EXAM PRACTICE
Reading and Use of English Part 2
For questions 1–8, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only one word in each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).
Antarctica
The first people known to have seen Antarctica (0) were hunters on ships in 1819. Two years later, Captain John Davis managed to land there, (1) ______ though the conditions were difficult and prevented him (2) ______ exploring very far. Other expeditions followed and by the late nineteenth century scientists had succeeded in mapping the coastline, in spite of the (3) ______ that Antarctica is almost entirely covered by a thick layer of ice (4) ______ stretches far beyond the edge of the land in places.
Something else attracted people to Antarctica (5) ______ from scientific research. This was the South Pole. Several attempts to reach it were made early in the twentieth century (6) ______ the first person to succeed was a Norwegian, Roald Amundsen, in 1911. Travelling with dogs (7) ______ pull the sledges carrying his party’s supplies, he arrived at the pole five weeks before a rival British group.
(8) ______ the terrible weather conditions, many nations now have scientific bases in Antarctica.
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GRAMMAR FOCUS
Grammar focus task
Without looking back at the text, match the beginnings and endings of these extracts.
Captain John Davis managed to land there, even though
Scientists had succeeded in mapping the coast of the continent, in spite of the fact that
Several attempts to reach it were made early in the twentieth century,
Travelling with dogs to pull the sledges carrying his party’s supplies,
Despite the terrible weather conditions,
A. Antarctica is almost entirely covered by a thick layer of ice.
B. the conditions were difficult and prevented him from exploring very far.
C. many nations now have scientific bases in Antarctica.
D. but the first person to succeed was the Norwegian Roald Amundsen.
E. he arrived at the pole five weeks before a rival British group.
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