READING COMPREHENSION 05 - B

READING COMPREHENSION 05 (GAPPED TEXT + MULTIPLE

MATCHING)
Part 1: Read the text and choose from the paragraphs A – G the one which fits each gap (1 – 6).
There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.

ARCTIC ADVENTURES
I wanted to experience life under the midday moon. A heated log cabin and maybe a sauna, in Sweden's
far north, meditating on the loss of light and the loneliness, in a drawn-out, snowy, winter world. And that’s
what I said to my editor, so I was packed off to Ovre Soppero with photographer Mark. 'Oh, it's never dark
up here,' our host Per-Nils Paivio insisted when we met him and his wife, Britt-Marie, who was preparing
a reindeer, stew.
1
The next two days and nights in the warmth of the cabin and the traditional circular hut covered in turf,
with wood-burning stoves - and a sauna- were cosy. Informative, too, as- over breakfast with pancakes- I
was given a thorough education in the ancient and barely altered life of the reindeer-herding Sami people
of northern Sweden. Just as I was beginning to relax, I was introduced to 'my' reindeer. I was handed the
reins along with some sparse instructions: pull left for faster, right for stop.
2
Tonight Per-Nils was taking us by snowmobile to the huts where the families lived over the three-day
round-up. But he, Mark and I were spending the night in a 'lavvu', guarding the reindeer. Back home I had
discovered that this word, which had appeared on my itinerary, meant a tent. I imagined a warm tourist
tent. But now alarm bells began to ring.
3
Somehow, I survived the lack of sleep. Then the roundup began. Everyone revved up their snowmobiles
and spread out, surrounding the reindeer. Dogs barked, people shouted, and 7,000 reindeer ran in the
desired direction: into a large corral, where they were then herded by people on foot towards the narrow
passage; then about 70 animals were funnelled through a small circular space with gates to 'family'
paddocks.
4
I declined to wrestle with a reindeer, but Mark put down his camera and grabbed one shouting, 'It's ours',
as he was dragged across the corral floor. I simply begged for a bed with walls that night, and maybe
even a jacuzzi.
We had another magical ride back on the snowmobile and then a car to Kiruna, the home of the Sami
parliament and the Swedish iron ore mine, which has utterly changed the traditional herding land and
threatens the Sami way of life.
5
After a day off, I visited a local school. The Sami pupils take lessons in their own language and study
skills and traditions that are rapidly being forgotten. The youngsters were looking to the future and making
plans for their lives beyond reindeer herding.
6
Even I know how privileged I was to participate in that. And the extra hands can certainly be useful: Mark
apparently was an asset, and me? Well, now I've warmed up a bit, I am grateful for the experience. I just
hope I didn't make life too difficult for my hosts.

The missing paragraphs:

A But for me, the best thing was that it had the
Hotel Ralleran, a wooden building devotedly
restored, and a shrine to simplicity. It had beautiful,
pale-timbered walls, wooden floors, light, space, a
comfortable bed and a jacuzzi!
E My fears turned out to be justified. The Sami
tepee had a layer of reindeer skins over the bare,
snow-covered, lumpy earth. The gap around the
bottom let plenty of fresh air in. I spent most of the
time perched on my elbows, staring at the embers
of the fire.

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 READING COMPREHENSION 05 - B

B I sat in the family paddock by a log fire and
choked on wood smoke. 'Ah', a fur-encased elderly
lady laughed. 'The smoke follows you. It means
you'll be rich.' Or so her daughter translated. What
she probably said was: 'Who is this stranger?'
F The reindeer took over immediately, either
sauntering along or racing his mate. My
performance lost the respect of the guides, but they
were kind and excitedly started talking about
tomorrow's agenda. They had brought together the
7,000 reindeer of the district, and tomorrow we
would participate in the annual separation of the
herds into family groups. This is done according to
the signs on the ears of the calves to allocate the
winter grazing.

C Dinner was delicious and marked our
introduction to Swedish Lapland as guests of the
Sami, the indigenous people who were here long
before anyone else arrived. 'Snow. Northern lights.
And you can go into the forest in December and
you hardly need a torch', he commented. Despite
my reservations, I was intrigued and actually keen
to start our 'adventure'.
G My job was to head off stragglers and
escapees. This is done by flapping the arms up and
down and hooting. Even the most desultory flap, I
discovered, persuades a wayward reindeer to
rejoin the crowd.

D Yet they showed a demonstrable desire to

keep their heritage alive. That's why the Sami are
inviting visitors to experience their traditions and so
try to sustain their reindeer-herding life.

