File Test 5 Reading

File Test 5 Reading

Survival Stories

Survival Stories

Read the article about survival. Five sentences have been removed. Which sentence (A–F) fits each gap (1–5)? There is one extra sentence you do not need to use.

Multiple Choice

We’ve all heard amazing stories in which people struggle heroically to survive against all the odds against them. (–––– 1 ––––) 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.

• She had tied it to herself moments before the boat had first gone under the waves.

• A sandstorm developed as he was running, which covered the marks of the course he was following with sand.

• In desperation, he tried to find his way back one more time, expecting to die.

• Something went wrong, and soon disaster struck.

• 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.

Multiple Choice

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 storm from Central America that caused 60-foot waves. Lynn found herself battling against Hurricane Raymond. (–––– 2 ––––)

• She had tied it to herself moments before the boat had first gone under the waves.

• A sandstorm developed as he was running, which covered the marks of the course he was following with sand.

• In desperation, he tried to find his way back one more time, expecting to die.

• It was an unequal battle, and the boat soon turned over

• 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.

Multiple Choice

Lynn was unconscious for a long time. When she did finally come around, she realized that the boat had miraculously righted itself, and that she had been saved by the lifeline connecting her to the boat. (–––– 3 ––––) 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.

• She had tied it to herself moments before the boat had first gone under the waves.

• A sandstorm developed as he was running, which covered the marks of the course he was following with sand.

• In desperation, he tried to find his way back one more time, expecting to die.

• It was an unequal battle, and the boat soon turned over

• 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.

Multiple Choice

Another story is set in the thrilling, yet terrifying, Marathon des Sables, arguably the world’s toughest foot race. Competitors attempt a six-day, 150-mile run across the Sahara Desert in temperatures of over 90 degrees. Just imagine getting lost. That, however, is exactly what happened to an Italian policeman named Marco Contadino, a regular competitor, when he took part in the race in 1996. (–––– 4 ––––) 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.

• She had tied it to herself moments before the boat had first gone under the waves.

• A sandstorm developed as he was running, which covered the marks of the course he was following with sand.

• In desperation, he tried to find his way back one more time, expecting to die.

• It was an unequal battle, and the boat soon turned over

• 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.

Multiple Choice

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 agonizing 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. (–––– 5 ––––) 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.

• She had tied it to herself moments before the boat had first gone under the waves.

• A sandstorm developed as he was running, which covered the marks of the course he was following with sand.

• In desperation, he tried to find his way back one more time, expecting to die.

• It was an unequal battle, and the boat soon turned over

• 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.