INTERMEDIATE II.

READING

1   Read the article and tick (ü) A, B, or C.

We’ve all heard amazing stories in which people struggle heroically to survive against all the odds. We wonder what we would have done in similar impossible situations and find it hard to imagine how these people found the strength to stay alive. The truth, though, is that not all survivors are quite so heroic. As these two stories show, the will to survive isn’t always so strong.

The marathon runner

Thrilling yet terrifying, the Marathon des Sables is arguably the world’s toughest foot race. Competitors attempt a six-day 150-mile run across the Sahara desert in temperatures of over 100 degrees. Just imagine getting lost. That, however, is exactly what happened to an Italian policeman called Marco Contadino, a regular competitor,  when he took part in the race in 1996. A sandstorm developed as he was running, which covered the marks of the course he was following with sand. Marco should have stopped and waited for the storm to calm down, but he kept on, desperate to stay in seventh place in the race, only to find that when the wind dropped he could no longer see the course. He reached for his water bottle and found there were only a few drops left in the bottom of it.

For three whole days Marco tried to find his way back to the course, with barely any water and no idea what direction he was heading in. He started to visualize the agonising death he would soon have to face. A friend had once told him that dying of thirst was the worst of all possible deaths. Fearing such a long and painful death, he decided to cut his wrists with a knife. But, short of water, his blood was thick and would not flow. In desperation, he headed out into the desert one more time, expecting to die. Five more days passed until, miraculously, a group of Tuareg nomads found him and took him to a village. Marco discovered he was in Algeria, 130 miles away from the race course.

The yachtswoman

As an experienced sailor, Lynn Walker knows nothing is ever certain on the high seas. However, when she took on the job of sailing a luxury yacht from Tahiti to San Diego, she must have believed that it would be one of the less complicated trips she had done. Little did she know that after a week of calm sailing the weather would change dramatically, bringing a tropical depression from Central America to blast the yacht with 50-foot waves. Lynn found herself battling against Hurricane Raymond. It was an unequal battle, and the boat soon turned over.

Lynn was unconscious for a long time. When she did finally come round, she realized that the boat had miraculously righted itself, and that she had been saved by the lifeline connecting her to the boat. She had tied it to herself moments before the boat had first gone under the waves. Tragically, she could see Simon, her boyfriend, lying dead in the water.

There was plenty of food on the boat, and the weather was calm again, but Lynn could only feel an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. She found that she couldn’t eat, and simply sat on the soaking wet deck. It was as if she had given up, and was waiting to die. Then, all of a sudden, a voice in her head told her to survive. She managed to put up a makeshift sail, and consulting the surviving charts on the boat, somehow sailed to Hawaii.

Example: According to the writer, when people hear survival stories __________.

A  they imagine what they would have done         
B  they don’t believe them       

C  they enjoy them more than other stories   ü 

1   What does the writer not say about the Marathon des Sables?

     A  It makes you feel incredibly excited.         
     B  It gives you a real sense of achievement.         

     C  It’s extremely difficult.      

2   When Marco competed in the Marathon des Sables in 1996 __________.

     A  he used a new route         

     B  it wasn’t the first time he had competed         
    C  it was the hottest weather ever      

3   Why couldn’t Marco find his way back to the course?

     A  He had no way of knowing which way to go.         
     B  He was having strange visions from lack of water.         
     C  He was too tired to concentrate on where he was going.      

4   Marco attempted suicide because __________.

     A  he knew someone who had died of thirst         
     B  he thought it’d be better than dying slowly without water         
     C  he thought it was the best thing to do if the pain was too much      

5   Marco was rescued __________.

     A  eight days after he got lost         

     B  not far from where he first got lost         
     C  by people who had been looking for him      

6   When she agreed to sail the yacht from Tahiti, what did Lynn think the job would be?

     A  She knew it would be easy.         

     B  She expected it to be easy.         
    C  She hoped it would be easy.      

7   During the first few days of sailing __________.

     A  Lynn probably regretted accepting the job         

     B  the weather was fine          
     C  Lynn heard that there was bad weather ahead of her      

8   Lynn wasn’t able to sail the yacht in the hurricane because __________.

     A  the storm was too strong         

     B  she wasn’t a good sailor         
     C  the weather changed too quickly      

9   How did Lynn survive?

     A  She’d tied herself to the yacht.         
     B  The boat wasn’t the wrong way up for long.         
     C  She wasn’t unconscious for long.      

10   Lynn didn’t feel like fighting to survive because __________.

     A  there wasn’t enough food         

     B  she thought she was going to die         
     C  she was so depressed      

source: NFE NIII

answers: BBABABBAAC