Your answers:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Part 2: You are going to read an article from The Economist. Seven paragraphs have been
removed from the article. Choose from the paragraphs A – H the one which fits each gap (1 – 7).
There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use. Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered boxes provided.

FOUR LEGS BETTER?

It is not clear that the global boom in pet-keeping is doing humans much good.
Martin Salomón has brought his dog, Manolo, to the “canine area” of a public park in Condesa, a wealthy
district of Mexico City. As he watches the happy, free-running animals, he reflects on how dogs’ lives
have changed. Mr Salomón, who was born in the northern state of Sonora, recalls that his grandmother
had two dogs—a black one called Negro and a white one called Güero, meaning pale. They were seldom
allowed in the house. And today? Recently he attended a birthday party for a friend’s dog, with a cake,
candles and a party hat for the pooch.
1
Keeping pets is hardly novel; nor is pampering them. Archaeologists have discovered graves from more
than 10,000 years ago containing the skeletons of humans and dogs. Some of the dogs suffered from
diseases, and were presumably cared for by their owners. Eighteenth-century portraits are full of well-
groomed animals. But never have so many people kept pets, nor have they fawned over them as much
as they do now. For better or worse, an almost global pet culture is emerging.
2
As people grow better-off, their attitudes to domestic animals change. Surveys by Euromonitor, a market-
research firm, show that in emerging markets wealthy people are more likely than poorer people to
describe pets as “beloved members of the family”, as opposed to merely well-treated animals. In 2015 a
Harris poll of American pet owners found that 95% deemed their animals part of the family—up from 88%
in 2007. Americans behave accordingly. More than two-thirds allow pets to sleep on their beds, and
almost half have bought them birthday presents.

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3
In countries with long traditions of pet-keeping, these changes may be visible only with hindsight. Sami
Tanner, the head of strategy at Musti Group, which owns almost 300 pet-supplies shops in Finland,
Norway and Sweden, points to the Irish setters that his family has kept. In the late 1960s his mother’s
dog, Cimi, was fed cheap dog food and table scraps, and had just two accoutrements: a blanket and a
leash. In 2009 Mr Tanner’s dog Break became the first canine in the family to have his teeth brushed, and
the first to acquire a raincoat and a bed. His current dog, Red, has several jackets, attends dog school,
and is a model.
4
Some animals are easier to see as family members than others. As the expectation that pets should
provide companionship and emotional support has grown, the range of favoured species has narrowed.
In 1949 Konrad Lorenz, an Austrian biologist, recommended fish, hamsters, bullfinches and starlings as
excellent pets. Five years later, Marlon Brando’s character in “On the Waterfront” kept pigeons. Today
just two species dominate: Canis familiaris and Felis catus. Sales of dog and cat food are rising in Britain.
Rabbit, rodent, fish and bird food are all in decline, according to the Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association.
5
Some of the most popular dogs are roughly cat-sized. Early last year the French bulldog overtook the
Labrador retriever as Britain’s most popular pedigree dog; pugs were not far behind. In America, the
French bulldog has risen from the 58th most popular pedigree dog to fourth since 2002, according to the
American Kennel Club. French bulldogs and pugs have something in common besides size. If you ignore
their ears, they look a little like human babies. Their eyes are large and their noses squashed—so much
so that many of them suffer from breathing problems.
6
Still, pets are undoubtedly treated better than they were. Mr. Romano of Nestlé says that Latin American
ones used to subsist largely on table scraps, but no longer. Across the continent, he says, dogs now get
about 40% of their calories from pet food, whereas cats get a little more. And pet owners are buying
posher nibbles. Euromonitor estimates that dog-food sales in Mexico have grown by 25% in real terms
since 2013. Premium therapeutic foods, which are supposedly good for dogs and are definitely heavy on
wallets, are selling especially well.
7
It is unclear that pets are benefiting from the extra attention to their diets. Julie Churchill, a veterinary
nutritionist at the University of Minnesota, says that some specialist pet foods are useful. Animals with
diabetes need special diets, as do extremely large dogs. But the rapid growth of natural, unprocessed pet
food strikes her as an example of people extrapolating from their own dietary concerns. Unlike its human
equivalent, pet food is processed with the aim of creating a more balanced diet. As for grain-free food
(another human fad that has transferred to pets), Ms Churchill suspects it could be linked to a kind of
heart disease in dogs.

