TỔNG HỢP

GAPPED TEXT
PART 1
1

PEACH OF AN IDEA
At the end of the 1990s, three friends in their mid-20s, Adam Balon, Richard Reed and Jon Wright were
thinking of starting a business. They took £500 worth of fruit to a music festival in west London, made
a huge batch of smoothies – fruit drinks blended with milk and yoghurt – and asked their customers for
a verdict.
1: ______________
Looking back, they now admit that they were amazingly naïve, thinking it would just take off once they
had the recipes and packaging figured out. In fact, the three budding entrepreneurs had nine months
living on credit cards and overdrafts before they sold their first smoothie.
2: ______________
Only five years later, though, Innocent had become Britain's leading brand of smoothie, selling about
40% of the 50 million downed annually by British drinkers. Eight years after that, Innocent employed
250 staff, were selling over 200 million smoothies per week around the world, and a majority stake in
the company had been bought up by the international giant, Coca Cola. What was the recipe for this
startling success?
3: ______________
Innocent's refusal to compromise on this point presented them with some problems when they first
started talking to potential suppliers, Adam says. This was when they discovered the truth about the
majority of so-called natural fruit drinks.
4: ______________
'Naïvety', adds Richard, who is always ready with a soundbite, 'can be a great asset in business because
you challenge the status quo.' Although Innocent's drinks are fiendishly healthy, the company has always
been very careful not to preach. 'Everyone knows what they're supposed to do,' says Richard. 'But people
just don't, especially when they live in a city. We just thought, "Wouldn't it be great to make it easy to
get hold of this natural fresh goodness?" Then at least you've got one healthy habit in a world of bad
ones.'
5: ______________
'In essence,' explains Jon, 'we simply froze some of our smoothies and threw in a bit of egg to make it
all stick together.' To help testers make up their minds about which combinations worked, they dusted
off the old "yes" and "no" bins and put them out again. And once again their methods proved fruitful.
6: ______________
'We didn't rule it out completely,' says Richard. 'But the three of us have always gone away once every
three months to talk about what we want out of the business and we've always been in the same place.
So as long as we're excited and challenged and proud of the business, we're going to want to be a part
of it.'
2

A. Most are made from concentrated juice with water – and perhaps sweeteners, colours and
preservatives – added. 'We didn't even know about that when we started,' Adam explains. 'It was when
we started talking to people and they said, "OK, we'll use orange concentrate," and we said, "What's
concentrate?" and they explained it and we said, "No, we want orange juice."'
B. Probably something to do with pure, unadulterated ingredients with a dash of quirky advertising. As
one campaign put it, their drinks are not made from fruit, they are fruit.
C. 'We decided to keep it simple,' says Richard. We had a bin that said "yes" and a bin that said "no",
and at the end of the weekend the "yes" bin was full of empty bottles. We quit our jobs the next day.'
D. Their early years of success coincided with increasing consumer concerns about healthy eating, and
Innocent soon became worth a lot of money to potential buyers. Was there ever a temptation in those
early years to sell up and go and live on a desert island?
E. They also seem to have managed to stay friends, and the fact that each member of the team brings a
different and complementary set of skills to Innocent seems to have helped them avoid any big bust-
ups over strategy.
F. So, at another festival in 2004, the Innocent team tried extending their range of products into desserts.
'For us there was this problem of Sunday evenings, sitting down to watch a film with a big tub of ice
cream - it's nice to munch through it, but very bad for you,' Richard adds.
G. They found that the finances were the basic stumbling block. But they eventually had a lucky break
when Maurice Pinto, a wealthy American businessman, decided to invest in them. In total, it took 15
months from the initial idea to taking the product to market.
3

MIND YOUR LANGUAGES

Thousands of the world's languages are dying, taking to the grave not just words but records of
civilisations and cultures that we may never fully know or understand. Linguists have calculated that of
the 6,000 languages currently spoken worldwide most will disappear over the next 100 years. As many
as 1,000 languages have died in the past 400 years. Conversely, the handful of major international
languages are forging ahead.
1: ______________
But the vast majority of the world never had need of phrases in Heiltsuk, a Native Indian language from
British Columbia in Canada, which is now dead. Nor will most people be interested in learning any of
the 800 languages spoken on the island of Papua New Guinea, many of which are threatened. Frederik
Kortlandt, from Leiden University in Holland, is one of several linguists around the world who are
determined to document as many of the world's remaining endangered languages as possible.
2: ______________
Periodically, linguists and other interested parties meet to discuss their work. One such conference held
in Nepal focused on the issue of how to save some Himalayan languages spoken by just a handful of
people. A great number of languages in the greater Himalayan region are endangered or have already
reached the point of no return.
3: ______________
The trouble is, such materials often do not exist. Kortlandt knows a language is disappearing when the
younger generation does not use it any more. When a language is spoken by fewer than 40 people, he
calculates that it will die out. Occasionally, however, researchers get lucky. Kamassian, a language from
the Upper Yenisey region of Russia, was supposed to have died out, until two old women who still
spoke it turned up at a conference in Tallinn, Estonia in the early 1970s.
4: ______________
'Would you ask this to a biologist looking for disappearing species?' Kortlandt asks. 'Why should
languages, the mouthpiece of threatened cultures, be less interesting than unknown species? Language
is the defining characteristic of the human species. These people say things to each other which are very
different from the things we say, and think very different thoughts, which are often incomprehensible
to us.'
5: ______________
Take, for example, the vast potential for modern medicine that lies within tropical rainforests. For
centuries, forest tribes have known about the healing properties of certain plants, but it is only recently
that the outside world has discovered that the rainforests hold potential cures for some of the world's
major diseases. All this knowledge could be lost if the tribes and their languages die out without being
documented.
6: ______________
We will only be able to find them and benefit from their properties through one or more of the 300
languages and dialects spoken on the islands. If the languages die, so too will the medicinal knowledge
of naturally occurring tonics, rubs and potions. Science could be left wondering what we might have
found.
4

A. This is one of the things worrying linguists working in Fiji in the South Pacific. There are hundreds
of known remedies in Fiji's forests. The guava leaf relieves diarrhoea, the udi tree eases sore throats,
and hibiscus leaf tea is used by expectant mothers. There are possibly several more yet to be discovered.
B. 'I accept this,' says Kortlandt, 'but at the very least, we can record as much as we can of these
endangered languages before they die out altogether. Such an undertaking naturally requires support
from international organisations.' But what progress is being made in this respect?
C. Kortlandt elaborates further: 'If you want to understand the human species, you have to take the full
range of human thought into consideration. The disappearance of a language means the disappearance
of a culture. It is not only words that disappear, but also knowledge about many things.'
D. To non-linguists, while particular stories like this can be fascinating, it must seem odd to get worked
up about the broader issue. Why waste so much time saving languages spoken by so few? Why look
back instead of forward?
E. For example, Chinese is now spoken by 1,000 million people and English by 350 million. Spanish
is spoken by 250 million people and growing fast.
F. 'There are about 200 languages spoken in this area, but only a few have been properly described,'
says Kortlandt. The problem is it can take years to document a language. 'We are generally happy when
we have a group of texts we can read and understand with the help of a reliable grammar and dictionary.'
G. This often means trekking to some of the most inaccessible parts of the Earth and can require
consummate diplomacy in dealing with remote tribes, some of which may be meeting outsiders for the
first time and may be wary of strangers asking for so much information about their language.
5

WIND-LASHED WORKERS WHO BATTLE THE ATLANTIC IN WINTER

Even at this stormy time of year in Britain there are thousands of oil workers and fishermen offshore,
as well as a scattering of seafarers manning the container ships and tankers that bring us almost
everything we need. So it was that in the depths of bitter winter, hoping to learn what modern sailors’
lives are like, I joined the Maersk Pembroke, a container freighter, on her regular run from Europe to
Montreal. She looked so dreadful when I found her in Antwerp that I hoped I had the wrong ship.
1: ______________
Trade between Europe and North America is a footnote to the great west-east and north-south runs:
companies leave it to older vessels. Pembroke is battered and rusty, reeking of diesel and fishy
chemicals. She is noisy, her bridge and stairwells patrolled by whistling drafts which rise to howls at
sea. Her paintwork is wretched. The Atlantic has stripped her bow back to a rusted steel snarl.
2: ______________
It felt like a desperate enterprise on a winter night, as the tide raced us down the Scheldt estuary and
spat us out into the North Sea. According to the weather satellites, the Atlantic was storms from coast
to coast, two systems meeting in the middle of our course. On the far side, ice awaited. We were behind
schedule, the captain desperate for speed. “Six-metre waves are OK; any bigger you have to slow down
or you kill your ship” he said. “Maybe we’ll be lucky!”
3: ______________
Soon enough, we were in the midst of those feared storms. A nightmare in darkness, a north Atlantic
storm is like a wild dream by day, a region of racing elements and livid colour, bursting turquoise foam,
violent sunlight, and darkening magenta waves. There is little you can do once committed except lash
everything down and enjoy what sleep you can before it becomes impossible. Pembroke is more than
200 m long and weighs more than 38,000 tons, but the swells threw her about like a tin toy.
4: ______________
When they hit us squarely, the whole ship reared, groaning and staggering, shuddered by shocking force.
We plunged and tottered for three days before there was a lull. But even then, an ordinary day involved
unpleasant jobs in extreme conditions. I joined a welding party that descended to the hold: a dripping,
tilting cathedral composed of vast tanks of toxins and organophosphates, where a rusted hatch cover
defied a cheap grinder blade in a fountain of sparks. As we continued west, the wind thickened with
sleet, then snow as the next storm arrived.
5: ______________
All was well in that regard and, after the storms, we were relieved to enter the St Lawrence River. The
ice was not thick enough to hinder us; we passed Quebec City in a glittering blue dawn and made
Montreal after sunset, its downtown towers rising out of the tundra night. Huge trucks came for our
containers.
6: ______________
But without them and their combined defiance of the elements there could be nothing like what we call
‘life’ at all. Seafarers are not sentimental, but some are quite romantic. They would like to think we
thought of them, particularly when the forecast says storms at sea.
6

A. Others felt the same. We were ‘the only idiots out here’, as several men remarked. We felt our
isolation like vulnerability; proof that we had chosen obscure, quixotic lives.
В. Going out on deck in such conditions tempted death. Nevertheless, the ship’s electrician climbed a
ladder out there every four hours to check that the milk, cheese and well-travelled Argentine beef we
carried were still frozen in refrigerated containers.
C. But it does not take long to develop affection for a ship, even the Pembroke — the time it takes her
to carry you beyond swimming distance from land, in fact. When I learnt what was waiting for us mid-
ocean I became her ardent fan, despite all those deficiencies.
D. There were Dutch bulbs, seaweed fertilizer from Tanzania, Iranian dates for Colombia, Sri Lankan
tea bags, Polish glue, Hungarian tyres, Indian seeds, and much besides. The sailors are not told what
they carry. They just keep the ships going.
E. Hoping so, we slipped down the Channel in darkness, with the Dover coastguard wishing us, “Good
watch, and a safe passage to your destination.” The following evening we left the light of Bishop Rock
on the Scilly Isles behind. “When we see that again we know we’re home” said the second mate.
F. Huge black monsters marched at us out of the north-west, striped with white streaks of foam running
out of the wind’s mouth. The ocean moved in all directions at once and the waves became enormous,
charging giants of liquid emerald, each demanding its own reckoning.
G. That feeling must have been obvious to the Captain. “She’s been all over the world”, proud Captain
Koop, a grey-bristled Dutchman, as quick and confident as a Master Mariner must be, told me. “She
was designed for the South Pacific” he said, wistfully.
7

AN EXHIBITION OF WORKS BY THE ARTIST JOHN CRAXTON

‘A World of Private Mystery: John Craxton RA’ at the Fitzwilliam Museum is a small show, but it does
full justice to an artist whose career is divided into two parts: the years before and during the Second
World War, and the work he did afterwards, when for long periods he lived outside England.
It begins with his small-scale landscapes in pen and ink, pastel, gouache and watercolour. His subject
is arcadia, but a distinctly English one in which poets and shepherds sleep and dream amid blasted
landscapes under darkening skies. Suffused with longing and foreboding, these works reflect the reality
of living in a rain-sodden country under constant threat of foreign invasion.
1: ______________
Most of the early work is monochrome. In many landscapes, writhing branches and gnarled tree trunks
fill our field of vision. Beneath the surface of the self-consciously ‘poetic’ motifs, the country he shows
in these pictures feels claustrophobic and joyless.
2: ______________
As this exhibition makes clear, by the age of 25 Craxton’s artistic identity had matured. With his style,
subject matter and working method all fully formed, it is hard to imagine how he would have developed
had he remained in England after the war.
3: ______________
On his first visit to Greece in 1946, Craxton was swept away by the light, colour, landscape, food and
people. The dark cloud that hung over the work he did in England lifts and overnight his palette changes
to clear blue, green and white.
4: ______________
Goats, fish, cats or a frieze of sailors dancing on the edge of the sea: in the Greek paintings beautiful
creatures move naturally across bare rocks and blue waters. The compressed joy you find in these
pictures doesn’t exist elsewhere in British post-war art. With a few interruptions, Craxton would spend
the rest of his life in Crete.
5: ______________
But if there is little exploration or discovery in Craxton’s later work, you find instead a sense of fullness
and completion, a feeling that in accepting his limitations, he remained true to himself. As he once said,
it can work best in an atmosphere where life is considered more important than art; then I find it’s
possible to feel a real person – real people, real elements, real windows – real sun above all. In a life of
reality, my imagination really works. I feel like an émigré in London and squashed flat.’
6: ______________
It’s most noticeable in the works on canvas, especially in formal portraits like his 1946 ‘Girl with a
Cock’ and it’s there too in the faceted geometric planes of Greek landscapes like his panoramic view of
Hydra of 1960-61.
Craxton wasn’t an artist of the first rank but he was inimitable. This show is just the right scale and it
comes with a beautifully illustrated book about his life and work.
8

A. It comes across this way even when he uses strong colour, as in one sunlit landscape in particular,
where the yellow is harsh and the red murky. It’s as though he’s painting something he’d heard about
but never actually seen: sunlight.
В. It was not only London that oppressed his spirit, I think, but the overwhelming power of the new art
being made in Paris by Picasso, Miro and Leger. In assessing Craxton’s work, you have to accept his
debt to these artists, and particularly Picasso.
C. And though he would paint large scale murals and design stage sets and tapestries, neither his subject
matter nor his style changed in any fundamental way during that period. It may sound harsh, but when
he decided to live there permanently, he elected to write himself out of the history of art.
D. Indeed, I well remember how I’d step into a large gallery, hung floor to ceiling with paintings, and
out of the visual cacophony a single picture would leap off the wall. It was always by John Craxton.
E. My guess is he’d have responded blindly to market forces and critical pressure to do new things.
What he needed was to develop at his own pace – even if at times that meant standing still. But to do
that he had to leave the country.
F. They do so through tightly hatched lines and expressive distortion which ratchet up the emotional
intensity, as in his illustrations for an anthology of poetry. In these, a single male figure waits and
watches in a dark wood by moonlight.
G. Gone are his melancholy self-portraits in the guise of a shepherd or poet – and in their place we find
real shepherds (or rather goat-herd) tending living animals. Now Craxton is painting a world outside
himself, not one that existed largely in his imagination.
9

INTRODUCING CHORAL MUSIC TO CHILDREN IS LIKE

OPENING A DOOR TO A MAGICAL WORLD
Here’s an important question. What’s calming, therapeutic, healthier than drugs, and could well prolong
your life? Answer: singing in a choir.
1: ______________
In fairness, there was a specific angle to this study, which compared the collective experience of choral
singing to that of taking part in team sports. Choirs apparently win hands down, because there is ‘a
stronger sense of being part of a meaningful group’, related to ‘the synchronicity of moving and
breathing with other people’. And as someone who since childhood has used singing as a refuge from
the sports field, I take no issue with that.
2: ______________
I know there are occasional initiatives. From time to time I get invited as a music critic to the launch of
some scheme or other to encourage more collective singing among school-age children. There are
smiles and brave words. Then, six months later, everything goes quiet – until the next launch of the next
initiative.
3: ______________
I know a woman who’s been trying hard to organize a performance of Benjamin Britten’s Noye’s Fludde
– perhaps the greatest work ever devised for young children to sing together – as a tribute to the
composer’s centenary this year. But has she found her local schools responsive? Sadly not: it was all
too much trouble.
4: ______________
We sang Herbert Howells’s Like as the Hart. And whatever it did or didn’t do for my cardiovascular
system, my emotional health, or any of the other things that turn up in research papers, it was the most
significant experience of my childhood. It opened a world to which 11-year-olds from unfashionable
parts of east London don’t generally get access. It was magical, transcendent. It spoke possibilities.
5: ______________
The other weekend I was in Suffolk, celebrating Britten, where in fact there were a lot of children
privileged enough to be pulled into the centenary events. There was a great Noye’s Fludde in Lowestoft.
And on the actual birthday countless hordes of infant voices piled into Snape Maltings to sing Britten’s
school songs, Friday Afternoons, part of a project that involved 100,000 others, internationally, doing
likewise.
6: ______________
Just think: if we could finally get Britain’s children singing, it would filter upwards. And we wouldn’t
need university researchers. We’d just do it, and be all the better for it.
10

A. It was an extraordinary experience that many of those children will carry with them all their lives,
like my experience all those years ago. There is a plan for it to be repeated every year on Britten’s
birthday. But that will only happen if there are resources and sustained commitment (for a change).
В. In fact, I have no argument with any of these piles of research – bring them on, the more the better –
because what they have to say is true. The only thing I find annoying is that such an endlessly repeated
truth results in relatively little action from the kind of people who could put it to good use.
C. One of my enduring life regrets is that I never got the chance to take part in such an event as a child.
I guess I went to schools where it was also too much trouble. But I did, just once, aged 11, get the chance
to go with a choir and sing at Chelmsford Cathedral.
D. But being there was even better. And as I was sitting near the choir – who were magnificent – I saw
the faces of the boys and thought how fabulously privileged they were to have this opportunity given
to them.
E. And that, for me, is what a choir can offer. All the physical and mental pulses are a happy bonus. But
the joy and thrill of access to that world of music is what counts.
F. It’s not a new discovery: there are endless dissertations on the subject, libraries of research, and
celebrity endorsements. But people have short memories. So every time another academic paper is
published, it gets into the news – which was what happened this week when Oxford Brookes University
came up with the latest ‘singing is good for you’ revelation.
G. The hard fact is that most state schools don’t bother much with singing, unless someone in the
hierarchies of government steps in to make it worth their while. They say they don’t have the resources
or the time. And even when a worthwhile singing project drops into their lap, they turn it down.
11

HOW I BECAME A BRITISH ASTRONAUT

May 18, 2009 was a sunny evening – a night that I have good cause to remember. I had recently retired
from the Army Air Corps after an extremely rewarding career of nearly 18 years as a helicopter pilot
and the future looked good – I’d been fortunate to secure a dream job working as a senior test pilot for
a private firm. I had also just completed a year-long selection process for the European Astronaut Corps
– an incredible experience that had opened my eyes to the world of human spaceflight.
1: ______________
A privately funded multi-million dollar seat as a ‘spaceflight participant’ was unattainable for most.
And opportunities such as the commercially sponsored Project Juno, which launched the first Briton,
Helen Sharman, into space in 1989, were extremely rare.
2: ______________
This was designed to identify natural ability in various cognitive skills. In reality, this meant around
eight hours of individual computer-based exercises, becoming progressively harder and with only short
breaks in between. Skills such as memory retention, concentration, spatial awareness and coordination
were evaluated, alongside psychological questionnaires that were to become the benchmark of this
selection process – hundreds of repetitive questions, aimed at ensuring consistency of answers over a
long duration.
3: ______________
Historically, around 50 per cent of candidates fail the exacting medical requirements. Although good
physical fitness is a strong attribute, the medical selection was not looking for potential Olympians.
Instead, it was intended to select those individuals who pose the least risk of having a medical
occurrence during their career. Space is no place to become ill.
4: ______________
As it happens, the medical selection caused exactly 50 per cent attrition, with failure to meet
cardiovascular and eyesight requirements being the two main causes. Having endured the most gruelling
week of my life, I was delighted to be among the 22 remaining candidates.
5: ______________
The remainder of the selection process consisted of formal interviews, culminating in the final 10 being
invited to meet ESA’s Director General, Jean Jacques Dordain. That was one month before that sunny
evening in 2009, and I wondered who the lucky few would be. I suspected that I would not be one of
them: an ESA press release had already announced that the new candidates would be presented at ESA
headquarters in Paris on Wednesday. It was Monday night, I had not been contacted and time was getting
tight.
6: ______________
This was a decision that would affect not just me but also my family. Thankfully, there was no time to
dwell – I had to book a flight to Paris for the following day.
12

A. It was also good to find that there were five British people in the group. Considering that, at the time,
the UK was still in the shadow of a historical government policy not to participate in human spaceflight,
it was encouraging to see the high level of interest regarding this astronaut selection.
В. Other skills include being trained to perform spacewalks for external science and maintenance tasks
and to manipulate the robotic arm in order to capture and berth visiting resupply vehicles. Then there is
the medical training, communications skills training, emergency training – the list goes on.
C. So when the phone rang and I was offered an opportunity to join the European Astronaut Corps,
there was what can only be described as a wild mix of emotions – elation, excitement, shock and
trepidation, due to an overwhelming realization that I was about to take my first steps down one of life’s
major forks in the road.
D. It was interesting to meet the other candidates from all over Europe and to acknowledge the plethora
of diverse career paths that had led us to this common goal. While it is fair to say that the best chances
of success are to have a solid foundation in the core sciences or experience as a pilot, there really is no
single route to becoming an astronaut – it has more to do with being passionate about what you do and
being as good as you can be.
E. Yet that situation changed when the European Space Agency (ESA) announced a selection for a new
class of astronauts in 2008, and UK citizens were eligible to apply. My application joined the pile of
nearly 10,000 others, and soon there followed an invitation to Hamburg to begin the testing process.
F. During the previous five years working as a military test pilot, I had become much more involved in
the space sector – aviation and space are intrinsically linked and share many similar technologies.
However, I had not seriously contemplated a career as an astronaut, since the options to do so were
extremely limited.
G. Although the Soyuz spacecraft offers an emergency return to Earth in less than 12 hours from the
International Space Station, this is an absolute last resort. Also, it is not available once a spacecraft has
reached out beyond low Earth orbit.
13

SCOTT AND BAILEY

On Silver Street in Bury, Manchester, an old Barclays Bank building has been turned into the
headquarters of the Major Incident Team of the Manchester Metropolitan Police. They don’t actually
exist, the Manchester Metropolitan Police, but you would never know that if you looked around the
building.
1: ______________
This rigorous authenticity is one of the things that makes Scott and Bailey different from other police
dramas and extends further than office ephemera. This is largely down to the involvement of Di Taylor,
a retired CID detective inspector and co-creator of the series. And it helped it attract an audience of 9.4
million viewers last year.
2: ______________
It’s clever and it’s funny: Wainwright has a remarkable way of creating sprightly dialogue. The plots
are convincing and the characters are credible: it’s particularly good on the way women relate to each
other. There is the friendship between two female detectives and the more complicated friendship
between Scott and Murray, who is her contemporary and long-standing friend but also her boss.
3: ______________
The original idea belonged to Suranne Jonesand actress friend Sally Lindsay. It was given to Wainwright
to write. Wainwright had met Di Taylor through a mutual friend and wanted to take the female heroes
out of the regular police and put them onto the major incident team (MIT), ‘which is much more
interesting than burglaries and car theft’.
4: ______________
‘I find them very masculine and there’s little that entertains me.’ Wainwright is particularly bored with
the stereotype of the lone male detective who is brilliant but troubled. ‘I like to take people into dark
areas but I also like to make them laugh. Di is a born detective but she has a robust personality and she’s
deeply human as well. And very funny. I wanted to reflect that in the series.’
5: ______________
‘When I got talking to her, the penny began to drop,’ the actress says. ‘The Detective Chief Inspector I
play is a brilliantly shifting character, which is really good going on TV. She’s imperious, funny, larky,
annoying, beady, entertaining – it’s very unusual to get so many flavours.’
6: ______________
This is indicative of the feedback Scott and Bailey has received. Taylor says, ‘I’ve had people phoning
me whom I haven’t spoken to for years – people who’ve been really high up on murder cases, who
absolutely love it. The police all talk about it on their shifts the next day, which to me is the biggest
compliment anyone could pay.’
14

