CAE Reading and Use of English Part 7
You are going to read a magazine article by an explorer. Six paragraphs have been removed from the article. Six paragraphs have been removed from the article. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
For this task: Answers with explanations :: Vocabulary