cooldown229

12.12.2020 06:20 •  Английский язык

Read the text. In each question 1-5, choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.
Martin Webber could hardly believe where he was going as he sat in his aeroplane seat. It was a 28 hour journey into the Arctic Circle, so he had plenty of time to think. “I had no idea about what to expect, but going to Finland to drive and care for sled dogs was sure to be exciting stuff as opposed to an easygoing holiday. I just hoped I was up to the challenge.” Just out of secondary school, Martin was determined to get out of England and go somewhere completely off the map. His destination was a husky farm in Lapland, Finland. As the gap-year brochure had described, volunteers had to be prepared to face some physically demanding days in almost unbearable freezing temperatures for a minimum stay of 3 months. Although knowledge of training dogs was not necessary, it was emphasised that a certain degree of ease and self-assurance with the dogs was needed to do the job. Martin was certainly happy he had spent a summer at a survival camp learning valuable skills that he was sure would help make his experience a lot easier. After Martin’s long journey and a brief adjustment period, he soon got in to the routine of starting each day at 5am to feed and care for 93 Siberian husky dogs. This involved preparing huge buckets of food the night before and sharing it equally among all the hungry barking huskies. Feeding so many dogs did take a while, even with several other volunteers helping out. Once this was done, the next task was to prepare the sleighs for the client’s safari excursions and pick the teams of dogs that would pull them. Deciding which dogs to put together was harder than it sounded, but fortunately for Martin, he was only tasked with fetching the chosen dogs.
Martin’s accommodation was a small log cabin that he shared with 6 other people, but at least it was warm inside and located close to where he worked. However, the hardest part of the job certainly had to be enduring the extreme outdoor weather conditions and temperatures that were routinely 20-30 degrees below freezing!
During his free time Martin had the chance to take part in many different activities such as canoeing, hiking, skiing and even driving snowmobiles. Yet, there was one activity that he never got round to trying and that was ice-fishing on the frozen lake nearby. It wasn’t that he was afraid the ice would break or that it often took a great deal of patience to catch a fish, it was just that he would rather spend his time unwinding in the hot thermal springs that existed in the area.
Martin’s time volunteering on the husky farm passed quicker than he ever imagined it would. The skills that he had learned during the summer survival camp had certainly come in handy. It had been an exhausting several months but Martin didn’t want to leave. He had formed a close bond with the huskies and was definitely going to miss them. However, he knew he could look forward to telling his friends back home about all the amazing experiences he’d had. It had definitely been a holiday to remember!
1 While travelling to the Husky farm Martin felt
A he would have a relaxing holiday.
B he was ready for an adventure.
C unsure about what would
happen.
D regret about deciding to go so
far away.
2 Owners of the farm expect volunteers to
A remain at least one year.
B have previous experience with
dogs.
C be confident around dogs.
D to know survival skills.
3 From his experience Martin didn’t like
A feeding the dogs in the morning.
B training the dogs for the safaris.
C travelling to work in the
morning.
D working in severe weather.
4 Martin didn’t go ice fishing because
A he preferred to go snowmobiling.
B he was afraid of the ice breaking.
C he’s too impatient for such an
activity.
D he wanted to relax instead.
5 Just before his departure Martin felt
A sad about leaving the dogs.
B proud of what he learned on
the farm.
C exhausted and ready to leave.
D anxious about returning home.