A. Why is it so popular? Well, the thing that resonates most strongly with its actors, creators and critics
is the script. Written by the acclaimed Sally Wainwright, the series concerns two female detective
constables, Janet Scott (Lesley Sharp) and Rachel Bailey (Suranne Jones), their DCI, Gill Murray
(Amelia Bullmore), their intriguing personal lives and quite a lot of gruesome murder.
В. The director of this episode is Morag Fullarton. He is aware of striking a balance between what is
authentic and interesting and what is authentic and dull. ‘Are we going to do what is procedurally correct
and will be boring, or are we going to dispense with that and make it more interesting for the viewer?’
C. As well as creating very believable people, authenticity is achieved in other ways, too. For one
episode they were allowed to shoot in a real prison. ‘I’ve been refused access there before, for another
programme,’ the location's manager says, ‘but the lady from the prison service loves Scott and Bailey
because it’s very true to life.’
D. Rachel Bailey is bright but rather chaotic, an instinctive detective who takes risks, both personally
and professionally; Janet Scott is her older colleague, with two daughters, a husband she’s bored with
and a colleague who’s in love with her. There’s a lot of chat and some very serious issues discussed in
the cafeteria. Alongside that are the crimes. This is television drama at its best: fresh and intriguing and
very compelling.
E. Posters urging the report of domestic abuse adorn the walls of the reception area and in the detectives’
office there is a scruffy, studenty atmosphere – jars of Coffee-mate on top of the fridge, Pot Noodles
and a notice urging ‘Brew fund due. You know who you are – pay up!’ The desks are strewn with cold
and flu medicine; the walls of the DCI’s office are hung with framed certificates.
F. So Wainwright created Gill Murray. When Amanda Bullmore was cast in the role, she had no idea
that her character was based on a real person. She read the script and then went up to Manchester to
meet Wainwright, who said, ‘We’re taking you out to dinner to meet Di who’s been very instrumental
in all this – just sit next to her and soak it all up.’
G. Talking to Taylor made Wainwright realise that she could write a cop show that was exciting and
different. Wainwright is not a fan of most police dramas. She doesn’t even like The Wire.
15

DO FLEETING CHANGES OF FACIAL EXPRESSION

SHOW WHETHER SOMEONE IS TELLING LIES?
Forty years ago, research psychologist Dr Paul Ekman was addressing a group of young psychiatrists
in training when he was asked a question whose answer has kept him busy pretty much ever since.
Suppose you are working in a psychiatric hospital like this one and a patient who has previously been
aggressive comes to you. ‘I’m feeling much better now,’ the patient says. ‘Can I have a pass out for the
weekend?’
1: ______________
It set Ekman thinking. As part of his research, he had already recorded a series of twelve-minute
interviews with patients at the hospital. In a subsequent conversation, one of the patients told him that
she had lied to him. So Ekman sat and looked at the film. Nothing. He slowed it down and looked again.
Slowed it further. And suddenly, there, across just two frames, he saw it: a vivid, intense expression of
extreme anguish.
2: ______________
Over the course of the next four decades, Ekman successfully demonstrated a proposition first suggested
by Charles Darwin: that the ways in which we express anger, disgust, contempt, fear, surprise, happiness
and sadness are both innate and universal.
3: ______________
However, particularly when we are lying, ‘micro expressions’ of powerfully felt emotions will
invariably flit across our faces before we get a chance to stop them. Fortunately for liars, as many as
ninety-nine percent of people will fail to spot these fleeting signals of inner torment. But given a bit of
training, Ekman says, almost anyone can develop the skill.
4: ______________
The psychologist’s techniques, he concedes, can only be a starting point for criminal investigators
applying them. ‘All they show is that someone’s lying,’ he says. ‘You have to question very carefully
because what you really want to know is why they are lying. No expression of emotion, micro or macro,
reveals exactly what is triggering it.’ He gives an example.
5: ______________
Plus there are lies and lies. Ekman defines a lie as being a deliberate choice and intent to mislead, and
with no notification that this is what is occurring. ‘An actor or a poker player isn’t a liar,’ he says.
‘They’re supposed to be deceiving you – it’s part of the game. I focus on serious lies: where the
consequences for the liar are grave if they’re found out.’
6: ______________
Just read micro expressions and subtle expressions correctly, however, and Ekman reckons your
accuracy in detecting an attempt at deception will increase dramatically. However, when it comes to
spotting really serious lies – those that could, for example, affect national security – he says simply that
he ‘does not believe we have solid evidence that anything else works better than chance.’ Is he lying? I
couldn’t tell.
16

A. But once he had spotted the first one, he soon found three more examples in that same interview.
‘And that,’ says Ekman, ‘was the discovery of microexpressions; very fast, intense expressions of
concealed emotion.’
В. Ekman, incidentally, professes to be ‘a terrible liar’ and observes that although some people are
plainly more accomplished liars than others, he cannot teach anyone how to lie. ‘The ability to detect a
lie and the ability to lie successfully are completely unrelated,’ he says. But how can what he has learned
help crime-solving?
C. But how reliable are Ekman’s methods? ‘Microexpressions,’ he says, ‘are only part of a whole set of
possible deception indicators. There are also what we call subtle expressions. A very slight tightening
of the lips, for example, is the most reliable sign of anger. You need to study a person’s whole
demeanour: gesture, voice, posture, gaze and also, of course, the words themselves.’
D. You also know, of course, that psychiatric patients routinely make such claims and that
some, if they are granted temporary leave, will cause harm to themselves or others. But this particular
patient swears they are telling the truth. They look, and sound, sincere. So here’s the question; is there
any way you can be sure they are telling the truth?
E. Generally, though, the lies that interest Ekman are those in which ‘the threat of loss or punishment
to the liar is severe: loss of job, loss of reputation, loss of spouse, loss of freedom’. Also those where
the target would feel properly aggrieved if they knew.
F. ‘Suppose,’ Ekman posits, ‘my wife has been found murdered in our hotel. How would I react when
the police questioned me? My demeanour might well be consistent with a concealed emotion. That
could be because I was guilty or because I was extremely angry at being a suspect, yet frightened of
showing anger because I knew it might make the police think I was guilty.’
G. The facial muscles triggered by those seven basic emotions are, he has shown, essentially the same,
regardless of language and culture, from the US to Japan, Brazil to Papua New Guinea. What is more,
expressions of emotion are involuntary; they are almost impossible to suppress or conceal. We can try,
of course.
17

WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY
Retail street theatre was all the rage in the 1920s. ‘Audiences’ would throng the pavement outside
Selfridge’s store in London just to gawp at the display beyond acres of plate glass. As a show, it made
any production of Chekhov seem action-packed by comparison. Yet Gordon Selfridge, who came to
these shores from the US and opened on Oxford Street exactly 100 years ago, was at the cutting edge
of what Dr Rebecca Scragg from the history of art department at Warwick University calls ‘a mini-
revolution’ in the art of window dressing.
1: ______________
“As Britain struggled to regain economic stability after the war, the importance of the new mass
commerce to the country’s recovery was recognised,” says Rebecca. “Finally understood was the need
to use the display windows to full advantage as an advertising medium to attract trade. The new style
of window dressing that came into its own after the armistice took inspiration from the theatre and the
fine and decorative arts. It involved flamboyant design and drew huge crowds.”
2: ______________
In the course of her research, Scragg spent some time in the British Library studying the growing
number of trade journals that sprang up between 1921 and 1924 to meet the market made up from this
new breed of professional. “I saw a picture in one of them of the Annual General Meeting of the British
Association of Display Men,” she says, “and there were only two women there”. The 1920s saw a big
growth in major department stores in the main cities and they would all have had a budget for window
dressing.
3: ______________
An elegant mannequin is positioned at the centre of a huge garland, sporting an off-the-shoulder number
and an enormous headdress that might have been worn by an empress in ancient Egypt. At her feet are
swathes of ruffled material and positioned around her any number of adornments.
4: ______________
Over eighty years on, and the economy is once again in recession. Retailers complain about falling
sales. But are they doing enough to seduce the passing customer? Scragg thinks not. “There are many
high street chains and independent shops whose windows are, by the standards of the 1920s,
unimaginative,” she maintains. “They’re passed over for more profitable but often less aesthetically
pleasing forms of advertising, such as the Internet.”
5: ______________
“I’m not making any claims that this is great or fine art” Scragg says. “My interest is in Britain finding
new ways of creating visual expression.” Scragg is about to submit a paper on her research into the
aesthetics of window dressing to one of the leading journals in her field.
6: ______________
So, although retail theatre may have been in its infancy, retail as leisure or therapy for a mass market
was still a long way in the future.
18

A. Some of the photographic evidence unearthed by Scragg after her trawl through the trade journals is
quite spectacular. One EJ Labussier, an employee of Selfridge’s, won the Drapers Record trophy for his
imaginative use of organdie, a slightly stiff fabric that was particularly popular with the dressmakers of
the day.
В. “Selfridge’s remains an exception,” she concedes, “even if it’s difficult today to imagine the store
coming up with a spectacular Rococo setting to display something as mundane as a collection of white
handkerchiefs.” No doubt it brought sighs, even gasps, from those with their noses almost pressed up
against the window but could it really be taken too seriously?
C. Scragg describes herself as “a historian of art and visual culture with an interest in the reception of
art”. “This interest in window displays evolved from my PhD on British art in the 1920s,” she says. “I
started by looking at exhibitions in shops and that led on to the way that the shops themselves were
moving into new forms of design.”
D. One of the illustrations she will include is a 1920s photograph of a bus proceeding towards
Selfridge’s with an advertisement for ‘self-denial week’ on the side. For many of those in the crowds
on the pavement, self-denial was a given. They couldn’t afford to spend.
E. The big department store continues to uphold the tradition of presenting lavish and eye-catching
window displays today and uses the best artists and designers to create and dress them. Advances in
technology have meant that the displays grow ever more spectacular.
F. “He was trying to aestheticise retailing,” she explains. “The Brits were so far behind the Americans,
the French and the Germans in this respect that it was another decade before they fully realised its
importance.”
G. “There was always a great concern for symmetry and harmony,” Scragg observes. “And a whole
industry grew up around the stands and backdrops, the ironmongery and architecture, needed to display
these things.” The displays were extravagant and bold, taking a great deal of time and imagination to
perfect. The glamour attracted attention and lifted people’s spirits at a difficult time.
19

HOW THE INTERNET IS ALTERING YOUR MIND

Like most newspapers’ content, what you are about to read was written using a computer connected to
the Internet. Obviously, this had no end of benefits, mostly pertaining to the relative ease of my research
and the simplicity of contacting the people whose thoughts and opinions you are about to read.
1: ______________
It often feels as if all this frantic activity creates a constant state of twitchy anxiety. Moreover, having
read a hotly controversial book about the effect of digital media on the human mind, I may have very
good reason to feel scared. Its thesis is simple enough: not only that the modern world’s relentless
informational overload is killing our capacity for reflection, contemplation and patience but that our
online habits are also altering the very structure of our brains.
2: ______________
The writer then argues that the Internet’s ‘cacophony of stimuli’ and ‘crazy quilt’ of information have
given rise to ‘cursory reading, hurried and distracted thinking, and superficial learning’ – in contrast to
the age of the book, when intelligent humans were encouraged to be contemplative and imaginative.
3: ______________
Dr Small, the director of the Memory and Ageing Research Centre at the University of California, Los
Angeles, is a specialist in the effects on the brain of the ageing process. ‘Even an old brain can be quite
malleable and responsive to what’s going on with technology,’ he tells me.
4: ______________
When I ask him how I might stop the Internet’s more malign effects on my own brain, he sounds slightly
more optimistic than Carr: ‘Try to balance online time with offline time,’ he tells me. ‘What’s happening
is, we’re losing the circadian rhythms we’re used to; you go to work, you come home, you spend time
talking with your kids.’
5: ______________
‘His argument privileges activities of the skimming and browsing kind. But if you look at research on
kids doing this, or exploring virtual worlds such as Second Life,the argument there is about immersion
and engagement.’
6: ______________
This all sounds both comforting and convincing, until I return to The Shallows and read a particularly
sobering sentence: ‘We are welcoming the frenziedness into our souls.’ There’s something chilling about
those words and even twenty stupid minutes on YouTube and an impulse buy from Amazon cannot quite
remove them from my brain.
20

A. But here is the really important thing. Carr writes: ‘If, knowing what we know today about the brain’s
plasticity, you were to set out to invent a medium that would rewire our mental circuits as quickly and
thoroughly as possible, you would probably end up designing something that looks and works a lot like
the Internet.’
В. The Shallows is a book by Nicholas Carr. It is an elegantly written cry of anguish about what one
admirer calls ‘the uneducating of Homo sapiens’ and a rewiring of neural pathways and networks that
may yet deprive the human race of the talents that, ironically enough, drove our journey from caves to
PC terminals.
C. ‘The point is, to play successfully, you have to pay an incredible amount of attention to what your
team-mates are doing, to the mechanics of the game. You can set up a thesis for The Depths, just as
much as The Shallows. And it seems to me that to say that some neural pathways are good and some
are bad – well, how can you possibly say that?’
D. ‘It’s a basic principle that the brain is very sensitive to any kind of stimulation. If you have repeated
stimuli, your neural circuits will be excited. But if you neglect other stimuli, other neural circuits will
be weakened.’ Carr argues that the online world so taxes the parts of the brain that deal with fleeting
and temporary stuff that deep thinking becomes increasingly impossible. As he sees it: ‘Our ability to
learn suffers and our understanding remains shallow.’
E. Among the people with walk-on roles in The Shallows is Scott Karp, the editor of a renowned
American digital media blog called Publish2, whose reading habits are held up as proof of the fact that
plenty of people’s brains have long since been rewired by their enthusiastic use of the Internet.
F. I get a more convincing antidote to the Carr thesis from Professor Andrew Burn of the University of
London’s Institute of Education. Equating the Internet with distraction and shallowness, he tells me, is
a fundamental mistake, possibly bound up with Carr’s age (he is fifty). ‘Is there anything in his book
about online role-playing games?’
G. But then there is the downside. The tool I use to write can also double as many other things. Thus,
while writing this, I was entertained by no end of distractions. I watched YouTube videos, bought
something on Amazon and at downright stupid hours of the day – 6 a.m. or almost midnight – I once
again checked my email on either my phone or computer.
21

JONAH LEHRER: THE PRODIGY WHO LIGHTS UP YOUR BRAIN

There is a moment familiar to anyone who has ever frittered away innocent hours watching old cartoons.
It occurs when Wile E Coyote, Elmer Fudd, Popeye or any of dozens of animated characters gets a
sudden moment of insight. With a flash, a light bulb appears above their heads, shining brightly to
illuminate the darkness of whatever dilemma they faced. Aha!
1: ______________
That little nugget of information – blending culture and science – is the essence of the remarkable rise
of Jonah Lehrer. He is a contributing editor at Wired, has published three books, is a prolific blogger
and counts publications from the Wall Street Journal to the Washington Post as home. The New York
Times has called him a ‘popular science prodigy’ and the Los Angeles Times once hailed him ‘an
important new thinker’.
2: ______________
Lehrer’s own ‘aha moment’ came while he worked in the laboratory of acclaimed neuropsychiatrist Eric
Kandel. As Lehrer helped in Kandel’s lab on a project to study the molecular links between smell and
memory, he was well on his way to one important discovery. ‘What I discovered was that I was a terrible
scientist,’ he later told one interviewer.
3: ______________
That was the end of Lehrer’s prospects as a scientist but the beginning of a writing career acting as an
interpreter between two worlds: the sciences and the humanities. After he graduated from Columbia in
2003, he became a Rhodes scholar, travelling to Oxford. He arrived with a plan to study science but
rapidly changed it to literature and theology.
4: ______________
There is no doubt Lehrer is very smart. He was born on 25 June 1981 in the Los Angeles neighbourhood
of Los Feliz. His father, David, is a civil rights lawyer and his mother, Ariella, developed educational
software. It was a happy, middle-class home under sunny Californian skies with parents that encouraged
their son’s manic curiosity.
5: ______________
Prompted by a baffling moment trying to pick out a box of Cheerios on an aisle crowded with scores of
different cereal brands, Lehrer looked at human decision-making. He took dramatic individual decisions
– a pilot landing a stricken plane, a Superbowl pass, a poker playing physicist – and looked at the
neurology behind them. He examined how different parts of the brain took on different decisions and
how that made an impact on the world.
6: ______________
Art and human emotions – all our failures, foibles and triumphs – may just be chemicals and firing
neurons but Lehrer’s words make them sing all the same.
22

A. That time was followed up by a third offering in the shape of Imagine, which looks at how neurology
and creativity interact. Far from showing how innovations come to one-off geniuses, he reveals how
solid science lies behind the creative process, which can be understood neurologically and thus nurtured.
В. But no matter. Lehrer had started reading Marcel Proust on his way to work; in particular, he became
engrossed with Proust’s explorations of how smell could trigger memory. Lehrer once described the
moment thus: “I realised that Proust and modern neuroscience shared a vision of how our memory
works.”
C. “I remember Mom patiently listening as I prattled on about my latest interests” Lehrer told me. An
interest in science was always there. He recalled stepping into a lab for the first time. “It seemed like a
magician’s lair” he said. He followed up on Proust by diving further into the borderland between
neurology and human experience in 2009’s How We Decide.
D. After shining at school, Lehrer went to Columbia, where he met his wife-to-be, Sarah Liebowitz, in
a Shakespeare class. She went with him to Britain, where she worked for the Boston Globe’s London
bureau. They have an eleven-month daughter called Rose and the family lives in the Hollywood Hills.
E. All of which is not bad for someone who is only thirty. Lehrer’s stock-in-trade is the boundary
between science and the humanities. He strives to link art and neurology: how chemical reactions within
three pounds of squidgy grey matter inside our skulls actually make us love, laugh and lead our lives.
F. He also ended up living in London. It was here he began to work on his first book, Proust was a
neuroscientist, which was published in 2007, and began a successful journalism career. Lehrer took a
look at numerous cultural figures and studied how their work foreshadowed the research of
neuroscience.
G. It is harmless fun. But, according to popular science wunderkind Jonah Lehrer, it is also literally
true. There is indeed a part of the brain associated with a sudden ‘aha moment’ of the type linked to key
breakthroughs of luminaries such as Isaac Newton and Archimedes. When you get a sudden insight, it
registers a huge spike in activity, just like that light bulb.
23

IS KIERON BRITAIN’S MOST EXCITING ARTIST?

Peter Stanford watches an amazing seven-year-old artist at work.
All the time we are talking, Kieron Williamson is busy sketching on the pad in front of him with quick,
fluid movements of his pencil. He is copying from a book of pen and ink illustrations by Edward Seago,
the twentieth-century British artist, before he adds touches of his own to the sketches.
1: ______________
Kieron is clearly caught up in what he is doing, his blonde head a study in concentration as he kneels
in the front room of his family home. But he’s not so distracted that he doesn’t sometimes look me in
the eye and put me right. ‘You’ve added a bit more detail here,’ I say, as he is reproducing Seago’s
sketch of an old man in an overcoat. ‘Seago’s’, I explain, ‘is lighter.’ ‘Not lighter,’ Kieron corrects me.
‘You call it looser. Loose and tight. They’re the words.’ Seven-year-olds don’t often give adults lessons
in the terminology of fine art.
2: ______________
Kieron actually can and does, and has been hailed as a ‘mini-Monet’, on account of his neo-
impressionist style, or the next Picasso. Recently, buyers from as far afield as South Africa and America
queued up outside his modest local art gallery – some of them camping out all night – to snap up 33
paintings in just 27 minutes, leaving Kieron? 150,000 better off. How did it feel? ‘Very nice,’ he replies
politely. ‘Did you talk to any of the buyers?’ ‘Yes, they kept asking me what else I do.’ And what did
you tell them? ‘That I go to school, that I play football for my school and that I am the best defender in
the team .’
3: ______________
His exhibition, the second to sell out so quickly – has brought him a lot of attention. Several American
TV networks have filmed him in the family flat already and today a camera crew is squeezed into the
front room with me, Kieron’s mum, Michelle, his younger sister, Billie-Jo and two sleeping cats.
4: ______________
“These are ones I did last night when I was watching the television with Billie-Jo,” he says, handing me
a sketchbook. It falls open on a vibrant fairground scene. Kieron finds the page in the Seago book that
inspired him. There is the same carousel, but he has added figures, buildings and trees in his drawing in
the sketchbook.
5: ______________
As accomplished as Kieron’s paintings are, part of their appeal is undoubtedly the story of precocious
talent that goes with them. If he’s doing similar work when he’s 28, it may prompt a different reaction.
6: ______________
But Kieron is having none of it. He looks up sharply from his sketching. “If I want to paint,” he says,
“I’ll paint.”
24

A. An example is his pastel Figures at Holkham, an accomplished composition with big blues skies, a
line of sand dunes framing to either side and two figures, one with a splash of red in the centre to draw
the eye in. There is such an adult quality to his work that you can’t help wondering if someone older
has been helping him.
В. Standard seven-year-old boy stuff there. Kieron, however, is being hailed as a child prodigy. ‘They
only come along once in a generation,’ artist Carol Pennington tells me later, as she explains how she
helped nurture this early-blooming talent, ‘and Kieron is that one.’
C. Michelle Williamson is aware of this. ‘I fully expect Kieron in a few years’ time to focus on
something else as closely as he is focusing on art right now,’ she says. ‘Football or motor racing. There
may well be a lot more ahead for him than art.’
D. Yet, in the centre of the melee, Kieron seems utterly oblivious and just gets on with what he does
every day, often rising at 6 a.m. to get on to paper a picture that is bursting to get out of his head. He
will be painting every day of the school holidays, relishing the freedom denied him during term time.
E. Each one takes him only a few minutes – horses, figures huddling in a tent, men and women in
unusual costumes. ‘I’m going to do this one, then this one, then this one,’ he tells me, ‘but not this one
– the eves aren’t looking at anyone – or this one – it’s too messy.’
F. This, it is clear, is no mechanical exercise in reproduction. To underline the point, Kieron takes it
back off me and adds a smudge of dark under one of the groups of people.
G. But then Kieron Williamson is not your average boy. Aside from his precocious articulacy, he is
single-handedly illustrating that familiar remark, made by many a parent when confronted with a prize-
winning work of modern art, that ‘my seven-year-old could do better than that’.
25

