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READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14–26, which are based on
Reading Passage 2 on pages 6 and 7.
Preserving Antarctic History
Protecting early buildings in Antarctica
A. Few people coming up to the most comfortable
dwelling place imaginable are likely to picture wooden huts on an island off
the coldest continent on Earth. But that's where the Antarctic explorer Robert
Falcon Scott described the hut at Cape Evans on Ross Island that he used for
his 1910–13 expedition. The hut is nestled below the cliffs on a flat, long
stretch of sand. In 2011, a bottle of MacKinlay’s whisky, the only one, was to
be seen in front of the newly restored structure and sun reflects off the
cliffs of the nearby glacier.
B. The New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust (NZHAT)
and its accompanying workers recently announced the completion of 10 years of
intensive work to save the historic buildings on Ross Island as well as the hut
at Cape Evans, the hut at Cape Royds on Discovery Hut from Scott’s 1901–04 expedition
at Hut Point, and the hut at Cape Royds, built for Ernest Shackleton’s 1907–09
expedition. When work began, many of the artefacts were temporarily removed
while carpenters from the team of conservation workers repaired walls, floors
and roof. In Scott’s ‘command hut’ was the table where team member Edward
Wilson had once incubated his moulds and parasites. Of particular interest is
the small wooden racks of sample tubes, sample jars and Bunsen burners standing
on the biologist Edward Nelson, by its shape through a dusty window. This was
where the young scientist preserved Antarctic specimens as part of his search
for new species and an understanding of the Antarctic food chain
C. The NZHAT executive director Nigel Watson
describes the three restored huts as fantastic remnants of humans’ first
contact with the continent. The idea for the birth of the conservation project,
he says, was the fact that we were in great danger of losing them. ‘When the
site work began in 2004, snow and ice were building up around, under and
sometimes inside the huts, damaging the structures and threatening their
contents. Now we have three buildings that are structurally sound and
watertight with a very different feel – they are drier and lighter and the
humidity is reduced. It’s a much better environment for the collection.’
D. As well as heritage carpenters, the NZHAT team on
Ross Island has included experts in textile, paper and metal conservation: in
total, 62 experts from 11 countries have visited Antarctica to work on the
project, often spending a whole summer on-site, sleeping in tents around 25km
back to Scott Base for the occasional shower. The team is now known as the most
exciting conservation project in the world,’ says Watson. ‘So it attracted top
heritage conservation talent.’ Some of the most exciting discoveries were the
intact cases of MacKinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt Whisky found encased in ice
beneath Shackleton’s hut, a paper notebook that belonged to surgeon, zoologist
and photographer George Murray Levick found buried in dirt at Cape Evans and a
small box of 22 cellulose nitrate negatives waiting to be developed into
photographs found in Herbert Ponting’s darkroom. But most of the 18,202 items
catalogued and conserved are more mundane: food, tools, clothing and other
personal items that the crews found no purpose to take home on the return
voyages.
E. The NZHAT team’s conservation treatments involved
thorough cleaning, followed by meticulous treatment to help slow or, even
reverse, the deterioration. Metal items would go through a chemical process,
followed by a chemical stabilization treatment, then repackaged and preserved
in airtight containers for future conservation. Treatment of paper items often
involved washing to remove harmful acids and to repair the fractured parts so
that in some cases the paper was even stronger than before.
F. As a result of the project, the NZHAT has become
the world leader in cold-climate heritage conservation and its members have
been interviewed for numerous television documentaries and radio reports. ‘The
Ross Island huts are the jewels in the crown,’ says Watson, but there are other
historic buildings needing attention. With logistics support from Antarctica
New Zealand, programme managers Al Fastier and Lizzie Meek will be part of a
small team heading to Cape Adare, an exposed site more than 700km north of
Scott Base. The two Cape Adare huts, remnants of an 1898–1900 British
expedition, are not only the first buildings on the continent,’ says Watson,
but also the only example of humanity’s first buildings on any continent on
Earth.
G. The three-year restoration effort will involve
construction repairs and the removal, conservation and return of about 11,000
objects. Compared with the huts on Ross Island, which are relatively sheltered,
Cape Adare is a ‘very remote and challenging place to work in’, says Watson.
It’s set among the world’s biggest colony of Adélie penguins on an exposed spit
of land, and it is important that they don’t interrupt the functioning of the
colony in any way while they are there. Lizzie Meek looks forward to the challenge.
But I’m also looking forward to going back to the Ross Island huts and seeing
them with fresh eyes. After so many years of working on them, to be able to
step inside and look around to see what we have accomplished will be amazing.
H. If you can find your way to Antarctica, you’ll
need a permit to visit any of these huts, which each are in an Antarctic
Specially Protected Area. But there’s an easier way to see them without making
the long journey: the trust has partnered with Google to offer Street View
walkthroughs of each of the dwellings, available via Google Earth or through
the NZHAT’s website.
Questions 14–19
Reading Passage 2 has nine paragraphs A–H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A–H, in boxes 14–19 on your answer sheet.
14 a reason the early explorers left some objects behind
15 an explanation of how to see the huts without traveling to Antarctica
16 reference to the fact that Robert Falcon Scott enjoyed the time he spent
living in the hut
17 reference to how the Ross Island project has received attention from the
media
18 the reason the decision to begin conservation work at Ross Island was made
19 a description of the process for preserving paper
Questions 20 and 21
Choose TWO letters, A–E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 20 and 21 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO research activities were carried out by Scott’s
expedition team?
A. collecting samples of sea life monitoring penguin behaviour
B. studying the effects of cold on the human body
C. keeping a record of Antarctic weather patterns
D. drawing pictures of plants and animals
Questions 22 and 23
Choose TWO letters, A–E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 22 and 23 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO statements are true about the conservation workers
on Ross Island?
A. They lived in Scott’s huts while carrying out the work.
B. They were in Antarctica for months at a time.
C. They had previously worked together in New Zealand.
D. They restored the contents as well as the buildings themselves.
E. They had no access to showers at all.
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 24–26 on your answer sheet.
Cape Adare
Adare is located several hundred kilometres north of Scott’s hut. The huts on
Cape are not as 24 ______ as those on Ross Island and the workers have
to be careful disturb the group of 25 ______ living nearby. Visitors to
Antarctica must have a to see the restored huts_________.
Q14: A
Q15: H
Q16: A
Q17: F
Q18: C
Q19: E
Q20: A
Q21: C
Q22: B
Q23: D
Q24: sheltered
Q25: penguins
Q26: permit
PASSWORD: REALEXAM