The missing paragraphs:

A Some parts of the world are keener than
others on pets. Argentines are much more likely to
keep animals than are Japanese people; in mostly
Muslim countries people tend not to have dogs. But
in general, the wealthier a country is, the more
people have pets. As a rule of thumb, says Carlos
Romano, the head of Nestlé’s pet-food operations
in Latin America, the animal instinct kicks in when
household incomes exceed about $5,000 a year.
E It has even been suggested that young people
are substituting pets for children. Millennials, who
are getting around to having kids later than any
generation before, reinforce that impression by
doting on their “fur babies”. For all that, it is
probably wrong. Birth rates plunged in countries
like China and Korea long before the pet boom. In
America, pet ownership is linked to having children
(not a surprise to anyone who has been on the
receiving end of a multi-year lobbying campaign to
get one). And the things that pet parents claim to
get from their furry charges, such as love,
companionship and understanding, sound less like
the things we expect from children and more what
we want from a spouse or lover.

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 READING COMPREHENSION 05 - B

B Musti ja Mirri’s shop in Tammisto, a suburb
of Helsinki, suggests how far this process can run.
The shop not only sells a huge range of prepared
pet foods, including ice cream for dogs, grain-free
foods and foods for moggies with a wide variety of
conditions including old age, urinary problems and
“sensitive digestions”. It also has two large freezers
of fresh meat. The assistants say that a growing
number of dog owners add this meat to prepared
food, believing it to be more natural and healthy.
Elsewhere dog owners can order food tailored to
their pets’ specific requirements, from outfits like
Tails.com in Britain and Feed My Furbaby in New
Zealand.
F Elsewhere, the changes are head-snappingly
fast. In parts of East Asia, dogs have long been
valued as food. Cats may be made into tonics.
Western journalists in South Korea for the 2018
Winter Olympics went in search of dog meat; they
found it, even though officials offered to pay
restaurants to remove it while the visitors were
around. As the culture of pet-keeping spreads,
though, a domestic lobby has emerged. In 2017 the
Korean president, Moon Jae-in, acquired a dog
from a shelter; earlier this year the mayor of Seoul
vowed to close all dog butchers. Chinese animal
lovers hound the dog-meat festival held each year
in the province of Guangxi.

C People in the pet industry use the word
“humanisation” to describe many of the changes
they see. It does not imply that people think their
pets are actually human (although sometimes you
wonder: many cats and dogs have Instagram
accounts, and a few people have symbolically
married their pets). Rather, more pet owners have
come to believe that their animals can do human-
like things, such as understand them, calm them
and love them. They have also come to believe that
pets should be treated more like humans.
G In South Korea, some people who keep cats
refer to themselves not as “owners” or even
“parents”—a more condescending term that
appeared in America in the 1990s and has spread.
Instead they are “butlers”. Some take their feline
masters to a cat hotel in the Gangnam district of
Seoul. It resembles a beauty studio, with plump
cushions and pastel colours. The rooms and suites,
costing $35-50 for a day, are equipped with ridges
and tunnels for the cats to play in, as well as
cameras and microphones. “It’s so the cats can
hear their butlers’ voices,” explains the owner, Cho
Hanna.

D However, a still trickier question is whether
pets are good for people. John Bradshaw, the
author of “The Animals Among Us”, argues that
pets seem to calm people down and help them
create bonds with other people. Only some people,
though. Anecdotal evidence that some people are
disposed to adore pets, whereas others fear or
loathe them, has been borne out by studies.
Statistical research on Swedish twins by Tove Fall
of Uppsala University and others suggests that
more than half of the propensity to own dogs is
heritable.
H Of the two privileged species, cats have a
slight advantage. Euromonitor expects the number
of pet cats worldwide to grow by 22% between
2018 and 2024, compared with 18% for dogs. Cats
are better suited to apartment living than dogs, so
they are more at home in the densely populated,
fast-growing cities of Asia. They are also more
tolerant of their owners’—sorry, butlers’—erratic
working hours.

Your answers:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Part 3: Read the article below. For questions 1 – 14, choose your answers from the sections A – D.
You may choose any of the sections more than ONCE. Write your answers in the space provided
in the column on the right.

WE’VE SEEN IT ALL BEFORE!