IMPOSSIBLE ROCK
On the northern coast of Oman, climbers test themselves against knife-edge cliffs
We’re standing on a pebble beach in northern Oman with a group of local men who are fishing. Behind
us rises a sheer 1,000-metre cliff that shimmers under a blistering midday sun. ‘Do you mind if I look
around?’ Alex asks. ‘You can do as you please’, says the elder. As Alex wanders off, we explain to the
Althouri fishermen that we’re professional rock climbers on an exploratory visit.
1: ______________
There are six of us in our team, including Alex, one of the best young climbers in the world. Suddenly
one of the men stops in his tracks, points up at the towering cliff, and starts shouting. A thousand feet
above us Alex is climbing, antlike, up the rock wall. The Althouris are beside themselves with a mix of
excitement and incredulity
2: ______________
In 28 years of climbing I’ve never seen rock formations as magical. In places the land rises straight
from the ocean in knife-edged fins. Proximity to the sea makes these cliffs perfect for deep-water
soloing, a specialized type of climbing in which you push up as far a wall as you can, then simply
tumble into the water. It sounds harmless enough, but an out-of-control fall can result in serious injury
or even death.
3: ______________
Wasting no time, Alex laces up his climbing shoes, dives from the boat, and swims to a cliff where the
ocean has carved out a cavern with a five-metre overhang. Within minutes he has reached the cavern’s
ceiling, where he finds a series of tiny hand holds along a protruding rib of dark grey limestone. It’s
exactly the kind of challenge he has been looking for, with every move more difficult than the one
before.
4: ______________
‘Come on!’ I scream, urging him to finish his new route. Alex lunges over the lip, but his legs swing
out, and he peels off the rock and leaps into the water. That night we anchor in the bay at the base of a
150-metre Gothic tower we dub the ‘sandcastle: Before joining Alex for the climb the next morning, I
suggest we take along safety gear. The young climber scoffs, saying that it’s nothing more than a hike.
I think of myself as a young 44-year-old, but trying to keep up with him makes me realise how old I’m
getting .
5: ______________
And now I’m slightly annoyed again about his disregard for whether I’m comfortable. The rock here is
badly shattered, what climbers call choss. Clinging to the dead-vertical wall, I test the integrity of each
hold by banging it with the heel of my hand. Sometimes the rock sounds hollow or even moves. Staring
down between my legs, I see the boat bobbing in the bay far beneath us. By the time I plop down on the
ledge beside him, my nerves are frazzled.
6: ______________
As I turn to my youthful partner for his thoughts, I see he’s already packed up. For him the moment of
wonder has passed. ‘Let’s go’, Alex says impatiently. ‘If we hurry, we can get on another climb before
dark’.
26

A. From there we sail toward the ‘Lion’s Mouth’, a narrow strait named for the fang-like red and orange
limestone pillars that jut from an overhang at its entrance. Alex spends the day working on a 60-metre
route up one of the pillars.
B. ‘What are they saying?’ I ask our translator. ‘It’s hard to explain’, he replies. ‘But essentially, they
think Alex is a witch’. I can understand why. Even for me, Alex’s skills are hard to grasp. But so is this
landscape.
C. The claw-like fingers of the Musandam Peninsula below glow orange with the setting sun. Looking
down at the tortuous shoreline, which fans out in every direction, we’re gazing at a lifetime’s worth of
climbing.
D. One of the other places we thought would be perfect for visiting by boat is As Salamah, an island in
the Strait of Hormuz. We arrive in the early afternoon and discover a giant rock rising from the sea.
Since there is nowhere to anchor, we drop the sails and use the engines to park the boat just offshore.
E. I’d already had a similar moment of awareness earlier in the trip when Alex had scampered up a 500-
metre wall with our rope in his pack. ‘Hold on a second!’ I yelled. What if the rest of us needed it?
‘Don’t worry’, he replied. ‘I’ll stop when I think we need to start using the ropes.
F. The men puff on the pipes and nod. The mountainous peninsula on which they live is an intricate
maze of bays and fjords. Few climbers have ever touched its sheer limestone cliffs. We had learned of
the area’s potential from some British climbers who visited ten years ago.
G. Some defy belief. Hanging upside down, holding on to bumps in the rock no bigger than matchboxes,
Alex hooks the heels of his sticky-soled shoes over a small protrusion. Defying gravity, he lets go with
one hand and snatches for the next hold. Then the rock becomes too slick for a heel hook so he dangles
his legs and swings like a chimpanzee from one tiny ledge to the next.
27

CITY OF HEAT
Escaped heat costs us money and affects our climate.
Chelsea Wald reports on a grand plan to capture it and put it to good use.
Deep in the tunnels of London’s underground railway, as in many around the world, it’s so hot it can
feel very uncomfortable. And yet in the basement of a building only a few metres away from the station
a boiler is firing to heat water for someone’s shower.
1: ______________
Recapturing it wouldn’t just benefit our wallets. It would reverse some of the damaging effects on the
climate. The good news is that several cities have found a way to hunt down their surplus heat in some
unexpected places. These cities are building systems that deliver heat in much the same way that
suppliers handle electricity and water. Could they point the way to the next energy revolution?
2: ______________
It was also estimated that given the right technologies, we could reclaim nearly half of that energy,
although that’s easier said than done. ‘We often talk about the quantity of waste heat’, says David
MacKay, chief scientific adviser to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change, ‘but not the
quality’. Most of what we think of as ‘waste heat’ isn’t actually all that hot; about sixty percent is below
230°C. While that may sound pretty hot, it is too cold to turn a turbine to generate electricity.
3: ______________
There, buildings tap into the system to warm their water supplies or air for central heating. Many
countries are encouraging such cogeneration, as it is called. A US initiative, for example, might save
the country $10 billion per year. And cogeneration allows power plants to bump up their efficiencies
from thirty percent to almost ninety percent.
4: ______________
As it happens, there is an existing technology that can siphon energy from such temperatures, although
applying it on a large scale to capture waste heat is as yet unachievable. Ground source heat pumps have
been helping homeowners save on heating bills since the 1940s, when US inventor Robert Webber
realised he could invert the refrigeration process to extract heat from the ground.
5: ______________
The mechanism for this is simple. A network of pipes makes a circuit between the inside of the dwelling
and a coil buried underground. These pipes contain a mix of water and fluid refrigerant. As the fluid
mixture travels through the pipes buried underground, it absorbs the heat from the 10°C soil.
6: ______________
This system is powerful enough to efficiently provide heat even in places as cold as Norway and Alaska.
It is also cheap. Scientists around the world are now working on the idea that the way ahead is to develop
city-wide grids using source-heat pumps to recycle waste on a grander scale, from sources such as
subways and sewers.
28

A. But that’s not all it can do. Reverse the process and it can cool a home in summer. If the ground is
cold enough, it simply absorbs the heat from inside the building instead of from the ground.
B. It’s an attractive proposition. A report in 2008 found that the energy lost as heat each year by US
industry equalled the annual energy use of five million citizens. Power generation is a major culprit; the
heat lost from that sector alone dwarfs the total energy use of Japan. The situation in other industrialised
countries is similar.
C. Yet even this is just a drop in the ocean compared with the heat lost from our homes, offices, road
vehicles and trains. However, waste heat from these myriad sources is much harder to harness than the
waste heat from single, concentrated sources like power plants. What’s more, it’s barely warm enough
to merit its name. Reclaiming that would be an altogether more difficult proposition.
D. A more successful way of using the heat is to move the heat directly to where it is needed. A number
of power plants now do exactly that. They capture some or all of their waste heat and send it – as steam
or hot water – through a network of pipes to nearby cities.
E. The system takes advantage of the fact that in temperate regions – regardless of surface temperature
– a few metres underground, the soil always remains lukewarm and stable. These pumps can tap into
that consistent temperature to heat a house in the winter.
F. While this is not what you might consider hot, it nonetheless causes the liquid to evaporate into a gas.
When this gas circulates back into the building, it is fed through a compressor, which vastly intensifies
the heat. That heat can then be used by a heat exchanger to warm up hot water or air ducts.
G. Rather than stewing in that excess heat, what if we could make it work for us? Throughout our energy
system – from electricity generation in power plants to powering a car – more than fifty percent of the
energy we use leaks into the surroundings.
29

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE WILD KIND

The rise of wildlife-watching experiences.
Wildlife observation has always proved inspirational for humans, it led Charles Darwin to provide us
with a better understanding of how we evolved and it has inspired such everyday innovations as Velcro.
US author Peter Matthiessen wrote: ‘The variety of life in nature can be compared to a vast library of
unread books, and the plundering of nature is comparable to the random discarding of whole volumes
without having opened them and learned from them’.
1: ______________
‘What is interesting is how much people are willing to pay to be in a wilderness environment’, says
Julian Matthews, director of Discovery Initiatives, a company which takes people on small-group trips
to more than 35 countries. It’s still a small part of the tourism industry but it’s undoubtedly expanding.
There are definitely more and more people seeking wildlife experiences now’.
2: ______________
Matthews recognises the contribution that television has made to our knowledge of nature, but he says
‘there’s no way to compare seeing an animal in the wild with watching one on TV. While a filmmaker
may spend six months shooting an animal and will get closer to it than you ever will, there’s no greater
pleasure than seeing an animal in its own environment. On film, you’re only getting the visuals and the
sound. As impressive as they may be, it’s not the real thing.’ And the good thing is that tourists can now
watch wildlife ‘live’ while helping to protect it – a concept that comes under the broad label of
‘ecotourism’.
3: ______________
In practice, this means that many tour operators, guided by ethical policies, now use the services of
local communities, train local guides and have close ties to conservation projects. Tour operator Rekero,
for example, has established its own school – the Koyiaki Guide School and Wilderness Camp – for
Maasai people in Kenya.
4: ______________
Conservation organisations have also realised that tourism can help educate people and provide a
valuable source of revenue and even manpower. The World Wildlife Fund, for example, runs trips that
give donors the chance to see for themselves how their financial aid is assisting conservation projects
in the field, and some organisations even allow tourists to take part in research and conservation.
5: ______________
Similarly, Biosphere Expeditions takes about 200 people every year on what its field operations director,
Dr Matthias Hammer, calls an ‘adventure with a conscience’. Volunteers can visit six destinations
around the world and take part in various activities including snow leopard, wolf and bear surveys and
whale and dolphin research.
6: ______________
Of course, going in search of wildlife doesn’t always mean you will find it. That sightings of animals
in large wild areas don’t come automatically is a fact of life. Although potentially frustrating, it makes
sightings all the more rewarding when they are made. And the opportunity to do something to help both
the environment and local people can only add to the experience.
30

A. He is confident that, if done properly, this combination of tourism and conservation can be ‘a win-
win situation’, ‘People have a unique experience while contributing to conservation directly. Local
people and habitats benefit through job creation, research and an alternative income. Local wildlife
benefits from our work.’
B. While there is indeed much to learn from many species not yet known to science, it’s the already
opened texts that attract the majority of us, however. And we are attracted in ever increasing numbers.
C. As people are able to travel to more extreme places in search of the ultimate wildlife experience, it’s
worth remembering that you don’t have to go to the ends of the earth to catch rewarding glimpses of
animals. Indeed, some of the best wildlife-watching opportunities are on our doorstep.
D. This growth has been stimulated by the efforts of conservation groups and natural history
documentaries. Greater awareness of the planet has led to an increased demand for wildlife tours or the
addition of a wildlife-watching component to traditional holidays. People want to discover nature first-
hand – not just on a screen.
E. Despite being an important part of the population there, they have largely been excluded from the
benefits brought to the region by tourism. This initiative is a concerted effort to enable them to take up
jobs and run programmes themselves.
F. Earthwatch is a non-profit international environmental group that does just that. ‘Participation in an
Earthwatch project is a positive alternative to wildlife-watching expeditions, as we offer members of
the public the opportunity to be on the front line of conservation,’ says Claudia Eckardt, Earthwatch
programme manager.
G. It is a term which is overused, but the principle behind it undoubtedly offers hope for the future of
many endangered species, as money from tourism directly funds conservation work. It also extends to
the consideration of the interests of people living in the places that tourists visit.
31

FIELDWORK IN THE RAINFOREST OF ECUADOR

– THE EXPERIENCES OF A ZOOLOGY STUDENT
When I was at school, I was a huge fan of TV wildlife programmes, and at a certain point I realised that
somehow the natural world would have to be part of my life. So here I am a few years later, in the
tropical rainforest of eastern Ecuador, a novice field scientist. The word scientist evokes various images,
typically perhaps ones of laboratories and white coats, test tubes and lab rats. But what does it mean to
be a field scientist?
1: ______________
I am currently spending a year at a small scientific research station in a remote patch of the Ecuadorian
rainforest belonging to the Kichwa community of San Jose de Payamino. It is glorious – everything you
would expect a tropical rainforest location to be, and a world away from my university in the UK. The
air is hot and thick, the trees are densely packed, and everywhere is teeming with life.
2: ______________
The local people own the land and govern themselves, but the Ecuadorian government also provides
for them: a school complete with a computer room and satellite internet, for instance. Each year, they
vote for a new president and vice-president, who organise the democratic community meetings. Each
family has a finca in the forest: a wooden home on stilts.
3: ______________
But my normal life here as a work experience student revolves mainly around my personal research,
which is a biodiversity study of frogs. I am trying to establish exactly which species are here, where
and when I can find them, and what condition they are in.
4: ______________
For most of the time, I am just crawling along looking at leaves. Much of field research is like this. It
isn’t all finding new species and being transfixed by exotic wildlife behaviour. Have you ever seen the
behind-the-scenes footage at the end of many nature documentaries, where it turns out a cameraman
has been sitting in a tree for three days waiting for a bird to dance? Research is like this – laborious and
monotonous – but it can be rewarding too.
5: ______________
Being a field scientist basically means being an academic, collecting data and publishing scientific
papers. It’s interesting but it doesn’t pay well, and getting started can be tough. When I was looking for
work experience, there were plenty of openings with pharmaceutical companies, but very few matching
my desire to explore and investigate wildlife.
6: ______________
This is one reason I count myself lucky to be involved in this project. It’s largely funded by my
university, so I can afford it. Then, by the end of this year, I will have acquired valuable skills, and I am
hopeful that the experience will facilitate my progression into postgraduate study.
32

A. To do this, I walk slowly along several paths in the forest, accompanied by a local guide, and at night
equipped with a torch. When I spot what I’m looking for, I feel an intense adrenaline rush. Will I manage
to capture it? Have I collected this particular species yet?
В. Because of this, and having experienced fieldwork, I’ve decided it’s definitely something I would
like to do as a career. Once this year is over, I will ask my lecturers to advise me what to do next.
C. This morning, for example, a half metre square of mushrooms sprouted on the dirt floor of my
kitchen. My favourite time here is in the early evenings. It’s finally cool enough to be comfortable, and
the nocturnal creatures begin their nightly cacophony, while the setting sun paints the trees orange.
D. The reality is, however, that to make your way you need to build up a range of contacts and a portfolio
of work. Many of the initial work opportunities that do exist are voluntary – in fact, you often have to
pay to join a scheme. A student job where you are paid expenses, let alone a basic salary, is quite rare.
E. By and large, they work outdoors, and are interested in pretty much everything from discovering
new species to the effect of obscure parasites on ecosystems. They explore and investigate, aiming to
understand what they observe. Just two years into my undergraduate zoology degree, I don’t quite
qualify as one yet, but hopefully I’m heading that way.
F. They have their own traditions, too. One day, a local lady was bitten by a lethal snake; whilst I
administered shots of anti-venom to her, the local traditional healer was applying plant remedies to the
wound and attempting to suck the venom from it. At least one of the treatments must have worked
because she recovered.
G. And the thing is to imagine being the person that has made a discovery – the person who first
questions something, investigates and then contributes to the vast catalogue of information that is
science. I find this concept inspirational.
33

TAKING DINOSAURS APART

Pulling apart limbs, sawing through ribs and separating skull bones are activities usually associated with
surgeons rather than museum staff. However, that is exactly what is going on at the Smithsonian’s
National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC, USA. Renovations to the museum’s dinosaur
hall, which started recently, have necessitated the dismantling and removal of its collection of dinosaur
and extinct mammal skeletons, some of which weigh as much as five tons.
1: ______________
One particular specimen which curator Matthew Carrano can’t wait to get hold of is a meat-eating
Jurassic dinosaur called Allosaurus, which has been on display for 30 years. ‘Scientifically, this
particular Allosaurus is well-known,’ he explains, because ‘for a long time, it was one of the only
Allosaurus specimens that represented a single individual animal’.
2: ______________
The Smithsonian’s five-meter-long Allosaurus, however, is definitely one unique individual. So once
crystallized glue holding it together is removed, researchers and conservators can get a better sense of
how the creature’s joints actually fitted together in life
3: ______________
Another modification the museum plans to make to its Allosaurus is removing a couple of centimeters
from its tail, which is not the original fossil but casts of vertebrae. ‘The tail on the Smithsonian’s
specimen is too long’, says Peter May, owner and president of the company in charge of dismantling,
conserving, and remounting the 58 specimens in the museum’s dinosaur hall. He explains that the
skeleton on display has over 50 vertebrae, when it should have something closer to 45.
4: ______________
Slicing a thin cross-section out of a leg or rib bone can help with that. By placing a slice under a
microscope, researchers will be able to count growth rings on the bone, the number of which would
have increased throughout the creature’s life, very much like the rings on a cross-section of a tree trunk.
5: ______________
One example which Carrano wishes to investigate further is an apparent blow to the Allosaurus’s left
side. ‘The shoulder blade looks like it has healed improperly,’ he explains. If the damaged shoulder
blade can be fitted together with the ribs which are held in storage, paleontologists might be able to
determine the severity and cause of the damage.
Finally, Carrano hopes to be able to compare the Allosaurus with another dinosaur in the collection
called Labrosaurus. Labrosaurus is known only from a single bone – a lower jaw with a distortion which
is believed to have been caused by disease or injury. ‘The two front teeth are missing and there’s an
abscess there’, Carrano explains.’
6: ______________
But in order to confirm their suspicion, Carrano and his colleagues will have to wait a while. ‘A lot of
what we hope to learn won’t be accessible to us until the exhibits have been taken down and we can
have a good look at them’, he says. So he won’t be able to get his hands on the Allosaurus quite yet.
34

A. Dismantling the Allosaurus and removing the plaster and glue covering it can also reveal whether
the animal suffered any injuries when alive.
B. The Smithsonian’s team should be able to take it apart in large chunks in a single day, but even once
they’ve dismantled it they’ll still have hours of work ahead of them, breaking the skeleton down further
into individual bones and cleaning them.
C. These endeavors will modernize a space which has never seen a major overhaul. It will also give
researchers a chance to make detailed studies of the exhibits – some of which haven’t been touched in
decades.
D. There are also plans to slim it down a little. When the museum first displayed the Allosaurus,
preparators decided to use plaster casts of the ribs instead of the actual specimens, which resulted in a
heavier-looking skeleton. Curators hope that the final, remounted skeleton will more closely resemble
the dinosaur’s natural shape.
E. However, this dinosaur, previously classified as a separate species, is now thought to be a type of
Allosaurus. Both of the specimens come from the same quarry, and what’s more the Allosaurus is
missing the exact same bone, so it’s entirely possible that it actually belongs to the Smithsonian
Allosaurus.
F. In addition to correcting mistakes such as this, made when the specimens were first displayed,
Carrano would also like to determine the age of the Allosaurus.
G. There are Allosaurus skeletons in museum collections across the world, but most consist of bones
from a number of different examples of the species. This has made it difficult for scientists to work out
how the entire skeleton fits together.
35

THREE RULES OK?

‘Stop, look and listen.’ It’s the age-old mantra about crossing roads taught to generations of children by
parents, teachers and safety campaigners around the world. Imagine instead, if you will, that the mantra
was ‘Stop, look, listen, think and cross.’ Would it be such a successful phrase? Would it stick in young
minds? Probably not, but why?
1: ______________
If you look at the structure of my last sentence, you’ll see an example of what is called ‘The Rule of
Three’, and it’s related to the way our brains instinctively search for patterns, three being the smallest
number necessary to form one. It’s a combination of brevity and rhythm, and as the Latin phrase ‘omne
trium perfectum’ says – anything in a set of three is perfect. Our short-term memories can process and
retain chunks of three easily, and this can be used to influence our buying decisions.
2: ______________
Viewing them all through my new ‘rule of three’ mind frame it became clear that the product claims
were grouped cleverly, to achieve maximum persuasive effect. This cereal bar will tickle your taste
buds, keep your energy boosted and can be eaten on the go! Have one on the train, as a snack at work
or add to your packed lunch. Three promises, three situations, three linguistic bullets to the brain and
it’s in our memory.
3: ______________
Another interesting reason that our brains shy away from too much information goes back a long way,
to when our ancestors had to make life or death choices in dangerous situations. Their survival was
dependent on making the right choice, but an overload of options could have resulted in decision
paralysis. Three choices was the maximum our brains could deal with. And so the pattern developed.
4: ______________
How often have you seen a similar reaction on the faces of audiences at talks? An awareness of the ‘rule
of three’ is vital for a successful speechmaker to maintain interest. Politicians are masters. A prime
minister once said to emphasise a point: ‘Education! Education! Education!’. People sat up and took
notice. It was a powerful message which would have been diluted had he reduced his ‘Educations’ by
one or added a fourth!
5: ______________
Something else I also use in talks is humour, and oddly this also often follows the ‘rule of three’.
Comedians traditionally set up a punch line by using two elements to build expectation and then thwart
this expectation with a twist. If presenters do the same and then deliver something surprising as the third
element, they’ll get a reaction, and the message will be remembered.
6: ______________
Three is definitely the magic number and its effect is felt from the cradle. Can you imagine a fairytale
where the hero was granted two wishes, and not three? It just wouldn’t sit right, would it? Now, we
know why.
36

A. Public speakers like this can take advantage of the Rule of Three in several ways. I recently had to
give a presentation to my colleagues and, heeding advice, I focused on three main messages only, with
three supporting points for each. It worked. Not a glazed look in the room!
B. Going beyond this, with an additional fourth or fifth element could (according to those in the know)
mean that such messages would be forgotten or ignored. Our brains have to work harder to remember
more than three items and if there’s no real need, they won’t! Of course, if we have to process longer
lists, we can, but it takes a lot of concentration.
C. Apparently, there is an extremely good reason for this and it’s down to the way we group words,
sentences or ideas into sets of three. This can have a powerful impact on multiple aspects of our lives
including how we approach persuasion, how we react to storytelling and how we interact with others
on a daily basis.
D. An example was when I was recently talking about the introduction of closed-door offices. I phrased
it thus: ‘These mean that employees benefit from increased privacy, better conditions for concentration
and [pause for effect] the opportunity to shout as long and loudly at their PCs as they wish.’ I got my
laughs and kept my audience’s attention!
E. With this in mind, I decided to note down sets of three in advertising slogans that I encountered
during my morning commute. In just one hour, I was exposed to a whole range of subtle techniques –
on TV, on social media and on public transport. And without thinking, I’ve just done that very thing
myself.
F. It also affects drama. What is a traditional theatre play made up of? Three acts. In children’s fiction
the hero often has to face three challenges or meets three animals and so on. Once you start looking you
can find the power of three nearly everywhere.
G. Thankfully without the same possible repercussions, going beyond three elements can also affect
everyday conversations. People will listen to a list of events, and even anticipate a third component to
complete the pattern. However, if we add more items, they are likely to interrupt. Or their eyes go
vacant.
37

