulario en contexto (inglés)

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South Africa's highest court has ruled that husbands can take the surname of their wives, overturning a law that barred them from doing so. In a victory for two couples who brought the case, the Constitutional Court ruled that the law was a "colonial import" that amounted to gender-based discrimination.

Henry van der Merwe was denied the right to take the surname of his wife Jana Jordaan, while Nicolas Bornman could not hyphenate his surname to include Donnelly, the surname of his wife. The two couples had argued that the law was archaic and patriarchal, and violated equality rights enshrined in the constitution that South Africa adopted at the end of apartheid in 1994. They successfully challenged the law in a lower court, but asked the Constitutional Court to confirm its ruling. The Constitutional Court noted that "in many African cultures, women retained their birth names after marriage, and children often took their mother's clan name" but this changed after the "arrival of the European colonisers and Christian missionaries, and the imposition of Western values".

Parliament will now have to amend the Births and Deaths Registration Act, along with its regulations, for the ruling to take effect. South Africa had made a significant advancement in gender equality, but some laws and practices that perpetuated "harmful stereotypes" still remained in place, as it denied men a choice available to women.

(Adapted from Chothia F. (2025). South African court rules that men can take wife's surname. BBC.) From the text, the verb BARRED is closest in meaning to

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A new investigation suggests that samples of popular commercial dog foods contained “dangerous levels” of heavy metals, plastic contaminants, and acrylamide, a cancer-causing compound created when food is subjected to high heat.

Molly Hamilton, the executive director of Clean Label Project, the Colorado-based nonprofit which conducted the investigation, said over 85% of dog owners feed dry foods to their pets, and most dogs are eating one type of dog food every day, often for their entire life.

Dog foods contained three to 13 times more heavy metals than human food tested over the past decade, according to the report. The levels are similar to those found in prior research done by veterinarian Joseph Wakshlag, a nutritional specialist at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in New York.

Dry dog food contained the highest levels of heavy metals and other contaminants, followed by air- and freeze-dried dog food. Fresh and frozen dog foods contained the lowest levels of heavy metals, according to the laboratory tests. The report did not release specific test results by brand or product name.

Studies show heavy metals can accumulate in the kidney and liver in a dog, potentially contributing to chronic disease. Exposure to lead and cadmium has been linked to canine cancer, a leading cause of death in dogs. About 1 in 4 dogs will develop cancer during their lifetime, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. It recommends trying another brand periodically to add variety and potentially reduce exposure to contaminants.

Adapted from: LaMotte, S. (2026, 12 February). Commercial dog food contains ‘alarming’ levels of lead, mercury and other contaminants. CNN.

The verb TO RELEASE can be replaced by the verb

TEXT 3

A new investigation suggests that samples of popular commercial dog foods contained “dangerous levels” of heavy metals, plastic contaminants, and acrylamide, a cancer-causing compound created when food is subjected to high heat.

Molly Hamilton, the executive director of Clean Label Project, the Colorado-based nonprofit which conducted the investigation, said over 85% of dog owners feed dry foods to their pets, and most dogs are eating one type of dog food every day, often for their entire life.

Dog foods contained three to 13 times more heavy metals than human food tested over the past decade, according to the report. The levels are similar to those found in prior research done by veterinarian Joseph Wakshlag, a nutritional specialist at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in New York.

Dry dog food contained the highest levels of heavy metals and other contaminants, followed by air- and freeze-dried dog food. Fresh and frozen dog foods contained the lowest levels of heavy metals, according to the laboratory tests. The report did not release specific test results by brand or product name.

Studies show heavy metals can accumulate in the kidney and liver in a dog, potentially contributing to chronic disease. Exposure to lead and cadmium has been linked to canine cancer, a leading cause of death in dogs. About 1 in 4 dogs will develop cancer during their lifetime, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. It recommends trying another brand periodically to add variety and potentially reduce exposure to contaminants.

Adapted from: LaMotte, S. (2026, 12 February). Commercial dog food contains ‘alarming’ levels of lead, mercury and other contaminants. CNN.

Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

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In the text, the word IMPAIR can be replaced by