Just how many of the technological advances we take for granted today were actually predicted in
science fiction years ago? Karen Smith checks out four influential works.
A. R.U.R
Originally a word that appeared solely in science fiction, the term robot has now become commonplace
as developments in technology have allowed scientists to design even more complex machines that can

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perform tasks to assist us at work or home. But how did the word originate and when? To answer this, we
have to go back nearly 100 years to a play written in 1920 by a Czech playwright, Karel Capek, called
R.U.R – Rossum’s Universal Robots. The word is a derivation from the Czech robota, meaning ‘forced
labour’, or rab, meaning ‘slave’. Capek’s robots are biological machines which are uncannily similar to
what we today refer to as ‘clones’ or ‘androids’ but are assembled from various parts rather than being
genetically ‘grown’. The play eerily predicts problems that concern people today regarding machines that
can think independently. Rossum’s robots plan a rebellion against their creator, a man who is in his own
words, wants to ‘play God’. The famous science fiction writer Isaac Asimov was unimpressed by the
literary value of Capek’s play but believed it had enormous significance because it introduced the word
robot to the world.

B Ralph 124C41+
If you’re a science aficionado, you’ll definitely have heard of Hugo Gernsback. Considered by many to be
the founding father of science fiction back in 1926 with the publication of his magazine Amazing Stories,
his name has been immortalised in the annual science fiction awards, the ‘Hugos’. However, the quality of
his writing is questionable and his stories are more highly regarded for their content rather than plot or
character development. Gernsback was deeply interested in the world of electronics and, believing that
science-fiction should inspire future scientists, he filled his stories with ideas for numerous gadgets and
electronic devices. An extraordinary number of his predictions have actually come true. Today we have
television, televised phone calls, sliding doors and remote controls, to name only a few, and the
precursors of many of these can be found in just one novel: Ralph 124C41+. The mystifying title is itself a
prediction of language used in text talk today: ‘one to foresee for all (1+)’! Gernsback’s prophetic stories
included other predictions which currently remain unfulfilled, such as complete weather control, thought
records and aircabs. Watch this space!

C From the London Town of 1904

Mark Twain is a familiar name to most of us as the author of magnificent books such as Huckleberry Finn
and Tom Sawyer. He is less well-known, however, for his science fiction but to avid readers of that genre,
he is considered one of the best writers of all time. It is also quite possible that he predicted one of the
most influential scientific inventions the world has ever seen – something that we all use and rely on
every day: the internet! It is in a little-known short story called From the London Town of 1904 that a
character invents a device called a ‘telectroscope’. This is a machine that uses telephone line links across
the world to enable him to see and hear what is going on in any place on the globe at a given time. How
familiar does that sound? The character, while on death row for a murder that he did not commit, uses his
machine to ‘call up’ different places in the world and the narrator of the story comments that although in a
prison cell, the man is ‘almost as free as the birds’.

D Star Trek
These days mobile phones have become such an integral part of our daily lives that we would be lost
without them but there was a time when we had to communicate using landlines or – horror of horrors –
by writing letters! Viewers watching the birth of a new TV science fiction series in the 1960s would have
been amazed at the thought that the ‘communicator’ used by Star Trek’s Captain Kirk would one day
become an everyday form of communication available to us all. Kirk’s ‘communicator’ was a small device
he used to flip open and, in retrospect, it seems surprisingly similar to a mobile phone that became
popular in the late 90s. The long-running series also featured several other devices that have since
moved from fiction to the real world. However, the famous Star Trek ‘Transporter’, through which people
can immediately materialise in different places, still remains the Holy Grail for many in the world of
science. Now, that really would make a difference to our lives. ‘Beam us up, Scottie,’ please?

Which science fiction work Your answers

1. served a different purpose other than pure entertainment? _________
2. presented a concept that is familiar today but through a different process? _________
3. was written by an author who has more famous fictional creations? _________
4. features machines that threaten to cause the downfall of man? _________
5. mentions a device that would have a great bearing on us if it existed? _________

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 READING COMPREHENSION 05 - B

6. was created by a writer whose name will be engraved on readers’ minds? _________
7. was entitled in a way that might be more decipherable to today’s _________
generations than the past ones?
8. centres around a character using a device to escape from the reality of a _________
situation?
9. delighted people over a period of many years? _________
10. foresaw something that is controversial today? _________
11. was more acknowledged for what it reflected rather than its storyline? _________
12. was considered to be flawed from a literary perspective but have a _________
considerable impact?
13. shows the subject envisioned by the author was slightly different from _________
modern concepts?
14. might have transfixed its audience for one of its aspects being realised? _________