TELL ME A STORY!
Sita Brand is recounting the tale of how story-telling came to be in her blood, and as one might expect
of a professional story-teller, she is doing a pretty good job of it.
1: ______________
It’s a dismally wet and chilly evening at the arts and music festival in North Yorkshire, where I first find
Brand. She has been booked to tell rounds of stories – children’s fairytales during the afternoons and
some darker, more ghostly recountings after dusk – but has suffered some unexpected nocturnal goings-
on herself, her tent having filled up with rainwater the previous night. Yet, in keeping with the festival
mood, she seems stoical as we squelch through a custard-like mud swamp.
2: ______________
She has lived and worked in several parts of England but most recently in Settle, the Yorkshire town
beloved of walkers and railway enthusiasts but not hitherto known for its story-telling scene. In the four
years since moving there, however, she has worked energetically to change that, establishing her own
business, as well as founding an annual story-telling festival. But why here?
3: ______________
Not that her yearning came entirely without precedent. ‘The most exciting thing,’ she says, ‘is that I
recently discovered that my mother’s side of the family came from this area. So, deep down inside I
was always a Yorkshire Woman!’ She laughs. Having worked on and off as a story-teller for several
years, Brand conceived the idea for the Settle Storytelling Festival as a way of establishing herself
professionally in the area.
4: ______________
Before settling there she’d found work with Common Lore, a company of story-tellers and musicians.
Later, she branched out and worked variously as an actor, writer, director and producer. She’s travelled
a lot doing different things, but she admits, ‘In my heart, I’ve always loved stories and storytelling.’
5: ______________
This was a deliberate move on Brand’s part to get across her conviction that story-telling should not
just be aimed at children. ‘When you look at books of traditional stories, they’re called folk tales,’ she
says, raising her voice above the thudding jazz-rock bass emanating from beyond the tent. ‘They’re
literally tales for the folk. That’s all of us.’ This year she says there will be more events specifically laid
on for kids, ‘but the emphasis is very much on the oral tradition, about stories being passed down from
generation to generation.’
6: ______________
Brand says many of her own stories were themselves passed on from family members, that she has then
changed and reworked. ‘The way I tell it today might be different to the way I tell it tomorrow or the
day after.’ Through that process, like a Chinese whisper, she says a story is refined and shaped in
different directions.
38

A. In addition to this, she thought she would be doing something that would genuinely add to the town’s
mix. ‘When I moved there, shops were closing down in the recession. I felt it was a way to combine my
passion and bring other artists together as well as to do something useful for the community. Which it
did.’
B. With a couple of hours to kill before her evening performance of ghost stories, she leads me over to
the infinitely more convivial surroundings of the Hungry Elephant Café tent where Brand continues to
explain how she reached this point in her life.
C. ‘I’ve always loved stories and story-telling ever since I was a little girl,’ she recalls. ‘I remember I
always wanted to be the one who read out the story, to the point where my mother said to me, ‘Isn’t it
time you just wrote your own?’ I grew up in Bombay, and in India there’s always some cultural festival
taking place and there’s always a story behind it.’
D. Afterwards we troop into the darkness. From the conversations outside, it’s apparent that many of
those in the tent have returned for the second night running, many people went thinking they’d just go
to one event but found themselves attending several. Why? ‘That’s just about the simple pleasure of
listening to a good yarn.’
E. Part of that meandering took her back to India and to Southeast Asia, touring with a show based
partly on her own upbringing in India, and which she staged successfully again in Settle soon after
relocating there. To the surprise of many local people though, the Settle festival’s first incarnation was
pitched mainly at an adult audience.
F. As an example, she points out that many of the classic stories told today have evolved over many
ages and through countless retellings, in many lands. ‘Take Cinderella,’ she says. ‘There’s a Vietnamese
version and various North African versions, a North American version, a European one .. .’ She smiles.
‘I like that.’
G. Bombay to Yorkshire might seem an unlikely path to tread but for Brand – with an English mother
and a South Indian father – it is the fulfilment of a dream. Her introduction to Yorkshire came about ten
years ago on a trip to look up old family friends, ‘I just fell in love with the place; I thought, this is
where I want to live,’ she says.
39

LONG-DISTANCE WALKING
Long-distance walking is a subject that has long interested me as a journalist, but that is also of concern
to geographers, poets, historians and film students. In recent years the film industry has produced Wild,
an account of the writer Cheryl Strayed’s walk along the 4,000 km Pacific Crest Trail, and an adaptation
of Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods, in which the writer attempts to hike the 3,300 km Appalachian
Trail.
1: ______________
For Bryson, it was simply a response to a small voice in his head that said, ‘Sounds neat! Let’s do it.’
For Strayed, whose memoir inspired Wild, the reasons were more complex. Battered by a saddening
series of personal problems, she walked the trail in the hope that the experience would provide a release.
2: ______________
For me, the attraction of such walks has nothing to do with length for its own sake and everything to do
with the fact that long trails invariably provide a journey with a compelling academic structure. Many
long walks tick the geographic box, not least the Appalachian and Spain’s GR11 trails, which are both
defined by great mountain ranges that guarantee topographical appeal.
3: ______________
Such links to the past are to be found on shorter walks, but on a longer trail the passing of the days
connects us more profoundly to the same slow, enforced journeys made by travellers before cars, planes
or trains. They also reconnect us to the scale of our world – a kilometre, never mind 100, means
something when you walk it. But what of the more specific pleasures of a long walk?
4: ______________
Strayed shares this idea, writing that her trek had nothing to do with backpacking fads or philosophies
of any particular era or even with getting from point A to point B. It had to do with how it felt to be in
the wild. With what it was like to walk with no reason other than to witness the accumulation of trees
and meadows, streams and rocks, sunrises and sunsets.’
5: ______________
These are what Bryson is referring to when he says, about trekking, that you have ‘no engagements,
commitments, obligations or duties. . . and only the smallest, least complicated of wants’. In Wanderlust:
A History of Walking, the author Rebecca Solnit explores another of hiking’s pleasures – the way it
allows us to think. Walking is slow, she writes; ‘ …the mind, like the feet, works at about three miles
an hour… ‘
6: ______________
In my experience, though, the longer you walk, the less you think. A trek often begins with me teasing
at some problem, but by journey’s end, walking has left my mind curiously still. As the Danish
philosopher Kierkegaard put it, ‘I have walked myself into my best thoughts,’ but ‘I know of no thought
so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.’
40

A. Mine begins with the allure of beautiful landscapes, a notion nurtured by 19th-century Romantic
poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge, both ‘walkers’ in the modern sense at a time when walking
usually suggested vagrancy or poverty. They helped suggest the idea that Nature, far from being a
malign force, can be a balm for the soul.
B. As the ancient historian Jerome once said: ‘to solve a problem, walk around.’ ‘All truly great thoughts
are conceived by walking,’ said the great philosopher Nietzsche, while the novelist Charles Dickens
observed: ‘It is not easy to walk alone in the country without musing upon something.’
C. Having spent most of my spare time tackling long-distance trails, including the Pacific Crest Trail
and sections of Spain’s 800-km GR11, I am ideally placed to explore the question: what is it that inspires
people to hike thousands of kilometres?
D. The scenic highlights of those recent long walks are many. On longer walks the landscape’s effect,
as Strayed suggests, is cumulative: the countryside changes over time, sometimes subtly, often
dramatically. Having reached a summit or crossed a pass, a sense of ownership or belonging begins to
develop.
E. What’s more, to walk for long periods is to escape jobs, people and life’s minutiae for routines of a
different, more nourishing kind. The effects of solitude, like those of landscape, accrue over time.
Simple pleasures and modest imperatives become the most important things in life – chocolate, dry
clothes, blister-free feet.
F. But any long walk is also the sum of its parts, and in the Pyrenees these parts often consist of ancient
paths between settlements. Time and again on the GR11, I walked along part-cobbled paths, edged with
crumbling walls and terraces, the work of centuries lost in a generation.
G. Between the two extremes, doing it for fun and the journey of self-discovery and healing, are
countless other motivations and pleasures that draw us to the outdoors and the ancient imperative of
covering immense distances on foot.
41

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.
1: ______________
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.
2: ______________
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.
3: ______________
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.
4: ______________
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!
5: ______________
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.
6: ______________
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.
42

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.
43

FINDING AN ALTERNATIVE TO SUGAR

So much for the decades in which fats and oils were public enemy number one on our dinner plates
There is more and more evidence that sugar – or more precisely, carbohydrate – is behind our increasing
rates of obesity and heart disease. Even if it is still not completely clear how it is bad for us, there are
endless calls for reducing the quantity of sugar in the foods we eat.
1: ______________
Replacing the sweetness of sugar in foods is actually relatively straightforward. The first synthetic
sweetener, saccharine, was discovered accidentally by a young Russian chemist named Constantin
Fahlberg in 1879. While studying coal-tar derivatives, he unwittingly got some on his hands and then
licked his fingers. Saccharine became widely used around World War I, when natural sugar was often
in short supply. In the 1960s, scientists discovered several more sweeteners in similarly serendipitous
ways, including aspartame and acesulfame K.
2: ______________
Yet while we have plenty of options for sweetness, there are several difficulties associated with using
sugar substitutes in our diet. There have been various health scares over the years, which have negatively
affected stevia, saccharine and aspartame, among others.
3: ______________
And there are other issues, aside from health scares and labelling problems. Sugar’s bad press puts the
food industry in a difficult position because sugars have chemical functions in foods that make them
difficult to replace. Sugar solutions freeze at a lower temperature than pure water, for instance. In
products like ice cream, this is critical to maintaining a soft texture at freezer temperatures. Sugars also
play an important role in giving products like bread and cakes their darker colour, through what chemists
call non-enzymatic browning reactions. Unfortunately, artificial sweeteners are not good at reproducing
either of these functions.
4: ______________
All in all, although non-sugar sweeteners are a huge industry, these drawbacks help to explain why they
have come nowhere near eclipsing sugar. However, things are looking up for natural sweeteners. The
evidence of health risks associated with them has turned out to be less convincing than first thought.
Stevia’s years in the wilderness were apparently the result of an anonymous complaint about the risks
to the U.S. authorities, which is not commonly thought to have come from a rival producer of an
alternative sweetener.
5: ______________
As for the problem of taste, manufacturers have sought to overcome the aftertaste issue by combining
a number of different sweeteners. We perceive the aftertaste of different sweeteners over differing
timescales, so one sweetener can be used to mask the aftertaste of another.
6: ______________
In the absence of a perfect sugar replacement, such ploys could be as good as it gets for the foreseeable
future. No wonder governments are instead beginning to intervene by employing measures such as
higher taxes on products containing excessive sugar to save us from our sweet tooth.
44

A. Scientists have also been playing their part in this rehabilitation. When it comes to texture, for
instance, protein texturizers can be added instead – soy, for example. And for other substances which
have a similar effect as sugar on the freezing properties of water, scientists have discovered that
erythritol is one option.
B. Public suspicions are further fueled by the fact that many governments classify all non-sugar
sweeteners as additives – even those which occur naturally in plants. As consumers have become
increasingly wary of anything containing additives, manufacturers have been moving towards products
which are free of them, thus putting these sweeteners at a disadvantage.
C. An additional, increasingly common practice is to mix sugar and non-sugar sweeteners together. This
helps explain why the use of non-sugar sweeteners in new product launches has risen significantly in
recent years.
D. But while sweeteners have this particular advantage, it remains a problem that they adhere more
strongly to our sweetness receptors and have a different and longer-lasting taste profile to sugar, and so
are perceived as tasting different by consumers.
E. Had we ever come up with a viable alternative to sugar, of course, we wouldn’t be facing such
seemingly insurmountable problems now. In our sweetness-addicted era, finding a healthier substitute
for sugar is one of science’s greatest challenges. The question is, why has a solution eluded us for so
long?
F. Then there is the problem of the bitter aftertaste of artificial sweeteners experienced by some
consumers, which arises from the mechanism by which sweetness is detected in the taste buds. One
problem is that the structural features of a sweet molecule which allow it to bind to the sweetness
receptors on the tongue are similar to those which bind to our bitterness receptors.
G. As well as these substances, there are naturally occurring sweeteners that we have actually known
about for much longer. For example, the Guarani peoples of modern-day Brazil and Paraguay have been
using the leaves of the stevia plant to sweeten foods for about 1,500 years. Also well known is the West
African katemfe fruit, the seeds of which contain a sweet chemical called thaumatin.
45

THE LOST CIVILISATIONS OF PERU

An expedition in the mountainous regions of southern Peru has found some important remains from the
Inca civilisation. Their discovery came when the expedition stumbled across a small, flat area cut into
a forested mountainside. At first, it looked like nothing in particular, but then the explorers realised it
could have been a platform where Inca priests stood and watched the path of the sun.
1: ______________
Qoriwayrachina, as the site they discovered is known, is of outstanding importance. In fact, it became
clear that this was one of the most significant historical finds in South America since the unearthing of
Machu Picchu, the fabulous lost city of the Incas, in the 20th century.
2: ______________
For example, recent archaeological work near the Peruvian capital has revealed another ancient city,
dating back to well before the Incas. This has reinforced the feelings of many archaeologists that there
are many more hidden remains buried for hundreds (or even thousands) of years, still waiting to be
found.
3: ______________
But it is the mountains of the Vilcabamba range that perhaps hold the most promise. Vilcabamba, which
means 'sacred valley', was the hub of the vast Inca civilisation. In the 16th century, when the Spanish
conquest led to the demise of this ancient way of life, this area was the last part of the Inca empire to
fall. Hundreds of years later, it slowly began to yield its secrets to archaeologists, Macchu Picchu
perhaps being the most notable of a series of impressive finds. By no means everything there has been
unearthed, however.
4: ______________
Knowing that there is more to be found is important, because although many valuable Inca sites have
been discovered and researched, we still know surprisingly little about the Inca way of life. What's
more, studying remains will be of great value, as many are in danger of being ruined forever, either by
thieves on the hunt for ancient treasure, or by modern developments such as the building of roads or
new towns.
5: ______________
It is not all action-man excitement, however. The best explorers spend time reading the accounts of the
Spanish conquerors, studying maps and talking to local people who know their own area and are often
willing to reveal the whereabouts of previously unidentified remains. Raising funds to pay for the work
is also part of the challenge.
6: ______________
Peter Frost, one of the group which discovered Qoriwayrachina, knows this. As a tour guide,
photographer, and travel writer working in the region for 30 years (though not an archaeologist), he has
become an expert on the Incas. Since his initial work at Qoriwayrachina, he has led two lengthy
expeditions to the area, and has uncovered the ruins of 200 structures and storehouses, an intricately
engineered aqueduct, colourful pottery and several tombs, all valuable evidence for the study of the
region's past.
46

A. Far from it. Archaeologists know from having found traces of homes and infrastructure, that there
are several potentially major sites still waiting for proper investigation.
B. The importance of this kind of preparation is underlined by Hugh Thompson in his recent book about
exploring Inca ruins, The White Rock. According to him, anyone can go into the jungle and look for
ancient remains. However, they may cause a great deal of damage in the process and indeed, the history
of Peruvian exploration is littered with failures.
C. According to these experts, what we now know as Peru has hosted advanced civilisations for as long
as almost anywhere else in the world. The likelihood, therefore, of making further discoveries almost
anywhere in the country, is high.
D. These worries mean it is fortunate that the urge to discover ruins swallowed by the jungle is still as
strong as ever. Many archaeologists feel a keen sense of adventure, seeing themselves in an Indiana
Jones fantasy, hunting for lost civilisations. The thought of finding a lost city, hidden by the jungle for
hundreds of years, and containing unimaginable treasures from a mysterious people is, for some,
difficult to resist.
E. The previous year, 1989, saw a number of expeditions to the region in search of the mythical lost
city, but the end result was similarly disappointing. Undeterred, the courageous explorer refuses to
abandon his attempts to raise money for one last try.
F. But that staggering discovery took place over 100 years ago, and so many explorers, archaeologists
and tourists have been in the region since then that one might assume all its secrets have been
surrendered. But the mountains of Peru are still full of hidden ruins, as are other parts of the country.
G. So, a decision was made to battle on through the thick jungle. Their reward was to uncover significant
evidence of the civilisation that once lived there: tombs, a water system, and traces of many other
buildings.
47

ENERGY-EFFICIENT DESIGN
If you consider yourself to be particularly environmentally friendly, there is a community which may
interest you. Here, in a large, multi- home development known as BedZED, you can find architecture
which is truly green. Buildings come with thick windows and walls, which regulate the temperature at
a comfortable level throughout the year. The south-facing windows collect heat and light from the sun,
as do solar panels fitted onto the exterior. Not only that, but BedZED is stylish, and every flat comes
with a private garden.
1: ______________
As far as countries in the West are concerned, the buildings that people live and work in consume far
more energy than transport, for example. However, architecture need not consume so much energy, nor
produce so much in the way of CO2 emissions. The intelligent design of the housing at BedZED housing
demonstrates that buildings can be made environmentally friendly, without particularly high costs or
advanced technology.
2: ______________
And indeed, the BedZED community – which has some 84 homes – is really rather cost-effective
because of economies of scale: the more homes you build, the less you pay proportionately for the
materials and construction of each individual home. This, as well as all the other benefits, is why
BedZED is receiving more and more attention.
3: ______________
The technology used in the BedZED design could be implemented far more than it currently is, across
different forms of architecture. It is neither a challenge, nor costly to install solar panels, triple-glazed
windows, or to insulate floors and walls better. Indeed, according to some estimates, it would be easy
to reduce the energy consumption of most of our buildings by up to 20% if we just used a more effective
design.
4: ______________
In large part, the drive for these changes has come from Europe. Here, governments are becoming more
concerned about the dangers of relying too much on our current energy and aware of the need to meet
energy-reduction goals. Many governments have given financial incentives for using energy-efficient
design in the construction industry, and have also tightened regulations. Moreover, a European Union
directive now requires house builders to present evidence of how they are meeting energy-efficiency
guidelines.
5: ______________
It also seems that governments are becoming more involved in the research and development of
environmentally friendly designs. At one laboratory in California, a team has experimented with
architectural designs such as windows which become darker on sunny days, thereby reducing the
amount of heat coming into the home. This would, in theory, offer significant savings for people who
make heavy use of air-conditioning in hot, sunny climates. Interesting initiatives have been taken
elsewhere, too.
6: ______________
We still have not reached a situation in which the general public fully accepts such measures. From a
marketing perspective, it can still be difficult to convince customers that energy efficient products are
worthwhile. However, as energy prices rise, this is sure to change.
48

A. Indeed, according to one researcher from the European Commission in Brussels, who works on
energy efficiency, it would be possible to achieve a great deal simply by using existing technologies.
B. Governments elsewhere in the world are playing their part too. In the US, the Energy Star programme
provides standards for the energy efficiency of consumer products, from home construction to
computers and kitchen appliances. This has resulted in energy-efficient products becoming
commonplace, and indeed, an attractive choice for consumers.
C. Both of these regions still make every possible attempt to meet energy consumption guidelines as
governments around the world attempt to come to grips with the threat of global warming. There seems
every likelihood that this project could lead the way-one can only hope that others will follow.
D. In India, for example, a New Delhi-based non-profit organisation has helped to create systems
whereby small villages can use waste products from farming, and convert them into power. And in
Sweden, there is research into how heat from the ground can be used to provide hot water or heating
for homes.
E. Although it might seem like a state-of-the-art paradise for the super-rich, it's actually an estate of
affordable housing built between 2000 and 2002 in a suburb of London. It can't be said that the people
who live here are all eco-warriors, but they are part of a growing tendency to find buildings which use
less energy.
F. This essentially means finding out how to increase efficiency in the least complicated manner
possible. BedZED, for example, was planned so that even if the homes need more energy, despite their
eco-friendly designs, there is still a power plant based on the site. This plant, which uses waste materials,
can meet any remaining energy demands from residents.
G. Recently, this has been coming from Asia in the form of Indian and Chinese visitors. Also, more
zero-energy communities are under construction elsewhere in the UK, as well as in the USA.
49

ALL THIS JAZZ

What makes someone give up a stable career for the uncertainty of playing the saxophone in a jazz
band? Walter Williams finds out
I'm sitting backstage with Marjorie Anderson in a small theatre in the French town of Villeneuve. In a
few minutes she will walk on stage with the jazz band she plays with, Les Jazzistes. They have been
together for two years now, slowly but steadily building up a loyal following, and there is little doubt
that tonight's gig will be a success.
1: ______________
Yet she is clutching her saxophone like a petrified child. 'I'm scared of the audience,' she says. 'You've
got to be kidding,' I tell her. 'No,' she says with a snort. 'I freeze up when I look at them.'
2: ______________
Marjorie lives in France and plays the sax professionally. She has a distinctive technique, honed to
perfection by hours of practice and, some would claim, plays with added passion by virtue of the fact
that she has made huge sacrifices in order to devote herself to jazz. In addition to being a fine musician,
she's a vet by training: two careers not normally associated with each other.
3: ______________
It was probably something in her childhood. She grew up in Sydney, Australia, and was something of a
child prodigy - as a flautist. She played with a youth orchestra, but then abruptly decided that music
was not for her. 'I auditioned for a prestigious orchestra, but nothing came of it.' Her sense of rejection
at the time was overwhelming. 'I was very thin-skinned in those days,' Marjorie admits. 'I felt threatened
every time someone commented on my playing or my technique.'
4: ______________
However, it emerged a decade later that contentment of this sort was not what Marjorie really yearned
for. Her brother treated her to a week in Paris for her 35th birthday, and they went to a club whose lively
jazz scene has been attracting a demanding clientele for over 70 years. The effect on Marjorie was
immediate; it was as if she was hearing music for the first time.
5: ______________
'I moved here because it hit me that for 35 years, I'd never been in touch with my inner self, with my
needs and desires,' she told me. 'Oddly enough, I didn't consider taking up the flute again. It was the
saxophone that grabbed my attention. It was so much more expressive in terms of my own essential
being.'
6: ______________
I ask her if she has any regrets about dropping out to follow her dreams. She says no, but that she feels
a bit guilty. 'I realise playing the sax in a band isn't saving the world. Sometimes I feel I ought to be
doing something more useful.' Being a musician leaves Marjorie little time for much else. Nevertheless,
she has decided to reinvent herself yet again – as a writer this time. In fact, she has just finished her
autobiography, entitled Why Not Try It? It's a question many readers, envious of her courage, will find
uncomfortable.
50

A. To help her with this, she reaches for her sunglasses. Wearing them throughout her appearance in
front of this small crowd – maybe 250 people – is one of the methods she uses to control her nerves.
B. Marjorie refused to let such a minor problem daunt her. Soon she was playing music again, this time
with renewed determination to be one of the best sax players in the world. Then, without any warning,
she developed a fear of performing in public that nearly paralysed her. It was time to take action.
C. I thought I'd gone to heaven,' she says. 'It was a turning point. The experience told me I had to hear
and play more music, and really live before it was too late.' This was the moment when she decided to
make a radical change in her life.
D. As if this combination wasn't unusual enough, five years ago, she suddenly decided to sell her
thriving vet practice in Australia and moved to France without knowing a word of French. What would
make someone abandon her entire life and take up playing music at the age of 35?
E. Her new-found stagefright was the other curious factor about this return to public performance.
Marjorie believes her terror is related to the sense that she is baring her soul when she performs. 'The
other thing I do to make myself less scared is stand completely still on stage,' she explains.
F. So she went to college instead, and trained as a vet. She threw herself into her profession, channelling
her energy into building up a practice. 'I became stronger psychologically because I was successful in
my career,' she says. 'I see it as a positive thing. I was satisfied with my life.'
G. It is an enviable position to be in, especially for someone who, like Marjorie, has managed to make
a living in a notoriously precarious profession. What is more, she has done it in a country a long way
from her place of origin.
51

5,000 YEAR-OLD TEMPLES DISCOVERED

ON THE SCOTTISH ISLAND OF ORKNEY
North-west of Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney, lies the Ness of Brodgar, a narrow strip of land which
separates the island's two largest freshwater lakes. At their edges, the water laps against a green, hilly
landscape, peppered with giant stone rings, ancient villages and other archaeological riches.
1: ______________
What had escaped their attention was the temple complex of the Ness of Brodgar. Its size and complexity
have since left archaeologists searching for superlatives to describe the wonders unearthed there. 'It's a
Neolithic site without parallel in western Europe. Yet we previously thought it was just a hill,' says
archaeologist Nick Card. 'It's actually entirely man-made, although it covers more than six acres of
land.'
2: ______________
The people responsible for this architectural marvel arrived on Orkney about 6,000 years ago in the
Neolithic (or New Stone) Age. They were the first farmers in Britain, and on Orkney rapidly established
a vibrant culture with their giant stone circles, communal tombs, and the buildings at the Ness of
Brodgar. The beliefs that underpinned the temple complex are unknown, however, as is the purpose of
its great structures.
3: ______________
What is clear is that the cultural energy of the farming folk of Orkney dwarfed that of other civilisations
at that time. In size and sophistication, the temple complex of Brodgar is comparable with the wonders
of ancient Egypt, for example, though much older. The fact that it was built on a small island to the
north of Scotland, makes it all the more remarkable. For many archaeologists, its discovery has
revolutionised our understanding of the period.
4: ______________
We know that these innovators first reached Orkney on boats from mainland Scotland. They brought
cattle, pigs and sheep with them, as well as grain to plant. These early farmers were clearly successful,
though life would still have been precarious, with hunting and fishing providing precious supplies of
extra protein.
5: ______________
Discarded stone tools and pieces of elegant pottery tell us, however, that they lived long and well enough
for an increasingly sophisticated society to emerge. Over centuries, small communities coalesced into
larger tribal units, and sizeable constructions went up. Many of these – like the huge circles of standing
stones and a 5,000-year- old village have long been acknowledged as highly significant monuments.
Eventually, in 1999, they were given World Heritage status by UNESCO, an act that led directly to the
discovery of the Brodgar temple complex.
6: ______________
The assumption had been that it was a natural feature of the landscape. However, the new investigations
indicated quite the opposite. 'The density and extent of what we detected below the surface stunned us,'
says Card. Initially, archaeologists thought they had stumbled upon a general site that had been in
continuous use for a few thousand years after those early settlers, but it all dated back to Neolithic times.
What is more, the quality of workmanship evident in the buildings, carvings and pottery unearthed
'wouldn't be seen again on Orkney almost until modern times'.
52

A. One thing archaeologists are sure of, nevertheless, is that it wasn't a settlement to live in. 'It was a
huge ceremonial centre,' says Card, 'but the ideas and views of its builders remain a mystery.'
B. The fate of the complex remains a puzzle, on the other hand. About 4,000 years ago, roughly 1,000
years after construction began, it was abruptly abandoned. Whatever the cause, the great temple
complex was deserted and forgotten for the next four millennia.
C. Evidence for this has been discovered at the site of a Neolithic village: the bones of domesticated
animals alongside those of wild deer, whales and seals. Analysis of human bones from the period
suggest that few people reached the age of 50 and those who survived childhood usually died in their
30s.
D. For decades, researchers have been drawn to this remote place. It was extensively scrutinised until a
recent chance discovery revealed that, for all their thoroughness, archaeologists had completely
overlooked a Neolithic treasure eclipsing all others on Orkney – and further afield too.
E. 'This recognition prompted us to think about the land surrounding the sites we knew,' says Card. 'We
decided to survey it to see what else might be found.' Technology, like ground-penetrating radar for
pinpointing man-made artefacts hidden underground was used. And the first location selected for this
was the Ness of Brodgar.
F. And when all the buildings were intact, it must have looked extremely impressive. Two giant walls
protected more than a dozen large temples – one measuring almost 25 m square – all linked to outhouses
and kitchens by carefully constructed stone pavements.
G. 'We need to turn the map upside down when we consider the Neolithic era,' says Card. 'London may
be the cultural hub of Britain today, but 5,000 years ago, Orkney was the centre for new ideas. The first
grooved pottery, so distinctive of the era, was made here, for example, and then spread southwards.'
53

WHEN THE HIPPOS ROAR, START PADDLING!

