CAE Reading and Use of English Part 6
You are going to read four extracts from internet articles about technology in sports. For questions 37-40, choose from the experts A-D. The experts may be chosen more than once.
Technology in sports
A. Thomas P Benbow
Is technology transforming sport? The verdict is not yet clear. In the high-stakes televised world of football, a continued reluctance by governing bodies to embrace technology that would lead to greater accuracy, and thereby reduce controversial incidents of perceived injustice, has rightly frustrated players, coaches and media pundits. Perhaps the bigger question is, when technology is embraced, does it always have a beneficial result? Again there is ambivalence. With many sports in which people take part actively, such as cycling, giving the sport some room for technological development can keep sponsors coming, provide interest to fans and may prevent the sport from stagnating. Against this, what I term the ‘unintended consequences’ factor must be taken into account. The introduction of headgear in amateur boxing has reduced the severity of head injuries, but it can also give a boxer an increased sense of invulnerability, and therefore encourage boxers to hit harder or defend their heads less.
B. Sylvia Arada
The sport of aero modelling has suggested that performance enhancements to the planes’ design and controls would reduce the technical ability and knowledge required to perform complex manoeuvres. However, when technology is at the heart of the intrinsic appeal of a sport, this is surely difficult to substantiate. I also have my reservations about goal-line technology in football. Recently introduced to improve the judging of outcomes at the top levels of football, this is impractical to implement at all levels. Ironically, this generates another version of unfairness, whereby technology is only available at certain levels of the game only. No less contentious is the issue of protective headgear. When light, strong plastic helmets were brought in in American football, the number of head injuries decreased, but the severity of those that did occur actually rose, as if the new helmets indirectly encouraged potentially dangerous and aggressive tackles.
C. Barrington Wick
My university’s current work includes developing shuttlecocks that fly well in the open air, so that more people can access badminton by playing it outdoors. But I am much less positive about camera-aided technology brought in to help referees make the right decisions. In team sports like football, the role of the referee is intended to be based on the interpretation of rules, on personal discretion and instincts, and this is clearly undermined here. Football is also affected by safety technology. The super-light boots may cause less damage to opponents when contact is made in tackling, but have also reduced the protection available to players’ feet, thereby increasing significantly the number of metatarsal injuries. And with a favourite pastime of mine, innovations such as depth finders and sonar have increased fishing’s popularity but de-skilled the requirement of fish detection and landing. This led to ‘technologically designed handicaps’ by the sport’s governing body to ensure fair play, throwing the sport into confusion.
D. Kamla Pumbaide
With an increased social and cultural emphasis on promotion of health and prevention of injury and illness, innovations such as high-tech shock-absorbing soles in running shoes and release binding in alpine skiing have undoubtedly benefited professional users. But technology isn’t always favourable. It can deter the layman and favour the elite; and I would cite cycling, with its vast industry of gadgets and gizmos, as a case in point. And an issue of great interest to me is the theory of de-skilling which insinuates that a sport is made easier to undertake by the introduction of a technology or product. The Polara golf ball benefited lower-skilled players who had a greater tendency to make mistakes but not higher-skilled golfers who were already adept at making an accurate drive. It essentially de-skilled the game – and was, justifiably in my view, banned.
Which expert …
37 expresses a similar opinion to Arada on whether the use of technology designed to improve fairness in football is worthwhile?
38 expresses a different opinion from Pumbaide on the effect of innovative, performance-improving products on the skill needed by players?
39 expresses a different view from all the others on the effect of technical sportswear on safety in sport?
40 has a similar view to Benbow on whether or not technology is effective at encouraging public participation in sport?
CAE Reading and Use of English Part 7
You are going to read a magazine article by an explorer. Choose from the paragraphs A – G the one which fits each gap (41-46). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.
In search of the ice cave
Bill Colegrave sets out to find the source of Afghanistan’s Oxus River
In June 2007, together with companions Anthony and Dillon, and local guides Sheffi and Mirza, I set out to find the source of Afghanistan’s Oxus River in an ice cave where the five great mountain chains of Central Asia merge. On the eleventh day of our journey, we were walking along a steep river valley, when a glacier slowly emerged. According to our readings, the ice cave should have been 300 metres above us. We searched the glacier base, but it clearly petered out into bare rock, with no sign of a conjunction with the river. Not for the first time, I considered the possibility that the cave might not even be there anymore.
41 …
We felt a momentary twinge of disappointment that our target, the prize we had been dreaming of, should be so easily obtained. But the question of altitude still remained; surely we were still far too low? Indeed, the altimeter reading confirmed that we were.
42 …
What was more, the route ahead now looked difficult; there was no access to the south of the river, as the valley side was black, precipitous rock. The one apparently simple route was to go straight up the northwest bank. There seemed to be a plateau 100 metres above the valley, which we could use to approach the glacier from the north.
43 …
The expanse of glacial rock was fearsome. There were slippery boulders up to five metres high piled up everywhere and no obvious way through. Climbing over and around these became increasingly awkward. We were tired, irritable and in a hurry: a certain recipe for injury.
44 …
It took an hour to solve the problem, eventually using our own bodies to swing each other to the other side. The boulder clamber continued, but before long we lost sight of the glacier; the view was blocked by hills of loose rock the size of double-decker buses. Sheffi valiantly began cresting the first hill, and after a while turned towards us, waving enthusiastically, beckoning us to follow. Almost reluctantly, I set off again. The view ahead had been reduced to two remaining hills, with churning water below. Beyond that was a black ice wall, and then, finally, a revelation: a cave. Surely this, at last, was it!
45 …
Dillon, thank goodness, had other ideas, and set off down without a word. The rest of us soon followed. When I got to the river’s edge, it became clear that the bulk of the water wasn’t coming from the small black cave. Instead, hitherto hidden behind the rock was something bigger and much more impressive; something almost frightening.
46 …
Here was indeed exactly what I had secretly sought all along. This was the ice cave – the opening for the mountain, the way to its secrets. We were intruders in its private place, which had remained largely undisturbed for centuries.
A And as we neared the valley end, what had seemed to be an approach path refocused into jumbled layers of glacial rock. I realised it was naive to have imagined that the ice cave would relinquish its secrets so readily.
B What wasn’t clear, however, was whether, if we did that, we would then be met by further barriers, as yet invisible. It was now close to 4 pm – not really a good time to be attempting something of this uncertainty, and at this altitude.
C Even though we were still 40 or so metres above, I was happy to see it. But at that moment, I couldn’t imagine how I was going to make the extra effort of the climb there and back. I was using most of my energy just breathing.
D My idea of how a river should be born was that it should come fully formed, belching and bellowing from the very heart of the Roof of the World. But this was different.
E Putting such defeatist thoughts behind us, we pressed on, and then, directly in front of us, there emerged a larger glacier, where the valley ended abruptly. The ice cave had to be there at the base.
F It was a sheer white wall. At its base, a hole opened up, maybe ten metres wide and almost as high. And from it came not a stream or a trickle but a deep, wide gush, flowing as if from the belly of the mountain itself.
G Fortunately this didn’t happen, but then we ran into two streams rushing between the rocks. They were strong and cold, but not impassable. We contemplated trying to skirt them and cross higher up, but decided against this, as we didn’t know how far we would have to go.
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