Part 4: For questions 1 – 15, read the following text and do the task that follow.
THE SOCIAL PHENOMENON THAT IS FASHION
A. Each day as we prepare to meet our world we perform a very popular ritual: getting dressed. This may
mean only adding a daub of war paint or freshening a grass girdle. Or it may be the painstaking
ceremonious robing of a monarch. For most of us, however, it means the exchange of nightwear for day
clothes. Although nakedness does still exist in some isolated communities, there appears to be no society
that is entirely composed of totally unadorned human beings. The desire to alter or add to the original
natural state is so prevalent in the human species that we must assume it has become an inborn human
trait. When did it begin? It certainly precedes recorded history. Bodily covering was probably the first man-
made shelter and the human skin the earliest canvas. Standing erect with his arms and hands free to
function creatively, man must have soon discovered that his anatomical frame could accommodate a
wide variety of physical self-improvements. His shoulders could support a mantle to protect him from the
elements. To stand out above his peers and indicate his superior position, he found his head could be an
excellent foundation for adding stature and importance. Intertwined with these motivating factors and
building on them was the human instinct for creative expression, an outlet for the aesthetic spirit.
B. Changes in needs and outlooks often blur the purposes that originally gave articles of human raiment
a raison d'être. Vestiges are relegated to tradition; others undergo a kind of mutation. The sheltering
mantle, for example, can become a magnificent but cumbersome robe of state. Amulets, their symbolism
lost or forgotten, became objects of decoration to show off the wearer’s wealth. Man is a gregarious
creature. And although innovations and changes may be initiated by individuals, the inspiration that
triggers them grows out of the innovator’s environment, and their acceptance or rejection is determined
by his society. Nothing so graphically reflects social and cultural patterns as the manner in which
individuals within a society alter their original appearance.
C. Fashion can be a powerful force. Societies evolve for themselves a set of rules, and most people,
consciously or subconsciously, do their best to conform. The nonconformists, those who do not wish to
join in this game, must either sever their relationship and go it alone or suffer the consequences. These
regulations are hardly capricious. Their roots are in the foundation of a society which, although composed
of individuals, develops an identity of its own and an instinct for self-preservation. A homogeneity in dress
is a manifest catalyst, a visible unifier of a social group. Because this is so, costume if read properly can
give us an insight not only into the class structure of a social organisation but also into its religion and
aesthetics, its fears, hopes and goals. Today our clothes continue to reflect our anxieties and how we try
to cope with them. Our society is rapidly becoming global. The recent worldwide rage for jeans is an
example of this new universality and the wholesale movement to break down past barriers – geographical
and social.
D. ‘Fashion is the mirror of history,’ King Louis XIV of France correctly observed. But if one were to
transpose a fashion into another era, it would be unlikely to make sense. How, for example, could an
Amazonian Indian or a Roman senator rationalise a hoop skirt, a starched ruff, or a powdered wig? Yet
scrutinised through the specialist’s lens, such vagaries of dress can help chart the course of social mores,
moral codes, the march of science and the progress of the arts. This would explain why the genealogy of
clothes receives the rapt attention of the psychologist, sociologist, economist, anthropologist and art

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 READING COMPREHENSION 05 - B

historian, each posing the same question: ‘Why do people wear what they wear?’ Why, indeed, have
human beings chosen to transform themselves so astonishingly? For the sake of the flesh or the spirit?
For themselves and their own inquisitive nature or for the eyes of beholders? What has driven them?
Ambition? Fear? Humility? There is and can be no single adequate response.

Choose from the sections A – D. The sections may be chosen more than ONCE. Write your
answers in the space provided in the column on the right.
Which section Your answers
1. explains why non-mainstream fashion risks the possibility of social _________
disapproval?
2. suggests that man’s evolution is concomitant with his emerging knowledge of _________
clothing?
3. makes the point that fashion cannot be taken out of its historical context? _________
4. suggests a temporal link between wearing clothes and painting the body? _________
5. explains that certain clothes eventually become recognised as merely of _________
historical interest?
6. suggests that a fashion trend is validated by social judgment? _________
7. suggests that someone might dress in a particular way in order not to attract _________
attention?
8. suggests that clothes could be used to assert social standing? _________
9. mentions a factor contributing to the constancy of dress codes? _________
10. suggests that fashion changes can prove valuable for research into multiple _________
social aspects?
11. mentions clothes being put on in a very elaborate manner? _________
12. mentions the need to express one’s sense of beauty as a purpose of creating _________
fashion?
13. mentions satisfying one’s own curiosity as a possible motive for dressing in _________
unusual ways?
14. offers an explanation for the way in which dress codes originate? _________
15. mentions a fashion item which reflects a trend in the society? _________

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