Richard Jackson and his wife spent their honeymoon going down the Zambezi river in a canoe
'They say this is a good test of a relationship,' said Tim as he handed me the paddle. I wasn't sure that
such a tough challenge was what was needed on a honeymoon, but it was too late to go back. My wife,
Leigh, and I were standing with our guide, Tim Came, on the banks of the Zambezi near the
Zambia/Botswana border. This was to be the highlight of our honeymoon: a safari downriver, ending at
the point where David Livingstone first saw the Victoria Falls.
1: ______________
Neither of us had any canoeing experience. Tentatively we set off downstream, paddling with more
enthusiasm than expertise. Soon we heard the first distant rumblings of what seemed like thunder. 'Is
that Victoria Falls?' we inquired naïvely. 'No,' said Tim dismissively. 'That's our first rapid.' Easy, we
thought. Wrong!
2: ______________
The canoe plotted a crazed path as we careered from side to side, our best efforts seeming only to add
to our plight. This was the first of many rapids, all relatively minor, all enjoyably challenging for tourists
like us.
3: ______________
The overnight stops would mean mooring at a deserted island in the middle of the river, where Tim's
willing support team would be waiting, having erected a camp and got the water warm for our bucket
showers. As the ice slowly melted in the drinks, restaurant-quality food would appear from a cooker
using hot coals. Then people would begin to relax, and the day's stories would take on epic proportions.
4: ______________
One morning, Tim decided to count the number of hippos we saw, in an attempt to gauge the population
in this part of the river. Most of the wildlife keeps a cautious distance, and we were assured that, safe
in our canoe, any potential threats would be more scared of us than we were of them but we had been
warned to give these river giants a wide berth. They'd normally stay in mid-stream, watching us with
some suspicion, and greeting our departure with a cacophony of grunts.
5: ______________
Tim yelled 'Paddle!' and over the next 100 metres an Olympic runner would have struggled to keep up
with us. The hippo gave up the chase, and although Tim said he was just a youngster showing off, our
opinion was that he had honeymooners on the menu. That would certainly be the way we told the story
by the time we got home.
6: ______________
At some times of the year, you can even enjoy a natural jacuzzi in one of the rock pools beside the falls.
The travel brochures say it's the world's most exclusive picnic spot. It's certainly the ideal place to wind
down after a near miss with a hippo.
54

A. Luckily we could make our mistakes in privacy as, apart from Tim and another couple, for two days
we were alone. Our only other company was the array of bird and animal life. The paddling was fairly
gentle, and when we got tired, Tim would lead us to the shore and open a cool-box containing a picnic
lunch.
B. If that was the scariest moment, the most romantic was undoubtedly our final night's campsite.
Livingstone Island is perched literally on top of Victoria Falls. The safari company we were with have
exclusive access to it: it's just you, a sheer drop of a few hundred metres and the continual roar as
millions of litres of water pour over the edge.
C. There was plenty of passing traffic to observe on land as well – giraffes, hippos, elephants and
warthogs, while eagles soared overhead. We even spotted two rare white rhinos. We paddled closer to
get a better look.
D. We had a four-metre aluminium canoe to ourselves. It was a small craft for such a mighty river, but
quite big enough to house the odd domestic dispute. Couples had, it seemed, ended similar trips arguing
rather than paddling. But It wasn't just newly-weds at risk. Tim assured us that a group of comedians
from North America had failed to see the funny side too.
E. But number 150 had other ideas. As we hugged the bank he dropped under the water. We expected
him to resurface in the same spot, as the others had done. Instead, there was a sudden roar and he
emerged lunging towards the canoe.
F. Over the next hour or so the noise grew to terrifying dimensions. By the time we edged around the
bend to confront it, we were convinced we would be faced with mountains of white water. Instead,
despite all the sound and fury, the Zambezi seemed only slightly ruffled by a line of small rocks.
G. When we'd all heard enough, we slept under canvas, right next to the river bank. Fortunately, we
picked a time of year largely free of mosquitoes, so our nets and various lotions remained unused. The
sounds of unseen animals were our nightly lullaby.
55

CHOCOLATE CAKE WARS

It’s the most imitated cake in the world. But who created the original Sacher torte, asks Chandos
Elletson?
Vienna is heaven for cake lovers. After seeing the city's sights, there is nothing better to do than sit in a
coffee house and gorge on delicious cakes. These great cakes, or tortes, are part of Austrian folklore,
and the recipes for them are closely-guarded secrets. They were invented by brilliant and creative young
chefs back in the mists of time and some have even been the subject of court cases between rival
confectioners. Now, inevitably, the top Viennese cakes are even available over the Internet.
1: ______________
The date was 1832. In a royal palace outside Vienna, the Prince had sent an edict to the kitchen for a
new dessert to be created in honour of some influential guests, and was anticipating something special.
The head chef was ill and the order ended up with a 16-year-old pastry apprentice named Franz Sacher.
2: ______________
What the chef thought when he returned is unknown, but Sacher kept his recipe a secret and named the
cake after himself. He went on to found his own famous hotel and café. Today, hundreds of thousands
of hungry customers, most of them tourists, come each year to eat the same cake, baked to its original
recipe.
3: ______________
Demel, founded in 1793, was one such business. Demel himself, who was baker and confectioner for
the Emperor's palace, claimed that Sacher worked for him and that their Sacher torte was the true
original. A court of law decided otherwise, and only Sacher may call the cake original. The Demel
Sacher torte, as it is now known, differs minutely from the Sacher, but both cakes are made with secret
blends of home-made chocolate.
4: ______________
One contender is the Imperial Hotel In Vienna, whose Imperial torte is also sold online, and has a myth
and a chef to go with it. This time It is 1873, and Emperor Franz Josel is about to inaugurate the Imperial
and Royal Court Hotel. Junior cook Xavier Loibner wishes he could bake a cake for his Emperor like
all the magnificent creations donated by the monarchy's top chefs.
5: ______________
Judging by the date, the milk chocolate would also have been a first. According to Chocolate: The
Definitive Guide, milk chocolate was not invented until 1875, when a Swiss confectioner mixed
chocolate with the condensed milk made by his friend Henri Nestlé. Whatever the origin of the story, it
is said that the Emperor noticed the unusually- shaped cake. He tried it, went back for more, and so the
legend of the Imperial torte was born.
Now Loibner's recipe, a secret in keeping with Viennese tradition, has recently been rediscovered and,
deep in the recesses of the hotel, a dedicated production kitchen churns out thousands of these delicate
cakes for dispatch all over the world.
6: ______________
So the chocolate cake wars are set to continue well into the twenty-first century. Only time will tell who
wins the next round of the battle. In the meantime there is plenty of opportunity to test the market.
56

A. However, a number of rivals strongly contended that their own version of the famous cake was
actually the original. As a result, a chocolate cake war raged in Vienna's coffee houses for many years.
B. The most famous and most imitated of all Viennese cakes is the Sacher torte. Its recipe is still secret
despite a version being available in every coffee shop you care to visit. It was invented in the days when
chocolate was a luxury, available only to the very rich.
C. However, Vienna's stranglehold on the Internet chocolate cake market is now under threat from Paris.
A well-known French chocolatier has recently joined the battle by designing a 'traveller's chocolate
cake' that will be sold from his website.
D. Sacher, too, manufactures its chocolates and keeps the recipes secret, with very good reason. They
once employed a foreign trainee chef who spent his time photographing everything. On his return to his
home country he opened a café selling the 'original' Sacher torte.
E. So he creeps into the kitchen and works through the night. By early next morning he has invented a
rectangular chocolate cake made up of layers of hazelnut waffles, filled with chocolate cream, encased
in marzipan and topped with milk chocolate icing. The hotel insists that this was the earliest four-sided
cake to be made.
F. He took his chance and in his boss's absence created a chocolate cake of such complexity that all who
consumed it were stunned. His torte was a light chocolate sponge split in two halves and soaked in
apricot jam before being topped with a chocolate icing. It was served with whipped cream, as it still is
today.
G. Now Demel have designed a new chocolate cake, called the Demel torte, for their website, firing
another salvo in the chocolate cake war. And these two are not alone in the battle. They have been joined
by two new rivals.
57

REEF ENCOUNTER
Tropical fish look very colourful to our eyes, but is that how they look to each other? Our reporter Penny
met the man who may have the answer.
If you're snorkelling around a coral reef, you'll see the local marine life in all its carnival colours. But
the show clearly isn't just a tourist attraction. For the fish that live on the reef, it's more a matter of life
and death. As with any other creature, the survival of a fish species depends on two things – food
supplies and breeding success.
1: ______________
Seeing a coral reef in all its glory, you can't help feeling that fish have completely failed to solve this
dilemma. The picture, however, only comes into focus when you take the fish's-eye view. For fish,
according to Justin Marshall from the Vision, Touch and Hearing Research Centre at the University of
Queensland in Brisbane, see things differently.
2: ______________
This means that the carnival looks quite different to the marine life itself. To help him discover exactly
how different it looks, Marshall has designed a unique underwater 'spectrophotometer', which analyses
the colours of things objectively in terms of their physical reflection. He is also measuring the light
available in different microhabitats.
3: ______________
The general shift towards the blue end of the spectrum in underwater light explains why most nocturnal
reef fish, such as the soldierfish, squirrelfish and big-eyes, are mainly red in colour. According to
Marshall, some reef fish might see red, in which case they could capitalise on the colour blindness of
others and use red markings for private communication. But in most cases, red species are surprisingly
inconspicuous.
4: ______________
As any snorkeller will know, lots of reef fish display the sort of colour combinations that suggest
camouflage is the last thing on the fish's mind. The bright blues and yellows that are most common,
however, are only conspicuous at a certain range. They fade to grey at a distance, because the colours
are so close together that they merge.
5: ______________
Wider colour bands will be visible much farther away, of course, but still the fish's-eye view is different
from ours. Most recently, Marshall has discovered that fish may see hardly any contrast between the
blue of many species, such as tropical angelfish, and the colour of the water around a tranquil reef. More
surprisingly, says Marshall, a fish with blue and yellow stripes can be just as well camouflaged, as even
this distinct pattern will merge into some backgrounds. When the fish are all together in a shoal, it's
hard for a predator to spot where one individual starts and another ends. It's what Marshall calls 'the
zebra effect'. If Marshall is correct, then a fish with bold blue and yellow markings can either advertise
or hide itself by simply adjusting its behaviour.
6: ______________
In other words, one set of colours can send out very different signals depending on the setting. To
complicate things further, most reef fish can vary their colours, whilst it is common for species to change
colour from night to day or as they grow older. Colours may even change with a fish's mood – whether
it's fighting or fleeing from predators.
58

A. Together with information about the visual sensitivity of individual fish species and their behaviour,
this equipment enables him to begin seeing things as fish do. And it is starting to reveal how the showy
and the shy can make use of the same bright colours.
B. This is because our visual system is a primate one, he says. It's very good at seeing yellows and reds
versus greens. However, 30 metres below sea level there is no red light. So fish tend to see blues and
ultraviolets well – and to be less sensitive to reds and yellows.
C. The striking bands of colour seem to shout 'come and get me' to a potential mate when displayed
against a plain background or close up. But put them up against a background of solid contrasting
colours and they work on the same principle as the disruptive camouflage used for concealment of
military equipment.
D. The trouble is that eating and not being eaten both need stealth. Therefore, it is helpful for a fish to
blend into the background. To attract a mate, on the other hand, requires a certain flamboyance.
E. If this means that fish really can't see the difference, then it looks to him as though they have only
two types of receptors for colour. This is a controversial claim, as others have argued that fish have four
types of colour receptors.
F. During the day, such fish hide in reef crevices. Once there, they may look obvious to human eyes,
but to other fish, they blend into the dark background.
G. Even in fish which sport fine stripes, such as parrotfish and wrasse, the different shades are distinct
for only one metre and certainly no more than five. Beyond this, they too blend into the general sea
colour around the reef.
59

AFTER THE FRISBEE

It used to be as simple as a bit of fun in the park. Now Frisbee is back – and this time it’s serious
business. Simon de Burton reports.
Until recently, the name 'Gucci' was synonymous with expensive handbags and jewellery. Now
however, the company's 'G-force' slogan has taken on a whole new meaning, with the introduction of
the Gucci Flying Disc, a 20-centimetre diameter circle of semi-flaccid rubber that retails at a smooth
£35. This piece of flying fun has literally taken off, leaving Gucci's main stores with a waiting list of
customers that grows longer by the day.
1: ______________
The difference now is that flying discs are no longer the exclusive domain of college students. Frisbee-
throwing has developed into a range of serious sub-sports, from a team game called Ultimate to the
unlikely-sounding disc golf, with distance, accuracy, discathon, and freestyle Frisbee falling in between.
2: ______________
Assistant librarian and disc-throwing fanatic, Brian Dacourt may not quite fit in with the trend in this
respect. He is, however, chair of the World Flying Disc Federation and established the first Ultimate
world championships in 1986 when just six teams took part. This year there were more than 100. 'It has
become a sport played predominantly by professional people,' he says. 'After graduating, they have
progressed up the career ladder into powerful jobs before returning to disc sports much more seriously
in their free time.'
3: ______________
The team version of Frisbee-throwing, the game of Ultimate, is currently enjoyed by around 700 serious
players in the UK. Teams are made up of seven players, and the aim of the game is to score goals by
passing the disc to a player standing or running inside the opposition's 'end zone'.
4: ______________
But Ultimate's rules do not seem to give rise to the dissension, fouls and gamesmanship that some, more
prestigious, sports suffer from. A key Ultimate phrase is 'the spirit of the game', which refers to the
sport's basic code of conduct. Even at world championship level, referees or linesmen are not needed.
5: ______________
The names of Frisbee-related sports are a little more accessible. An individual version of Frisbee-
throwing known as 'disc golf' has also grown up, courtesy of financial expert Derek Robins. Robins,
Chairman of the British Disc Golf Association, charges just £3 for a round at his course beside the River
Avon.
6: ______________
Therefore, when players reach the spot on the course where their last throw has landed, they can choose
a disc which is the most appropriate one for the next throw – in much the same way that golfers might
use a driver from the tee – with the aim of 'holing out' the disc, into an iron basket held up by a chain,
in the minimum number of throws.
It is all a far cry from the early days of the Frisbee in the 1870s, when William Russell Frisbie patented
his Frisbie pies, in the disc-shaped tins that college students so delighted in throwing to each other, after
eating the pies.
60

A. In keeping with this air of gentlemanly camaraderie and enthusiastic innovation, a whole new
language has evolved among the game's devotees. Words such as 'force', 'hammer', 'poach', and 'stall'
are used to describe the various moves, throws and tactics which the game demands.
B. Even a top-class competitor in several of these disciplines would not have to fork out much on
equipment compared to other sports. However, the relative cheapness is somewhat at odds with the
nature of its devotees: more and more it tends to be high-earning lawyers, stockbrokers, bankers and IT
professionals who make up the core of serious players.
C. Once in possession of the disc, a player is not allowed to run with it; it has to be worked up the pitch
through a series of tactical passes. If it touches the ground or is intercepted, possession passes to the
opposition.
D. The popularity of this particular brand of disc bears testament to the fact that the fun-filled summers
of the 1970s, when Frisbees in parks were a common sight, are enjoying something of a revival.
E. But if all this sounds a little too energetic, and you are happy just to chuck a Frisbee to a friend in
the park, you will be in good company. Old-style Frisbee fans can still count among their numbers
several famous names, including a leading Hollywood movie star and a Formula One driver.
F. The rules are similar to those of the famous sport from which it is derived, the obvious difference
being the use of flying discs instead of balls and clubs. Players walk the course with a range of five or
more special discs which have special edges and are made of denser material than an Ultimate disc,
thus allowing them to fly further.
G. Indeed, the sport very much reflects the lifestyles of the people who play it. It is all about working
together with one's side against the opposition; competitiveness and camaraderie are of the utmost
importance.
61

THE MAGIC LUTE

Four hundred years ago, the royal courts of Europe resounded to strains of the lute. Then the instrument
did a mysterious vanishing act. Arthur Robb is one of a small band of craftsmen bringing the instrument
back from the past.
Arthur Robb has been marching to a different tune all his life. When the youth of Europe was listening
to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, he went to Paris and Amsterdam as part of a classical choir. And
then in swinging London, he discovered even earlier music. It has all been good training, though. Now
in his fifties, he is recognised as a leading expert in one of contemporary music's most fashionable
offshoots – the revival of interest in the ancient string instrument, the lute.
1: ______________
Yet lutes were once produced in astonishing numbers. When the celebrated Italian lute maker Laux
Mahler died in 1552, an inventory of his workshop revealed more than a thousand lutes in various stages
of construction. The instrument's disappearance was so dramatic, however, that very few early examples
survive.
2: ______________
What happened to all the others is a mystery. Robb's theory is that the lute was killed off by the
development of keyboard instruments like the pianoforte. But the end must have come suddenly. Some
of the last music for solo lute was written by J.S. Bach. Within years of his death in 1750, the instrument
which had dominated Europe's musical repertoire for centuries had all but vanished.
3: ______________
Digging into literature and old manuscripts, such as early musical scores, has allowed him to discover
how the music might have sounded, whilst the examination of old paintings gives clues as to the details
of the instrument's design. The lute has certainly altered over time, evolving from an elongated oval to
a deep pear-shape. The stringing and the sound produced must also have changed as a result. 'The lute
is like a time machine,' says Robb. 'Its history goes back into antiquity, possibly to ancient Egypt.'
4: ______________
Lute music is considered rather quiet compared with the volume of today's orchestration. But centuries
ago, when music was being written for the instrument, people's ears were better attuned to quieter
sounds.
5: ______________
Despite his enthusiasm, his initial efforts did not meet with immediate approval. A novice carpenter, he
practised for a year, making wooden toys and household items to improve his basic skills, before joining
an adult education class in musical instrument making. After months of meticulous work, he proudly
offered a completed lute to a music shop in Bristol.
6: ______________
Far from being discouraged, Robb set about putting things to rights. Modern-day lute makers have
problems their craftsmen forebears could never have imagined. Worldwide concern about the use of
rare timber, for example, has meant that he has had to adapt his methods to the materials that are most
readily available. He has, however, gone on to make dozens of lutes, each finer than the last, and
repaired many more.
62

A. Those that do are now priceless museum pieces, and even these treasured relics have been damaged
or altered so much during their life that copying them doesn't guarantee historical accuracy.
B. What's more, no authentic plan of a genuine fifteenth-or sixteenth-century lute has ever been found,
and so no one knows what tools were used to make the instruments. Robb, alongside fellow enthusiasts
in Britain and the USA, has been spearheading the lute's revival. This means unearthing fragments of
information from surrounding strata like archaeologists hunting a fossil.
C. In turning it down, they left him in no doubt as to the shortcomings of his creation. It was the wrong
shape, the wrong weight, the strings were too long to achieve the right pitch and the pegs which
tightened the strings were too bulky for comfort.
D. But so little factual evidence remains, even from more recent times, that Robb has to think himself
back in time in order to begin to see how they should be made. Only by appreciating the way people
lived, how they behaved and the technology they used, can he begin to piece together the complete
picture.
E. 'Appreciating small nuances like that is vital to an appreciation of how the instrument might have
been played,' Robb says. As one of a small band of professional lute makers who keep in touch via the
internet, Robb can share these impressions, as well as swapping problems and possible solutions. No
such forum existed when Robb began to construct his first lute 25 years ago, however. He had to work
things out on his own.
F. Robb's enquiries have, however, punctured one other popular myth – that of the lute player as a
wandering minstrel. Almost from its introduction into Europe, the lute was a wealthy person's
instrument, the players attaining a status comparable to modern-day concert pianists.
G. From a tiny attic workshop in the English countryside, Robb makes exquisite examples of this
forgotten instrument. Piecing together the few remaining clues to the instrument's construction and
musical characteristics has demanded all his single-minded concentration.
63

CHEWING GUM CULTURE

It's fashionable, classless and Americans chew 12 million sticks of it a day. Discover how an ancient
custom became big business.
Chewing gum contains fewer than ten calories per stick, but it is classified as a food and must therefore
conform to the standards of the American Food and Drug Administration.
Today's gum is largely synthetic, with added pine resins and softeners which help to hold the flavour
and improve the texture.
1: ______________
American colonists followed the example of the Amero-Indians of New England and chewed the resin
that formed on spruce trees when the bark was cut. Lumps of spruce for chewing were sold in the eastern
United States in the early 1800s making it the first commercial chewing gum in the country.
Modern chewing gum has its origins in the late 1860s with the discovery of chicle, a milky substance
obtained from the sapodilla tree of the Central American rainforest.
2: ______________
Yet repeated attempts to cultivate sapodilla commercially have failed. As the chewing gum market has
grown, synthetic alternatives have had to be developed.
3: ______________
Most alarming is the unpleasant little chicle fly that likes to lodge its eggs in the tapper's ears and nose.
Braving these hazards, barefooted and with only a rope and an axe, an experienced chiclero will shin a
mature tree in minutes to cut a path in the bark for the white sap to flow down to a bag below.
4: ______________
Yet, punishing though this working environment is, the remaining chicleros fear for their livelihood.
Not so long ago, the United States alone imported 7,000 tonnes of chicle a year from Central America.
Last year just 200 tonnes were tapped in the whole of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. As chewing gum
sales have soared, so the manufacturers have turned to synthetics to reduce costs and meet demands.
5: ______________
Plaque acid, which forms when we eat, causes this. Our saliva, which neutralises the acid and supplies
minerals such as calcium, phosphate and fluoride, is the body's natural defence. Gum manufacturers say
20 minutes of chewing can increase your salivary flow.
6: ______________
In addition, one hundred and thirty-seven square kilometres of America is devoted entirely to producing
the mint that is used in the two most popular chewing gums in the world.
64

A. Gum made from this resulted in a smoother, more satisfying and more elastic chew, and soon a whole
industry was born based on this product.
B. Meanwhile, the world's gum producers are finding ingenious ways of marketing their products. In
addition to all the claims made for gum – it helps you relax, peps you up and eases tension (soldiers
during both world wars were regularly supplied with gum) – gum's greatest claim is that it reduces tooth
decay.
C. Research continues on new textures and flavours. Glycerine and other vegetable oil products are
now used to blend the gum base. Most new flavours are artificial – but some flavours still need natural
assistance.
D. This was not always the case, though. The ancient Greeks chewed a gum-like resin obtained from
the bark of the mastic tree, a shrub found mainly in Greece and Turkey. Grecian women, especially,
favoured mastic gum to clean their teeth and sweeten their breath.
E. Each chiclero must carry the liquid on his back to a forest camp, where it is boiled until sticky and
made into bricks. Life at the camp is no picnic either, with a monotonous and often deficient maize-
based diet washed down by a local drink distilled from sugar cane.
F. The chicleros grease their hands and arms to prevent the sticky gum sticking to them. The gum is
then packed into a wooden mould, pressed down firmly, initialled and dated ready for collection and
export.
G. Today the few remaining chicle gatherers, chicleros, eke out a meagre and dangerous living, trekking
for miles to tap scattered sapodilla in near-100% humidity. Conditions are appalling: highly poisonous
snakes lurk ready to pounce and insects abound.
65

PLUGGING IN THE HOME

Georgina McGuiness had taken a long career break from journalism and she felt out of touch with the
changes brought about by technology. She recounts here how she was able to transform the family home
into an efficient workplace.
Last year I turned 37 and realised that time was running out if I wanted to resurrect a career in
journalism.
A quick glance at my curriculum vitae showed that I was shamefully stuck in the 1980s, when a piece
of carbon wedged in between several sheets of paper in a typewriter was the state of the art. It seemed
that only a madman would let me loose on a computer in his newsroom. And why did most of the jobs
advertised ask for experience in desktop publishing – which I didn't have?
1: ______________
Clearly, there was a gaping hole in what was left of my career and I had to act quickly. Leaving home
before the children did would be fraught with obstacles, or so I thought until I entered a competition in
a local newspaper. Like a success story you read or hear about that only ever happens to other people,
my family and I won a computer package.
2: ______________
I had everything I would need for working from home – and I could still manage to take the children to
school. They were confident with computers from the start, already well versed in them from school. I
was much more hesitant, convinced that all my work would disappear without trace if I pressed the
wrong button. I could not have been more wrong.
3: ______________
I recently began freelancing for a magazine, contributing about two articles a month, and I have become
smug in the knowledge that I have the best of two worlds.
So how has the computer helped me? Since my schooldays I have always worked at a desk that can
only be described as a chaotic mess.
4: ______________
Spreadsheets help keep a record of income and expenses and the Internet means I can research stories,
ask for further information on the bulletin board in the journalism or publishing forums and even discuss
the pros and cons of working from home with people from all over the world.
5: ______________
However, there is a growing band of people who have recently bought multimedia PCs, not just for the
educational, leisure and entertainment facilities. In my street alone there appears to be a cottage industry
evolving from the sheer convenience of not having to join the commuter struggle into the city each day.
So what characterises modern-day home workers?
6: ______________
Taking this into account, I seem to fit in well. And who knows, one day I will be emailing a column to
a newspaper in Melbourne or, better still, publishing my own magazine from home. It seems the sky, or
should I say cyberspace, is the limit.
66

A. Consequently, I was always losing scraps of paper containing vital bits of information. The computer
has transformed me into an organised worker, particularly when it comes to office administration.
B. If all this sounds too good to be true, there is a dark side to computing from home. You can be in
isolation from physical human contact and also there are the distractions of putting urgent jobs about
the house first.
C. To get an idea of the speed and convenience with which someone based at home can send their
work back to the office, this article will be sent in a matter of minutes via a modem straight into the
editor's computer.
D. I thought I had a better chance of hosting a seminar in nuclear physics than attempting to lay out a
page on a computer. I was the family technophobe; even pocket calculators were a mystery to me and I
still don't know how to use the timer on the DVD.
E. A recent report was unable to give an exact profile. Home-office workers comprise both males and
females, aged between 25 and 55. However, they are usually well educated and more likely to be
working in sales, marketing or technology.
F. Though far from being adroit, I did manage to learn the basic skills I needed – it was all so logical,
easy and idiot-proof. And, like everything that you persevere with, you learn a little more each day.
G. Supplied with a laptop computer to free my husband from his desk, and a personal computer for us
all, we dived in at the deep end. The children forsook the television and I set up a mini- office in a corner
of the kitchen with my computer linking me to the information superhighway.
67

SCIENCE FLYING IN THE FACE OF GRAVITY

Journalist Tom Mumford joins students using weightlessness to test their theories.
It looked like just another aircraft from the outside. The pilot told his young passengers that it was built
in 1964, a Boeing KC-135 refuelling tanker, based on the Boeing 707 passenger craft. But appearances
were deceptive, and the 13 students from Europe and America who boarded were in for the flight of
their lives. Inside, it had become a long white tunnel.
There were almost no windows, but it was eerily illuminated by lights along the padded walls. Most of
the seats had been ripped out, apart from a few at the back, where the pale-faced, budding scientists
took their places with the air of condemned men.
1: ______________
Those with the best ideas won a place on this unusual flight, which is best described as the most
extraordinary roller-coaster ride yet devised. For the next two hours the Boeing's flight would resemble
that of an enormous bird which had lost its reason, shooting upwards towards the heavens before
hurtling towards Earth.
2: ______________
In the few silent seconds between ascending and falling, the aircraft and everything inside it become
weightless, and the 13 students would, in theory, feel themselves closer to the moon than the Earth. The
aircraft took off smoothly enough, but any lingering illusions the young scientists and I had that we
were on anything like a scheduled passenger service were quickly dispelled when the pilot put the
Boeing into a 45-degree climb which lasted around 20 seconds. The engines strained wildly, blood
drained from our heads, and bodies were scattered across the cabin floor.
3: ______________
We floated aimlessly; the idea of going anywhere was itself confusing. Left or right, up or down, no
longer had any meaning. Only gravity, by rooting us somewhere, permits us to appreciate the possibility
of going somewhere else.
4: ______________
Our first curve completed, there were those who turned green at the thought of the 29 to follow. Thirty
curves added up to ten minutes 'space time' for experiments and the Dutch students were soon studying
the movements of Leonardo, their robotic cat, hoping to discover how it is that cats always land on their
feet.
5: ______________
Next to the slightly stunned acrobatic robocat, a German team from the University of Aachen
investigated how the quality of joins in metal is affected by the absence of gravity, with an eye to the
construction of tomorrow's space stations.
Another team of students, from Utah State University, examined the possibility of creating solar sails
from thin liquid films hardened in ultraviolet sunlight. Their flight was spent attempting to produce the
films under microgravity. They believe that once the process is perfected, satellites could be equipped
with solar sails that use the sun's radiation just as a yacht's sails use the wind.
6: ______________
This was a feeling that would stay with us for a long time. 'It was an unforgettable experience,' said one
of the students. 'I was already aiming to become an astronaut, but now I want to do even more.'
68

A. The intention was to achieve a kind of state of grace at the top of each curve. As the pilot cuts the
engines at 3,000 metres, the aircraft throws itself still higher by virtue of its own momentum before
gravity takes over and it plummets earthwards again.
B. After two hours spent swinging between heaven and Earth, that morning's breakfast felt unstable,
but the predominant sensation was exhilaration, not nausea.
C. After ten seconds of freefall descent, the pilot pulled the aircraft out of its nose dive. The return of
gravity was less immediate than its loss, but was still sudden enough to ensure that some of the students
came down with a bump.
D. At the appropriate moment the device they had built to investigate this was released, floating belly-
up, and one of the students succeeded in turning it belly-down with radio-controlled movements. The
next curve was nearly its last, however, when another student landed on top of it during a less well-
managed return to gravitational pull.
E. For 12 months, they had competed with other students from across the continent to participate in the
flight. The challenge, offered by the European Space Agency, had been to suggest imaginative
experiments to be conducted in weightless conditions.
F. It was at that point that the jury of scientists were faced with the task of selecting from these
experiments. They were obviously pleased by the quality: 'We need new ideas and new people like this
in the space sciences,' a spokesman said.
G. Then the engines cut out and the transition to weightlessness was nearly instantaneous. For 20
seconds we conducted a ghostly dance in unreal silence: the floor had become a vast trampoline, and
one footstep was enough to launch us headlong towards the ceiling.
69

DROP ME A LINE
In our fast world of phones, emails and computers, the old-fashioned art of letter writing is at risk of
disappearing altogether. Yet, to me, there is something about receiving a letter that cannot be matched
by any other form of communication. There is the excitement of its arrival, the pleasure of seeing who
it is from and, finally, the enjoyment of the contents.
Letter writing has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. It probably began with the little
notes I would write to my mother. My mother, also, always insisted I write my own thank-you letters
for Christmas and birthday presents. 1: ______________
When I left home at 18 to train as a doctor in London, I would write once a week, and so would my
mother. Occasionally my father would write and it was always a joy to receive his long, amusing letters.
2: ______________ Of course, we also made phone calls but these are the letters I remember most.
There were also letters from my boyfriends. In my youth I seemed to attract people who had to work or
study away at some time and I was only able to stay in touch by correspondence. 3: ______________ I
found that I could often express myself more easily in writing than by talking.
I love the letters that come with birthday or Christmas cards. 4: ______________ And it's even nicer
when it's an airmail envelope with beautiful stamps. My overseas letters arrive from Mangala in Sri
Lanka, from someone I trained with over 20 years ago, and I have a penfriend in Australia and another
in Vancouver.
Then there's the lady who writes to me from France. If we hadn't started talking in a restaurant on the
way home from holiday, if my husband hadn't taken her photo and if I hadn't asked her for her address,
I would never have been able to write to her. 5: ______________ As it is, we now have regular
correspondence. I can improve my French (she speaks no English); we have stayed at her home twice
and she has stayed with us.
My biggest letter-writing success, however, came this summer, when my family and I stayed with my
American pen friend in Texas.6: ______________ Everyone was amazed that a correspondence could
last so long. The local press even considered the correspondence worth reporting on the front page.
I am pleased that my children are carrying on the tradition. Like my mother before me, I insist they
write their own thank-you letters. My daughter writes me little letters, just as I did to my mother. 7:
______________ However convenient communicating by email may appear to be, I strongly urge
readers not to allow letter writing to become another 'lost art'.

A. Most of the letters from home contained just everyday events concerning my parents and their
friends.
B. We had been corresponding for 29 years but had never met.
C. It didn't matter how short or untidy they were as long as they were letters.
D. Notes are appreciated, but how much better to have a year's supply of news!
E. Poor handwriting can spoil your enjoyment of a letter.
F. But instead of harming the relationships, letter writing seemed to improve them.
G. She and my son have penfriends of their own in Texas, organised by my penfriend.
H. More importantly, if she hadn't replied, we would be the poorer for it.
70

IT’S TRUE – WE’RE ALL GETTING TOO BIG FOR OUR BOOTS
Chris Greener was fourteen when he told his careers teacher he wanted to join the navy when he left
school. 'What do you want to be?' asked the teacher. 'The flagpole on a ship?' The teacher had a point –
because Chris, though still only fourteen, was already almost two metres tall. Today, at 228 cm, he is
Britain's tallest man.
Every decade, the average height of people in Europe grows another centimetre. Every year, more and
more truly big people are born. Intriguingly, this does not mean humanity is producing a new super
race. 1: ______________ Only now are we losing the effects of generations of poor diet – with dramatic
effects. 'We are only now beginning to fulfil our proper potential,' says palaeontologist Professor Chris
Stringer. 'We are becoming Cro-Magnons again – the people who lived on this planet 40,000 years ago.'
For most of human history, our ancestors got their food from a wide variety of sources: women gathered
herbs, fruits and berries, while men supplemented these with occasional kills of animals (a way of life
still adopted by the world's few remaining tribes of hunter-gatherers). 2: ______________ Then about
9,000 years ago, agriculture was invented – with devastating consequences. Most of the planet's green
places have been gradually taken over by farmers, with the result that just three carbohydrate-rich plants
– wheat, rice and maize – provide more than half of the calories consumed by the human race today.
3: ______________ Over the centuries we have lived on soups, porridges and breads that have left us
underfed and underdeveloped. In one study in Ohio, scientists discovered that when they began to grow
corn, healthy hunter-gatherers were turned into sickly, underweight farmers. Tooth decay increased, as
did diseases. Far from being one of the blessings of the New World, corn was a public health disaster,
according to some anthropologists.
4: ______________ The fact that most people relying on this system are poorly nourished and stunted
has only recently been tackled, even by the world's wealthier nations. Only in Europe, the US and Japan
are diets again reflecting the richness of our ancestors' diets.
As a result, the average man in the US is now 179 cm, in Holland 180 cm, and in Japan 177 cm. It is a
welcome trend, though not without its own problems. 5: ______________ A standard bed-length has
remained at 190 cm since 1860. Even worse, leg-room in planes and trains seems to have shrunk rather
than grown, while clothes manufacturers are constantly having to revise their range of products.
The question is: where will it all end? We cannot grow forever. 6: ______________ But what is it?
According to Robert Fogel, of Chicago University, it could be as much as 193 cm – and we are likely
to reach it some time this century.
However, scientists add one note of qualification. Individuals may be growing taller because of
improved nutrition, but as a species we are actually shrinking. During the last ice age, 10,000 years ago,
members of the human race were slightly rounder and taller – an evolutionary response to the cold.
(Large, round bodies are best at keeping in heat.) 7: ______________ And as the planet continues to
heat up, we may shrink even further. In other words, the growth of human beings could be offset by
global warming.
71

A. We must have some programmed upper limit.

B. As they benefit from the changes in agriculture, people expect to have this wide variety of foods
available.
C. In fact, we are returning to what we were like as cavemen.
D. This poor diet has had a disastrous effect on human health and physique.
E. Since the climate warmed, we appear to have got slightly thinner and smaller, even when properly
fed.
F. Nevertheless, from then on agriculture spread because a piece of farmed land could support ten times
the number of people who had previously lived off it as hunter-gatherers.
G. One research study found that they based their diet on 85 different wild plants, for example.
H. Heights may have risen, but the world has not moved on, it seems.
72

IN HOT WATER
Rachel Mills is a scientist who spends as much time as she can at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
Rachel Mills teaches and does research into marine geochemistry, which means she studies the chemical
processes happening in the sea. She is a lecturer at the Oceanography Centre at Southampton University.
When she isn't teaching, she lowers herself into a steel vehicle, a vessel for underwater exploration the
size of a small car, and dives three kilometres down into the Atlantic Ocean to study underwater
volcanoes.
'Inside,' she says, 'space is so limited that I can reach out and touch the two pilots.' 1: ______________
A dive can last for 16 hours – three hours to reach the ocean floor, ten hours gathering samples of rock
and water and then three hours to get back up to the surface again.
'If anything happens, and you have a problem and have to get to the top quickly, you can hit a panic
button.' The outside drops away leaving a small circular escape vessel that gets released, and it's like
letting go of a ping-pong ball in the bath – it goes rapidly to the surface. 2: ______________
'I didn't know how I was going to react the first time I climbed into the vehicle. It was on the deck of a
ship and I got in with an instructor. 3: ______________ They were testing me to see how I would react
to being in such a small place.'
Now Rachel has made six dives. Last year she dived with a Russian crew. 'We went to a site which was
a five-day sail west of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic. 4: ______________ It is where the Atlantic
Ocean comes alive. The Russian team were dropping off some scientific equipment there to discover
the effect of a multi-national programme that would make a hole 150 metres through a volcano,'
When she isn't at sea, Rachel is in her office at the Oceanography Centre, Southampton. 'Two thirds of
my salary comes from teaching, which I love, but I do it so I can get on with my research into the "black
smokers".' This is just another name for underwater volcanoes – water comes out of the rock and turns
into what looks like black smoke. 5: ____________
'The only time I've been frightened is when I first went down with the Americans. We were towing
equipment on a 50-metre rope when suddenly there was an explosion. There was this immense bang as
the shock waves hit our vehicle and I thought, "I'm going to die." We stared at each other in silence,
waiting. 6: ____________ The relief was incredible – we
were still alive!'
'It's such an adventure diving down to the deepest part of the ocean. Every time I look out of the porthole
and see those chimneys, there is such a sense of wonder. 7: ____________ I had studied the black
smokers for three years for my PhD. When I got down there and saw them for real, it was such an
amazing feeling.'
73

A. Here, on the ocean floor, is a huge area of underwater volcanoes, their chimneys all blowing out
black smoke.
B. Here I am on the bottom of the sea, and no one else on this planet has ever before seen them.
C. 'No one's tested it yet, but I don't think it would be a very pleasant journey.'
D. He then talked me through the emergency procedures, including what to do if the pilot had a heart
attack!
E. They are used to these conditions, which mean they can't stand up or move, and they must stay inside
until someone opens the door from the outside.
F. When it didn't happen, we couldn't believe it.
G. This pours out at a rate of one metre per second and at a temperature of 350 degrees.
H. After that, as you get really deep, it's near freezing point so you need a sweater, thick socks, gloves
and a woolly hat.
74

KEEP THE HOLIDAY-MAKERS HAPPY

A chalet girl’s work is never done, Sarah Sutherland-Pilch tells Veronica Lee – in between making beds
and delicious dinners.
This is the second year as a chalet girl for Sarah Sutherland-Pilch, a 24-year-old from West Sussex.
Known by her nickname, Pilch, Sarah works for a company in Val d'Isère, France, cooking and cleaning
for visitors who come to ski and stay in the wooden houses, known as chalets, that are characteristic of
the area. Sarah graduated in French and History of Art from Oxford Brookes University last summer.
Being a chalet girl isn't a career, she says, but an enjoyable way to spend a year or two before settling
down. 'It's a good way to make contacts. I meet successful people every week.'
Sarah does not 'live in'. 1: ______________ She has her own breakfast before preparing that of the
guests. 'They get the works – porridge, eggs, cereals, fruit and croissants.' When the last of the guests
has had breakfast, by about 9.30 a.m., Sarah clears up and either makes the afternoon tea, which is left
for the guests to help themselves to, or cleans the rooms – 'the worst part of the job,' she says.
By about 11 a.m. she is ready to go on the slopes herself. She skis as much as possible. 2:
______________ Sarah returns to the chalet in time to prepare dinner and takes a shower before doing
so, but does not sleep. 'It's fatal if you do,' she says.
Dinner, a three-course affair, is served at 8 p.m. and coffee is usually on the table by 10 p.m. Sarah
clears away the dinner things and fills the dishwasher. 3: ______________ Sometimes she will stay and
chat with the guests, other times they are content to be left alone. 'Good guests can make a week brilliant
– breakfast this morning was great fun – but some weeks, for whatever reason, don't go quite so well.'
Sarah meets her friends in the chalet where she lives and they go out at about 11 p.m. 'We usually start
off in Bananas, might go to G Jay's and perhaps Dick's T-Bar at the end of the evening,' she says. But
Sarah never stays out too late on Saturday night as Sunday is her busiest time of the week. 4:
______________
Work begins earlier than usual on Sunday, since breakfast for guests who are leaving has to be on the
table by 7 a.m. 5: ______________ 'We just blitz the place – clear the breakfast, strip the beds, get
everything ready.' If she hasn't already done the week's shop on Saturday, Sarah does it now.
6: ______________ 'They get here at around 4.30 p.m. Sometimes they are disorientated and full of
questions. I'm sure it's the mountain air that does something to them.'
Between tea and dinner, Sarah takes any guests needing boots or skis down to the ski shop and then gets
a lift back to the chalet from one of the ski shop staff. 7: ______________ 'Sometimes I'm so tired I
just have an early night,' she says.

A. At around 3 p.m., the cleaning work done, Sarah then prepares tea for the new guests.
B. Sarah enjoys cooking and, after leaving school, supported herself during holidays by working as a
cook.
C. 'There's nothing worse than coming in to a messy kitchen the next morning.'
D. As soon as the guests are gone, Sarah starts cleaning madly.
E. 'On a good day we can be up there until 4.30 p.m.'
F. 'A frightful day,' she says, 'when you certainly don't want to be cooking breakfast feeling exhausted.'
G. She gets up at 7 a.m. to walk the mile or so to the chalet, which sleeps up to 18 guests each week.
H. It is soon time for dinner duty again and perhaps a chat with friends, but not always.
75

THE MODERN ADVENTURER

A real adventure is hard to find these days, says Ed Douglas.
It seems that the only things left to explore are marketing opportunities.
I have never met Kevin Foster and know virtually nothing about him, but he has my admiration. Not
because he's visited the summit of the highest mountain in each of the fifty states in the US bar one. Not
even because he did it on a bicycle.
1: ______________
Such candour is rare in the increasingly narcissistic world of the modern adventurer. In a desperate need
to find new 'firsts' to tempt sponsors to part with their cash, the idea of what constitutes a worthwhile
achievement has been stretched beyond reason.
2: ______________
Paying for it, on the other hand, is a mountain in itself. That's why the folk who do these things spend
more time thinking about marketing strategies and making their websites attractive than they do
thinking about tundra and icebergs. An ascent of Everest can cost up to US$70,000; a trip to Antarctica
even more. So it's not surprising that they needed to find some new angle to tempt sponsors into handing
over the dough.
3: ______________
The adventurer's grand slam, as he termed it, involved climbing the highest mountain on each of the
seven continents, taking in both Poles, North and South, on the way. Children the world over had the
chance to watch his progress on television or the internet, while he criticised other famous adventurers
for being 'too professional'. Climbing those summits, first done in 1986 by Texan oil magnate Dick
Bass, is now considered no great challenge by itself. Most of the peaks involve little more than a stiff
walk. But few people understand that, least of all the television people who allow the self-publicists
seemingly endless airtime in which to promote their sponsors.
Apart from the micro-distinctions, there are other tricks the adventurers use to get our attention. For
decades, explorers have been reliving the journeys of the past in a sort of adventure heritage experience,
and now we even have re-creations of re-creations.
4: ______________
Then there are those who go on adventures to raise money for charity, people who, unlike Kevin Foster,
don't accept the idea that what they are doing is ridiculous. These heroes raise money for good causes
to give their exotic holiday moral legitimacy. Some people walk across South America for children's
charities, others without nearby mountains to climb settle for abseiling off the highest building in their
town for the local hospital's scanner appeal.
5: ______________
With a similar commitment to environmental causes, there is a growing band of adventurers who have
a genuine concern for the future of the planet. Scores of do-gooders, for example, have trudged up to
the foot of Everest, intent on clearing the mountain of the tons of garbage left behind by previous
expeditions.
6: ______________
In the same way, the sight of a minor celebrity climbing aboard a hot-air balloon for another abbreviated
flight does make a welcome change from reading about all the usual unpleasant wars and disasters. And
I, for one, plan to become part of this new wave of optimism. As far as I'm aware, no one has crossed
the Sahara on a pogo stick. This could be a real opportunity. Anyone want to sponsor me?
76

A. The maestro of this new strategy is David Hempleman-Adams, who made a fortune from glue and
then used his millions to stick together old challenges done years ago to make a new, big one – which
he sold to national newspapers and a broadcasting company.
B. Somewhat at odds with this, they then go on to write the inevitable book based on the trip's hairier
moments. There's quite a living to be made, I'm told, ghost writing for those amongst the intrepid who
find their stamina flagging a little when faced with a blank page and a tight deadline.
C. In 1947, for example, Thor Heyerdahl sailed the Pacific Ocean in his balsa-wood boat, the Kon-Tiki,
to repeat the voyage of South American Incas centuries before. Some fifty years later, the Spanish
explorer Kitín Muñoz made a number of attempts to repeat that same crossing.
D. Their efforts are widely publicised by press releases and photo calls, but usually end up generating
more stuff than they remove. Nevertheless, such an enterprise allows not only the participants, but also
those back home to feel much better about themselves.
E. The Americans have a word for it – 'micro-distinction'. Everest may have been climbed a thousand
times, but not by a pensioner without oxygen walking backwards and wearing a bobble hat. That
challenge remains. The uncomfortable truth for latter-day explorers is that getting to the world's more
remote corners is no longer that difficult.
F. No exploit is quite so outlandish, however, as that of the team from Idaho who were desperate to
bring attention to the plight of the sockeye salmon, a fish whose numbers have fallen dramatically in
recent years. They slithered 739 kms down the Snake River, imitating the journey of the juvenile
salmon, which has become, according to their human champions, more hazardous than it used to be.
G. He gets my vote as, unlike most modern 'explorers', he understood the value of his achievement. 'It
was ridiculous,' he later said. 'That's why I did it, and I wanted the publicity.'
77

CALLS FROM THE DEEP

Far beneath the waves, mysterious sounds and eerie echoes reverberate around the globe. David
Wolman asks what is going on down there.
The Earth's oceans are full of noise: boats, whales, submarines and earth tremors all add to the aquatic
cacophony. The study of ocean acoustics has helped scientists to monitor whale communication and
migration, pinpoint the locations of undersea volcanoes, and measure ocean temperature. Yet there's
still a handful of noises that continue to baffle researchers. Some last just a few minutes, while others
go on continuously for years at a time, and nobody knows for sure what causes them.
1: ______________
The data is then analysed by examining its characteristics as it arrives at different hydrophones.
Christopher Fox, the director of the Acoustic Monitoring Project in Newport, Oregon, says most
recordings from the deep are easily identified, because the resulting soundwave patterns are as
individual as voice prints. It is possible to look at the characteristics of a soundwave and identify a blue
whale, a boat, or even an earthquake. But other noises remain unidentified. Most of these have names
that Fox came up with on a whim, such as Upsweep, Train and Bloop.
2: ______________
Take the strange noise called Upsweep, for example, a flat tone accompanied by rising tones. It was
heard continually between 1991 and 1994, and was at its loudest during the last 15 months of this period.
During decades of tuning into the oceans, the US Navy had never heard this signal before.
3: ______________
Then, in 1996, geologists working on the island of Tahiti came up with the most plausible explanation
so far. Emile Okal and Jacques Talandier used seismometers, normally used to measure earthquakes, to
analyse Upsweep. They suspected the phenomenon was instead caused by a volcanic process. Although
Upsweep's relatively pure tone didn't fit with the more varied sounds usually typical of such activity,
they speculated that it came from the oscillation of some kind of bubbly liquid, perhaps sea water
coming into contact with a large pool of lava. Okal and Talandier homed in on the source using readings
from eight different directions, including SOSUS data provided by Fox.
4: ______________
Other puzzling sounds may have more straightforward origins. Many noises can be traced to weather
and ocean currents, and Fox suspects these are also responsible for the sound known as Train, which
resembles the rushing sound of a distant train.
5: ______________
And even those species which have been well monitored could still be responsible for a curious sound
or two, because most research focuses on audible frequencies rather than on the lower frequencies that
ocean hydrophones pick up.
6: ______________
There's one crucial difference, however: in 1997 this sound was detected by sensors 4,800 kilometres
apart. That means it must be far louder than any whale noise. Is it possible that some creature bigger
than any whale is lurking in the ocean depths? Or, perhaps more likely, there is something that is much
more efficient at making sound.
78

A. A far more romantic possibility for the source of mystery noises is marine life. The sounds produced
by many creatures haven't yet been catalogued, so little is known about their calls.
B. The system that picks up all these sounds was established in the 1960s when the US Navy set up an
array of underwater microphones, scattered around the globe. Known as SOSUS, short for Sound
Surveillance System, these listening stations sit on the seabed at a depth where sounds can travel for
thousands of kilometres, recording information.
C. Fox also believes this. His hunch is that the sound nicknamed Bloop is most likely to come from
some sort of animal, because its 'signature' is a rapid variation in frequency similar to that of sounds
known to be made by marine animals.
D. It was at first believed to be biological, possibly produced by fin whales. But when it was picked up
by receivers on opposite sides of the Pacific, researchers concluded that it was too loud to have been
produced by a whale. It also stayed the same over the course of many seasons, whereas whale song
should have varied as the whales migrated.
E. All this information pointed to a spot in the remote southern Pacific, roughly halfway between New
Zealand and Chile. They radioed a French research ship in the region, which headed to the place and
found that a previously identified chain of undersea mountains was in fact volcanic.
F. The suggestion of a huge ocean creature raises a vision of a giant squid. There are no confirmed
sightings of giant squid in the wild, although their bodies have been found on beaches. 'We don't have
a clue whether they make any noise or not,' says Fox.
G. These aren't meant to indicate the likely origins of the sounds, as no one knows what or who is
responsible for them. But in a few cases the real cause may soon be identified.
79

THE BIRTH OF SPIDER-MAN

Nick Drake reports on the origins of the comic-book superhero Spider-Man.
Spider-Man, the brainchild of writer Stan Lee, has been one of the world's most popular comic- book
characters since he first climbed his way up a wall in 1962. Superman may be able to fly, and Batman
may have neat gadgets, but Spider-Man has always been the superhero with style. Whether he's
swinging from a high-rise office block or just trying to win his girl's heart, there's always been
something irresistible about him, a quality which other comic-book strongmen have never matched.
1: ______________
Indeed, it's a point made in a new book about the Marvel Comic Company and the characters it
produced. He was neurotic, compulsive and profoundly sceptical about the idea of becoming a costumed
saviour. His contemporaries, the Fantastic Four, argued with each other, and both The Hulk and Thor
had problems with their alter egos, but Spider-Man alone struggled with himself.
2: ______________
Born in New York in 1922, he joined the company when he was seventeen, working his way up through
the firm until he was writing many of the titles. It wasn't until the early 1960s, however, that he gained
the freedom to create many of the characters who would make his name. Stan recalls that a throwaway
idea gave birth to one of the world's great superheroes.
3: ______________
For months, Stan had been toying with the notion of a new superhero, one who would be more realistic
than most, despite his colourful super- power. He has since confessed that he'd dreamt up the idea from
watching a fly on the wall while he'd been typing.
He took the idea to his boss, the publisher Martin Goodman, telling him that he wanted to feature a hero
whose main power was the fact that he could stick to walls and ceilings.
4: ______________
Stan waited for the enthusiastic reaction, for a hearty pat on the back and a robust: 'Go for it!' But it
didn't come. On the contrary, he was told that he was describing a comedy character, not a hero. Heroes
are too busy fighting evil to slow down the stories with personal stuff.
5: ______________
So to get it out of his system, Stan gave famed Marvel artist Jack Kirby his Spider-Man plot and asked
him to illustrate it. But when Stan saw that Jack was drawing the main character as a powerful-looking,
handsome, self-confident hero, he took him off the project. Jack didn't mind – after all, Spider-Man
wasn't exactly the company's top character.
6: ______________
Then they just forgot about it. But, some time later. when the sales figures came in, they showed that
Spider-Man had been a smash success, perhaps the best seller of the decade! Stan laughs when he recalls
Martin Goodman's priceless reaction: 'Stan, remember that Spider-Man idea that I liked so much? Why
don't we turn it into a series?' Spider-Man went on to be one of the most successful characters in comic-
book history.
80

A. Stan then passed the assignment over to Steve Ditko, whose toned-down, highly-stylised way of
drawing would, he thought, be perfect for Spider-Man. And he was right. Steve did a brilliant job in
bringing the character to life. So they finished the comic strip and put it in that last edition, even
featuring their new hero on the cover.
B. Another innovation which this creative genius brought to comic books was one which enhanced the
reader's grasp of the superhero's subjective viewpoint – the thought bubble.
C. As the man responsible for creating not only this troubled character but also The Silver Surfer and
many more, Stan Lee managed to transform the much maligned comic art form into a multi-million-
dollar industry and turn Marvel Comics into a household name.
D. The new hero would also be a teenager, with all the problems, hang-ups and angst that go with
adolescence. He'd be a loser in the romance department. Except for his superpower he'd be the
quintessential hard-luck kid.
E. Marvel comics had just one comic-book title that didn't feature superheroes. Stan was producing the
title, called Amazing Fantasy, which featured all sorts of brief, far-out comic strips. Stan loved it but
sales were disappointing, so it was decided that he would do one last issue and then let it rest in peace.
F. What's more, the name was a disaster. Didn't Stan realise that people hate spiders? But Stan couldn't
get Spider-Man out of his head. That's when he remembered that final issue of Amazing Fantasy he was
doing. He thought that no one would much care about what went into the last issue.
G. The secret of Spider-Man's success was, in part, a depth of characterisation that readers had never
before seen in such a protagonist. There isn't 'slam-bam-crash-boom' in every panel of a Spider-Man
comic strip. Rather, the reader becomes privy to the hero's inner thoughts about his troubled life.
81

ELEPHANT INTELLIGENCE
Should elephants be moved to near the top of the animal intelligence list?
For the first time, remote-control cameras have infiltrated the elephant herds of Africa. The result has
been made into a documentary film shown in many countries around the world. On watching the
footage, you start to believe that elephants may indeed be as intelligent as the great apes. As film-maker
John Downer says, 'When you see the immense cooperation and sensitivity between these animals, you
realise that they must be extremely clever.'
1: ______________
'This communication and understanding is impressive,' says Downer. 'I know of no other species, apart
from ourselves, who gather to greet a newborn.' Iain Douglas-Hamilton, chairman of the organisation
Save the Elephants, voices similar sentiments. The behaviour suggests that the same emotions exist
between one elephant and another as exist between humans. I believe elephants, like ourselves, have a
sense of humour, of play and of mischievousness.'
2: ______________
So what evidence for elephant intelligence can be found? Self-awareness is a key ability of conscious
beings. And just as a person looking into their mirror and seeing a dirty face will try to wipe it, it has
been found that an elephant studying its reflection will try to rub smudges off its forehead with its trunk.
3: ______________
The same might be said of the way in which elephants choose to gather in particular groups of different
sizes and at different times. Sometimes they are in an intimate family group, at other times they join
other families to form a bond group. For a long time it was a mystery as to how these groups coordinated
themselves.
4: ______________
Cameraman Michael Roberts noticed this: 'I recorded elephants freezing for long periods, their trunks
close to the ground, listening to things the human ear could not detect. But perhaps the most amazing
thing was seeing them using sticks to remove flies from their bodies. Imagine that – elephants actually
using tools, and, what's more, passing down their skills to their young.'
5: ______________
Iain Douglas-Hamilton is convinced that elephants plan their moves between 'safe arcas', sprinting from
one protected reserve to another under cover of darkness, and avoiding the danger areas in between.
'How the elephants can tell the two apart is unclear,' he says. 'It's not as if there are any fences. And it's
unlikely that any single elephant's experience of encounters with hunters would be extensive enough to
equip it with an accurate mental map of protected reserve boundaries.'
6: ______________
But this store of social knowledge may be at risk. Families with older matriarchs tend to have healthier
babies. Unfortunately, the oldest individuals are also the largest, and these tend to be prime targets for
hunters. If groups rely on these individuals for social knowledge, then a whole family's survival may be
affected by the removal of a few key individuals.
82

A. The footage from the cameras gives us an answer, backing up the theory that elephants communicate
through seismic-evoking sounds that are transmitted through the earth, like mini earthquakes. These
allow the elephants to assess where they are in relation to one another and to alert others to their physical
or emotional state.
B. So however clever elephants are, they are still at the mercy of humans, who have been the
perpetrators of most of the species' problems of survival. With evidence mounting of elephant
intelligence and wide-ranging communication between one another, there is a need for a rise in their
status on the intelligence spectrum.
C. For example, they have the capacity to appreciate the needs of others. At one point a group of female
elephants gathers around a baby elephant. The baby is struggling to get to his feet, and all the females
get involved in trying to help him up. When a male arrives and tries to interfere, female reinforcements
are quickly called in to prevent him from trampling the baby.
D. If individuals cannot acquire sufficient knowledge, this suggests that the animals may also be
learning from the experiences of others. ‘The precision with which they act,' he continues, 'suggests
their exchange of information is more sophisticated than anyone had previously believed.'
E. This discovery, when it occurred some years ago, was a startling one for scientists, who had assumed
that only humans and higher apes were smart enough to achieve self-recognition. Many behavioural
researchers consider that ability to be a hallmark of complex intelligence.
F. Learning what to fear is also acquired from their elders. In the Amboseli region, where Masai
tribesmen occasionally hunt elephants, the elephants learn to run from the sight and smell of the Masai.
Even tapes of Masai voices will cause the elephants to flee, while they ignore the sight, smell and sound
of tourists.
G. Similarities are also evident in the tendency of elephants to be jealous and crotchety, as shown in the
shot of a female lashing out with her back foot to kick a troublesome young elephant.
83

THE BOAT OF MY DREAMS

The best boat design should combine old and new, says Tom Cunliffe. And he put it into practice in his
own craft, 'The Westerman'.
This week, the Summer Boat Show in London is resplendent with fine yachts, bristling with new
technology. Nearly all are descendants of the hull-shape revolution that took place 25 years ago. By
contrast, my own lies quietly on a tidal creek off the south coast. She was designed last year but, seeing
her, you might imagine her to be 100 years old and think that her owner must be some kind of lost-soul
romantic.
1: ______________
It has to be said, however, that despite being an indispensable tool in current design methods and boat-
building practice, sophisticated technology frequently insulates crews from the harsh realities of
maritime life. These are often the very realities they hoped to rediscover by going to sea in the first
place.
2: ______________
The occasional battle with flapping canvas is surely part of a seaman's life. And for what purpose should
we abandon common sense and move our steering positions from the security of the aft end to some
vulnerable perch half-way to the bow? The sad answer is that this creates a cabin like that of an ocean
liner, with space for a bed larger than the one at home.
3: ______________
Her sails were heavy, and she had no pumped water, no electricity to speak of, no fridge, no central
heating, no winches, and absolutely no electronics, especially in the navigation department, yet she was
the kindest, easiest boat that I have ever sailed at sea.
4: ______________
The Westerman has never disappointed me. Although Nigel Irens, the designer, and Ed Burnett, his
right-hand man, are adept with computer-assisted design programs, Irens initially drew this boat on a
paper napkin, and only later transferred his ideas to the computer. After this had generated a set of lines,
he carved a model, just as boatyards did in the days of sail. Together we considered the primary
embryonic vessel, then fed the design back into the electronic box for modification.
5: ______________
Her appearance is ageless, her motion at sea is a pleasure and her accommodation, much of it in
reclaimed pitch pine, emanates an atmosphere of deep peace. Maybe this is because she was drawn
purely as a sailing craft, without reference to any furniture we might put into her. That is the well-tried
method of the sea.
6: ______________
Constructed in timber treated with a penetrating glue, she is totally impervious to water. Thus she has
all the benefits of a glass fibre boat yet looks like, feels like and sails like the real thing.
84

A. It's not that I'm suggesting that sailors should go back to enduring every hardship. It's always been
important to me that my boats have a coal stove for warmth and dryness and cosy berths for sleeping.
But why go cruising at all if every sail sets and furls itself?
B. Back on land, however, it is a sad fact that the very antiquity of classic boats means that they need a
lot of looking after. When I had a bad injury to my back, I realised that my 15-year love affair with her
had to end. Searching for a younger replacement produced no credible contenders, so I decided to build
a new boat from scratch.
C. In her timeless serenity, she is the living proof that it works; that there is no need to follow current
fashions to find satisfaction, and that sometimes it pays to listen to the lessons of history.
D. The next version was nearly right and by the time the final one appeared, the form was perfect. The
completed boat has now crossed the North Atlantic and has won four out of her first six racing starts.
E. At the same time, having lived aboard an ancient wooden beauty in the early seventies, it's easier to
understand more of this area of the mechanics. My designer, for example, knows more about the ways
of a boat on the sea than anyone I can think of.
F. Perhaps I am, though I doubt it. This boat has benefited from all the magic of old- fashioned boat
design, but it would have been a much harder job without the advances of modern know-how.
G. For me a boat should always be a boat and not a cottage on the water. When I bought an earlier boat,
Hirta, in which I circumnavigated Britain for a TV race series, the previous owner observed that she
had every comfort, but no luxury. During my long relationship with her, Hirta taught me how wise he
was.
85

IN SEARCH OF TRUE NORTH

– AND THE MAN BEHIND HALLEY'S COMET
Dr Toby Clark, a researcher at the British Geological Survey, aims to retrace Sir Edmund Halley's quest
to chart compass variations. Anjana Ahuja reports.
Astronomer Sir Edmund Halley (1656-1742) is best known for the comet that bears his name. Yet one
of his greatest accomplishments, in the eyes of his contemporaries, was to chart, using calculations
made on his sea voyages on the warship Paramore, the 'variations of the compass'. These variations are
now known as 'declination', that is, the angle between magnetic north and true geographical north.
Without it, sailors were unable to correct their compasses. It was therefore impossible to deduce
longitude precisely and navigate the oceans.
1: ______________
This voyage took him and his crew to Rio de Janeiro, down past South Georgia, up again to
Newfoundland and back to England. From these travels Halley published, in 1701, a 'New and Correct
Chart shewing the Variations of the Compasse in the Western and Southern Oceans'. More sophisticated
successors to this primitive cartographic effort proved indispensable to seamen for more than a century,
before a slow change in the terrestrial magnetic field rendered them inaccurate.
2: ______________
£70,000 will have to be raised before he embarks, and Sir Vivian Fuchs, who led the first cross-
Antarctica expedition, is providing support for his efforts to do this.
Dr Clark became fascinated by Halley during a two-year posting to Halley Station in Antarctica, where
he read biographies of the great scientist.
3: ______________
It was during this period that Halley developed a diving bell and also advised Sir Isaac Newton during
his writing of Principia Mathematica, the foundation of classical physics. Recreating the voyage, Dr
Clark says, will afford Halley the recognition he deserves. The projected expedition, which he has
entitled 'In the Wake of the Paramore', will also have scientific merit.
4: ______________
The data collected should help to refine the existing mathematical model of Earth's magnetic field,
called the international geomagnetic reference field. 'It is common to measure the size but not the
direction of the magnetic field. That's because you need to know the true north to measure the direction,'
says Dr Clark.
5: ______________
Dr Clark hopes that his measurements will plug any gaps in its coverage of the Atlantic Ocean and, he
points out, it is also useful to have ground-based measurements as a comparison. It is easy to forget just
how significant Halley's Atlantic journey really was. It was the first dedicated scientific expedition on
the seas and Halley became the first civilian who was appointed naval captain to pursue what many
regarded as an obsession with declination. Does Dr Clark possess the credentials to make his parallel
voyage a success?
6: ______________
And does he share Halley's obsessive trait? 'I am prepared to give up my life for eight months to do this,
so I suppose some people might think I'm obsessed. But I wouldn't want to sail across the Atlantic again
without a good reason. Halley, and his fascinating life, have given me a real sense of purpose.'
86

A. 'On our expedition we can use global positioning satellites to determine that.' The British Geological
Survey and the United States Navy have offered to supply instruments. By chance, a Danish satellite
will be taking similar measurements over the globe.
B. If all goes well, Halley's accomplishments will be celebrated once again. Dr Clark, himself a keen
sailor, plans to commemorate the three-hundredth anniversary of Halley's trip by retracing the route of
the Paramore.
C. As well as spending two years in Antarctica and working in the geomagnetic group at the British
Geological Survey, he has already sailed the 13,000 kilometres from Rio de Janeiro to England. He
envisages that the expedition will be completed in four stages, with four different crews.
D. So it was that Halley, one of only two men in the land at that time paid to conduct scientific research,
set sail for the Cape Verde Islands with the grand plan of charting declination in the North and South
Atlantic. The trip was quickly aborted because of crew insubordination, but Halley returned to the seas
a second time.
E. It will involve making the measurements that Halley made, but with far more precise instruments.
These measurements need to be updated because the terrestrial magnetic field is slowly but constantly
changing.
F. In addition, the charts that he produced are celebrated by cartographers – they are said to be the first
maps that used lines to delineate physical quantities. The contours became known briefly as 'halleyan'
lines.
G. 'Halley led a remarkable life,' Dr Clark says. 'He was not only a respected scientist but also led
expeditions. He was not just an astronomer but also did research in geophysics. While he was
Astronomer Royal, he mapped the positions of the stars, and also found time for other interests.'
87

BEGINNER TAKES ALL

Even before it was published, The Horse Whisperer was the hottest book of the year. A first novel by
British screenwriter Nicholas Evans, it has earned its author record-breaking sums. He talks here about
his inspiration and his triumph
The first months of the year were not kind to Nicholas Evans, screenwriter, producer and aspiring
director. The year began badly when Life and Limb, a film project he had been working on for months,
fell through 'almost overnight'. His disappointment mingled with stomach-churning worry: it had been
two years since he had earned any money and the promise of that film had been the only buffer between
him and an increasingly irate bank manager.
1: ______________
Although he was acting very much on impulse, the seeds for the story had been with him for some time,
sown by a farrier he met on Dartmoor while staying with a friend. The farrier had told him the story of
a docile horse that had turned, no one knew why, into a fiend. Its owners were desperate until they heard
of a gypsy who, simply by talking to the animal, transformed its temperament in a matter of hours. Such
men, the farrier said, were known as 'horse whisperers'.
2: ______________
'It was a funny time,' he says now. I was observing people, but essentially I was alone and I really felt
as though my life was falling apart. I'd tried for ten years to make a go of it as a film-maker, and here I
was, hugely in debt and wondering how I was going to feed the children, and thinking maybe it was all
just folly.'
3: ______________
When pushed, he ventured that Evans might get $30,000 as an advance on the book. 'I had in mind how
much I needed to pay off a bit of the overdraft and keep us going, and it was more than that. I'd spent
seven months on The Horse Whisperer, and there were at least another two to go. $30,000 was a really
difficult figure. I was also advised to write a 12-page synopsis of the remainder of the book.'
4: ______________
The events that followed have become publishing history. Within a week – a week of hotly contested
auctions - the novel had been sold to Transworld Publications in the UK for $550,000 and to Delacorte
in the US for $3.15 million, both record-breaking advances for a first novel.
5: ______________
As they all agreed to this sum, it was decided that they should each 'pitch' to Evans. And so, one night
in October, he sat in his study while four great film-makers rang, one after the other, to beg for the
privilege of paying $3 million for an unfinished novel. Evans told me all this as we sat drinking coffee
on a wooden verandah perched above the leafy garden of his home. He said that he had since turned
down an offer to write the screenplay of The Horse Whisperer.
6: ______________
He would be involved, he said, but at arm's length. The success of his novel had inevitably brought forth
the offer of new backing for Life and Limb, but he was no longer sure that he wanted to make it. 'I think
that I would be. foolish not to write another novel,' he said.
88

A. Evans' imagination was captured. He began researching the subject with a view to writing a
screenplay – he was, after all, a film-maker. But disillusionment with the film world following the
demise of Life and Limb prompted him to write the story as a book. And so throughout the spring he
drove across the US, stopping at ranches and learning about horses and the men who work with them.
B. 'It's all been such a fairy tale so far, I don't want to spoil it. Writing at that level is a very tough
business, and I don't want to become an employee of these people who I like and who have paid me so
much money. I'd hate to find myself writing a draft or two and then have them say, "Thanks Nick, but
now we'll bring in so-and-so".'
C. 'We couldn't believe it; we sat there with our jaws gaping. We'd never sent the manuscript to New
York, we still don't know how it got there,' Evans says. Nor did they send it to Hollywood, but within
that same week the major studios were fighting over it. 'My agent in the UK wisely involved an agent
over there and when he phoned us to say, "I think we can get $3 million outright," we laughed in
disbelief.'
D. As a screenwriter, he had yearned for the freedom of novelists and, when he had it, found himself 'in
the middle of this immense and terrifying plain without the support of screenplay rules to guide me.'
But he carries us smoothly through. Even so, he remains baffled as to why the story has captured
imaginations in the mind-blowing way that it has.
E. He thought that again towards the end of August, by which time he had returned home and written
the first half of the book. 'At that point the bank manager was getting really very heavy with us, and I
needed to know whether it was worth going on. I plucked up the courage to show it to a friend who was
a literary agent; he read it and said it was "fine".'
F. A wise man, finding himself in Evans' position, would have got a job. He could have gone back to
being a television executive, or begun a television project that had been on hold. Instead, he made a
decision that most people, Evans included, would consider insane. He bought a ticket to America and
set off for three months to research his first novel.
G. In October, together with the first two hundred pages of the novel, this was sent to seven UK
publishers on the eve of their departure for the annual spending spree at the internationally renowned
Frankfurt Book Fair. Within days his agent was on the telephone to report that he had just turned down
the first offer of $75,000. 'I said, "You what?" And he said, "It's OK, I just sense something is
happening".'
89

WHERE THE LANDSCAPE WILL DO THE WALKING

Despite the growth of tourism in the area, Roger Bray finds there are still undeveloped parts of Cape
Cod, an exposed peninsula off the east coast of the USA
On the fragile outer shore of Cape Cod the pervading sense is of a universe in which nothing stands
still. The ocean wages its war of attrition against the shifting sand, which rises from the beach into a
steep cliff. Gulls wheel on the wind; swallows dart low over the water's edge.
1: ______________
The simple reason is that, here, more than in most places, to get off the roads and away from the most
easily accessible beaches is to experience the Cape not just as a holiday retreat for urban Americans but
as it has always been.
2: ______________
This is mainly because a large swathe of it was established in 1961 as a national park. Our search for
recommended hikes took us to the internet – but the maps were hard to follow. We tried bookshops but
to no avail. There were books listing walks, to be sure, but the routes they covered were much too short.
3: ______________
Following its directions made for superb hiking. To cover the whole of the route we wanted to do would
have involved linear sections totalling about 50 kilometres. There were circular itineraries, however,
varying in length between about 12 and 20 kilometres, though slow going on soft sand makes them
seem longer.
4: ______________
One route took us along the Old King's Highway, once stagecoach route, into the middle of an eerie
swamp of Atlantic white cedar, where the sunlight streamed between shaggy barked trunks and where
the park management has built a boardwalk and provided nature information.
5: ______________
The circuit concluded with an intoxicating hike along the beach. To our right rose the huge sandy cliff,
threatening to slide and bury the unwary. Henry Beston, in The Outermost House, his lyrical account of
a year spent here in the 1920s, describes how, after the cliff was pushed back 6 metres or so by a
momentous storm, the long buried wreckage of ships emerged from it, as fruit from a sliced pudding.
6: ______________
The shingled Whalewalk Inn was also a delight. It lies behind a white painted picket fence on a leafy
road on the fringe of Eastham. It was built in 1830 by Henry Harding, a whaling captain when that
industry was at its peak. Later it was used as a farmhouse and a salt works. Nowadays, people also find
it a relaxing place to stay.
90

A. It continued to the South Wellfleet sea cliff where Marconi broadcast the first transatlantic wireless
message in 1903, sending greetings in Morse code from President Theodore Roosevelt to King Edward
VII. The transmitting station was scrapped in 1920 but a model recalls how it looked, its antennae
suspended between tall timber masts.
B. If we had sauntered a few kilometres from the car park to stand for a while on that great beach, we
might still have felt the whirling of the universe. But without a day of serious hiking to sharpen our
appetites, would we have appreciated the food so much?
C. On the other side, however, there was nothing but ocean, jade green inshore, ink blue farther out,
between us and the coast of north-west Spain. Although this was a week of near flawless weather in
May, we were lucky to encounter only a handful of other walkers. In high summer, when the roads are
clogged and there are queues for restaurant tables, it is harder to find an empty stretch of beach.
D. Because, for all the impact of tourism, which nearly triples the population in summer, there are still
lonely parts of this storm-scoured, glacial peninsula which have changed little during the last 150 years.
E. We tried several of them. Sometimes we were on woodland trails shaded partly by pitch pine and
black oak, sometimes on high windy cliffs overlooking the sea, and sometimes on the foreshore, where
we were made diminutive by the huge sky and curving beach of white gold sand.
F. Henry David Thoreau wrote that 'even the sedentary man here enjoys a breadth of view which is
almost equivalent to motion'. Perhaps that was why it proved so difficult to find a guide for long hikes.
People must wonder why they need to expend effort when they can let the landscape do the walking.
G. Staff at the inquiry desk of the Cape Cod National Seashore's Salt Pond visitor centre were no help,
either. But in the centre's bookshop, we struck gold at last. Adam Gamble's In the Footsteps of Thoreau,
published locally two years ago, has a section tracing the writer's progress in 1849 from Eastham to
Race Point Beach, where he turned towards Provincetown, the Cape's outermost community, now a
gathering place for whale watchers.
91

ON A WING AND A WOOF

Michael Cassell's close encounter with a paragliding puppy inspires a desire to try out the sport
I love dogs, but a dog's place is at your feet, not flying above your head. I was holidaying on the Côte
d'Azure in France, and I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing. I think it was some form of terrier,
although it was hard to tell because it wore goggles and a little bandana and was moving at some speed
as it passed over the house.
1: ______________
I kept my eye on the pair and saw them land on the beach, where they received warm applause from
early bathers. I'm sure they were breaking every rule in the book and if the police had intervened I
imagine the dog at least could have lost his licence.
2: ______________
Paragliding, by contrast, relies entirely on thermic air and the skill of its pilot; to take to the skies on
such a lightweight contraption is to soar free and silently in the arms of mother nature. The sport has
spawned more than 650 clubs across France, and fans travel from across Europe to enjoy the mix of
wild scenery and placid weather that the country offers. The most popular regions are the Alps, the
Pyrenees and Corsica, and there are plenty of paragliding schools in those regions that will get beginners
off the ground in two or three days.
3: ______________
The Côte d'Azure, however, is not in itself natural paragliding country, and we have found ourselves
under the flight path of a growing number of enthusiasts simply because of the jagged ridge of red rock
that towers three hundred metres above sea level behind our house – the best jumping-off spot for miles
around.
4: ______________
It's a forty-five-minute climb from the beach to this ridge-top and although the gliders weigh around
7kg, there are a harness and helmet and boots and other bits and pieces to carry as well. I calculate that
each flight lasts about four minutes and some of the keenest fans trudge past my gate three or four times
a day. I tucked in behind one group to watch them get ready for the jump.
5: ______________
The reality, of course, is that with proper training and preparation paragliding is a very safe sport; there
are accidents, but most are rarely that serious and usually occur on launching or landing. This group,
however, knew their stuff. To forsake a long run and lift off for a virtual leap into space takes experience
and supreme confidence.
6: ______________
I'm not a natural-born daredevil and wouldn't myself have found that experience thrilling. But I am
nevertheless sorely tempted to have a go – maybe on a gently sloping hillside. 'You'll need a medical
certificate at your age,' declared one of the group, instantly extinguishing the flame of adventure. But
then if puppies can paraglide, why shouldn't an old dog like me?
92

A. But this is no place for beginners. There are no gentle, grass-covered slopes to run down – the rocks
are vertical and unyielding and anyone who leaps off them could easily get into difficulties unless they
know what they are doing.
B. For the more courageous, the pleasures of advanced thermalling await, but if you are of a more timid
disposition and want to hold someone's hand, you can take a tandem course; if you are a dog, the
experience must be like sticking your head out of the car window and letting the wind beat your ears
round the back of your head.
C. Not all of these untrained novices reach the beach, however. In recent days, one paraglider has landed
on a neighbour's pool terrace, wrecking several terracotta pots and a previously unblemished light
record.
D. Despite such unexpected intrusions on my privacy, I've decided that paragliding, with or without the
canine companion, is immensely superior to microlight flying, in which the airborne are propelled by a
motor so clamorous and noisy that any idea of soaring serenely through the heavens is soon lost.
E. The biggest surprise was that they were not all strong, strapping young men, intent upon ticking off
another item on some checklist of 'dangerous things to do before I die'. Of the six preparing to jump,
three were women and the average age appeared to be somewhere in the mid-thirties.
F. The puppy was paragliding – a tiny, intrepid recruit to the sport that has taken off big time across the
country. The creature was not on its own, thank goodness, but on a machine piloted by a young man
who greeted me cheerily as they swooped beyond the end of the terrace and dived down the hillside.
G. There was one nasty moment when one of the women leapt and, instead of instantly catching the
air beneath her canopy, plunged alarmingly down the face of the cliff; but within seconds she had caught
an updraft, was whooping gleefully and on her way.
93

THE LONG WAY HOME

On the last day, I walked down to the harbour. Having slept late, I had breakfast on my own and, as
Charley was still sleeping, went for a wander. I wanted to get to the ocean; I needed to see the Pacific.
I stumbled down the hill, through rows and rows of tenements, nodding, smiling and waving at the
people I passed, eventually arriving at the waterfront. I turned around and lifted my camera to my eye
and took a photograph.
1: ______________
I walked on. The path led to the beach. Although it was the last day of June, it was the first day the sun
had shone in Magadan that year. Three weeks earlier, it had snowed. But that day the air was warm and
soft, the sky a cloudless blue. Women wore bikinis and small children were running naked across the
sands. Families were eating picnics or cooking on barbecues. I walked past them all, along the entire
length of the beach, until I came to the harbour.
2: ______________
All we knew then was that we wanted to get from London to Magadan. With the maps laid out in front
of us, Charley and I drew a route, arbitrarily assigning mileage to each day, not knowing anything about
the state of the roads. Time and again we were told by experienced travellers that our plans were wildly
optimistic and that we didn't know what we were letting ourselves in for. I'd never ridden off-road and
Charley had never properly camped. The chances of failure were high, they said.
3: ______________
I thought back to the day a month or so earlier when we had been in Mongolia. It was mid-afternoon
and we were riding through a beautiful valley. I pulled over and got off my bike. Charley, ahead of me,
stopped, too. He swung his bike around and rode back towards me. Before he even arrived, I could feel
it coming off him: why are we stopping? We're not getting petrol, we're not stopping to eat: why are we
stopping?
4: ______________
It was where we were going to stop at in the middle of an afternoon so that we could cool our sweaty
feet in the water while catching fish that we'd cook that evening on an open fire under a star-speckled
sky. I'd seen that spot half an hour earlier. There was no question at all that it was the one. A beautiful
expanse of water and nobody for hundreds of miles. And we'd ridden straight past it.
5: ______________
Then we got back on our bikes and moved on. A few weeks later, we arrived at the first big river in
Siberia. It was too wide, too fast and too deep to cross on a motorbike. There was a bridge, but it had
collapsed.
6: ______________
I understood now that it didn't really matter that we hadn't stopped beside that cool, fast-flowing
Mongolian river. The imperfections in our journey were what made it perfect. And maybe we wouldn't
be in Magadan now if we'd not had that burning desire to keep going. After all, the river would always
be there. Now that I knew what was out there, I could always return.
94

A. Yet here we were in Magadan, as far around the globe from home as it was possible to go, and we'd
arrived one day ahead of our schedule.
B. We then guessed our way from west to east, across two continents, from the Atlantic to the Pacific,
as far as it was possible to ride a motorbike in a straightish line.
C. I walked away from Charley. I didn't want to tell him it was because we'd passed the place. The place
that had been in my dreams. The place we'd fantasised about months before we'd even set off from
London. A place with a river of cool, white water and a field nearby to pitch our tents.
D. There it was: Magadan, Siberia. The place that had been in my dreams and thoughts for two years,
like a mythical city forever beyond my reach. I wanted to capture it, somehow hold on to it, take a part
of it with me when Charley and I began the long journey back.
E. I thought Charley would be itching to get ahead, impatient with the hold-up. But he was in his
element. He knew that someone or something would be along to help. The delays were the journey.
We'd get across it when we got across it.
F. I sat down for five minutes, just needing to look at the countryside around us. The countryside that
we often didn't have time to take in because we were always so intent on keeping to our schedule.
G. There, I climbed up onto the quay and sat on a mushroom-shaped bollard. An Alsatian came over
and sat next to me. I scratched its head for a while, gazed out at the ocean and thought back to the day
when Charley and I had sat in a little workshop in west London, surrounded by motorbikes, with dreams
of the open road in our heads.
95

CALL OF THE WILD

What can wild animals tell us about the way life should be lived? Well, take the example of the
whitethroat. You could say that it's a rather drab little bird with a rather ordinary and tuneless little song.
Or, on the contrary, you could say the whitethroat is a messenger of excitement and danger – a thrilling
embodiment of life and risk and defiance of death.
1: ______________
Whitethroats, however, are mostly lurkers and skulkers. You'll usually find them well hidden in a nice
thick prickly hedge, their brown plumage picked out with the small vanity of, yes, a white throat. The
male bird sings a jumble of notes thrown together any old how, a song that is generally described as
'scratchy'. A whitethroat is not normally a bird that hands out thrills to human observers. But all the
same, it is a bird that lives by the thrill and is prepared to die by the thrill.
2: ______________
Or not, of course. A small bird that makes such a big racket and then flies into the open will clearly
excite the interest of every bird of prey within earshot. And that is part of the point: 'Come on, you
hawks! Have a go if you think you're hard enough!'
3: ______________
But I can't help wondering how the bird feels about this. Does he do it because he is a clock, a feathered
machine that has been wound up by the passing of the seasons to make this proven ancestral response?
Or does he do it because making a springtime song flight is the most wonderfully thrilling thing to do?
4: ______________
And it is there in aspects of human behaviour, too. I have spoken to mountaineers, powerboaters, Grand
Prix drivers, parachutists and jockeys, and they all say the same thing. It's not something they do because
they have a death wish. The exact opposite is the case – risk makes them feel more intensely, more
gloriously alive. They take risks because they love life. It is part of the contradiction of being ourselves.
We thrill to danger. We can't resist it. We love safety and security and comfort, yet we seek risk and
adventure.
5: ______________
That's why we watch films and identify with risk-taking heroes and feisty heroines in all kinds of
precarious situations. It's why we pass the time on a long journey by reading a thriller in which the main
character dodges death by inches all the way to our destination. And it explains why we support a
football team; knowing that the more we care, the more we will find both excitement and despair.
6: ______________
But if home is so great, why did we ever leave it? And if adventure is so great, why did we come back?
It is because our nature – our human, mammalian, animal nature – insists that we love both; that one is
not complete without the other.
96

A. And so, like the whitethroat, we all seek danger, even if we don't take the actual risks ourselves. In
other words, although we've spent ninety-nine percent of that history as hunter-gatherers, the deepest
parts of ourselves are still wild.
B. And the whitethroat tells us that we don't have the monopoly on this feeling – it is something that
other living creatures understand 2 just as well. A liking for danger is part of our inheritance as
mammals, as animals.
C. Because every now and then in springtime he will leave that little leafy home of his and launch
himself skywards – so moved by his own eloquence that he must take to the wing and fly up, singing
all the time, before gliding gently back down to safety.
D. You must make your own mind up on these issues – but one thing you can't avoid is that this
deliberate annual courting of danger is part of the way the whitethroat lives his life.
E. Of course, it's not the same for everybody, not to the same extent. Most of us enjoy different levels
and different forms of risk at different times, just like the whitethroat in his hedge. And it is all the better
for the time afterwards, when we have risked and survived and returned safe and sound.
F. The glories of the whitethroat's song demand this exhibition: the better and bolder and louder the
song flight, the more likely the male is to attract a nice mate and keep that patch of prickly territory for
himself. That's the evolutionary reason for it, anyway.
G. You might take this opposite view because what the whitethroat shows us, amongst many other
things, is why humans love tigers, love going on safari, love winter sports and fast cars, love riding
horses and, above all, love all the vast, wild open spaces left on this planet. Most other creatures will
give you the same message, too, if you study them. But the whitethroat does it in an especially vivid
way.
97

STIFF BREEZE, NO COCKTAILS

Victor Mallet set sail on the yacht Moonblue 2 in a three-day race across the South China Sea which
turned out to be packed with incident and excitement
The sailing in the San Fernando Race was glorious; one of the best in the thirty-year history of the event.
From the outset, all the front-runners were spared the windless calms that can cause such frustration in
events like this.
1: ______________
Apart from the unaccustomed speed, a few other things about Moonblue 2 took some getting used to
for me. There was the novelty of being on such a luxurious cruiser-racer, and the overall excellence of
the food and drink on board. I wasn't used to such luxury, and I can't recall racing in a boat where you
can take a shower when your period of watch comes to an end.
2: ______________
Despite such minor inconveniences, the race had been going well, but suddenly we hit a problem. Peter,
the normally cheery skipper and owner of Moonblue 2, was shouting almost angrily from somewhere
below, demanding to know where the cocktail blender was.
3: ______________
Peter repeated his question in frustration, adding: 'Didn't anyone bring it back from the party at the yacht
club?' We looked studiously into the darkness while we struggled to trim the sails and bring the boat
under control. No, no one had brought it back from the pre-race party two nights earlier.
4: ______________
Once the penny had dropped, we realised it wasn't such a crazy request after all. It seemed that, not for
the first time, the high-strength line connecting the wheel to the rudder had snapped. Peter wanted the
blender's long electric cable because it could be used to replace it. Just two hours later, three crew
members – there were thirteen of us on board altogether – fixed the steering, not with the blender cable
but with the help of a spare length of aerial cable, and we were able to continue racing. Part of the
challenge of sailing for me is that anything can go wrong, even on a superbly equipped yacht such as
Moonblue 2.
5: ______________
Such complicated yachts as Moonblue 2 also require constant attention and minor adjustments to the
steering, in contrast to an old-fashioned yacht that almost steers itself. For the crew on this trip, however,
there were mercifully few sail changes during the race until the very end. But even at that stage, we still
had one last small mishap to contend with. When we crossed the finishing line off San Fernando at
midnight, two-and-a-half days after the start, a local captain who was supposed to guide us into a safe
anchorage took us straight on to a mudbank.
6: ______________
And of the eighteen starters, Moonblue 2 was second to finish, a fantastic result overall – with or without
the cocktail blender!
98

A. This had become apparent the previous weekend on a pre-race practice run when the propeller had
been entangled twice, first in rope and then again in industrial plastic, in the space of an hour. On each
occasion, one of the crew had had to dive into the water with a knife and a pair of goggles to clear the
debris.
B. But any large boat, however stylish, also has its drawbacks. In rough seas, it was tricky getting from
one end of the spacious cabin to the other because the handholds were so far apart.
C. After all, the pre-race discussion had revolved largely around the issue of how just such a situation
might be dealt with. Fortunately, however, an unexpected solution was at hand.
D. It could have been worse, however. Our Australian rival Strewth was led into a reef with a crunch,
so we actually had quite a lucky escape.
E. To those of us out on deck, however, this didn't seem to be quite the moment for any kind of a drink.
It was eight hours into the race, there was a stiff breeze, rough waves and the steering had just failed
completely.
F. This wasn't an entirely enjoyable time for me, though, as in the initial thirty-six hours we were driven
by a northeast monsoon wind that sometimes whipped up a rough and uncomfortable sea. On the plus
side, however, we sped southwards under full sail, making for an amazing time.
G. A few uncomfortable moments passed, nobody wanting to break this piece of news to him. Then we
suddenly saw what he was on about.
99

BREAKING THE MOULD

Karim Rashid is a man who can make even a rubbish bin look good
The man in the rock-star white leather suit and the luminous white and orange shoes is being mobbed
by autograph hunters. Tall, glamorous and sporting white-rimmed shades, Karim Rashid has arrived, in
every sense. The designer is attending the opening of a new homes store on New York's Sixth Avenue
and everyone wants a piece of him, from giggling teenagers to the men in grey suits circling him
protectively.
1: ______________
Alternatively, you might even be reading this while sitting comfortably on the 'Oh', Rashid's ubiquitous,
cheap-as-chips, stackable plastic chair. Rashid specialises in reasonably priced objects of desire. The
industrious industrial designer, born in Cairo to an Egyptian father and English mother but raised and
educated in Canada, would rather call himself a philosopher-designer.
2: ______________
This is a dazzling white space, with rainbow-hued metallic furniture and shelves full of his gem-
coloured glass and plastic designs, ranging from iconic perfume bottles for Issey Miyake to shapely
containers for homely washing-up liquid. He lives 'over the shop' in a large loft with his wife, the
computer artist Megan Lang. He and Megan wear matching tattoos based on the recurring vocabulary
of symbols he uses in his work, such as the plus sign for love.
3: ______________
Indeed, the softly spoken 43-year-old does seem happiest talking about his current projects, which
include hotels in Brighton and London. But before we get to that he does have a go at recalling the wave
of furniture, homeware, fashion and art he has conceived since establishing Karim Rashid Inc.
4: ______________
But that's all in the past. Rashid has no truck with nostalgia and loathes the current mania for retro style.
'I'm kind of sick of the past. The here and now is all we've got,' he says, speaking at a rate of knots that
befits someone who says he rarely sleeps more than a few hours most nights and wakes regularly at
4am, his head bursting with thrilling ideas.
5: ______________
For Rashid, realising this ambition means juggling as many projects as he can keep in the air. He is
currently designing furniture and lighting for about a dozen companies; he is also working on a range
of glassware, the interiors of restaurants in New York, Moscow and Mexico, and planning his own shop.
Then there's the customised clothing collection that will retail on the Internet, as well as carpets, toys,
bicycles and hot tubs.
6: ______________
I feel tired just thinking about this vast range of professional and recreational interests, but there's no
stopping Rashid. 'As well as the hotels in the UK, I'm doing one in Athens and another in Los Angeles,'
he says, adding that as someone who constantly jets around the world, he's been desperate to get his
hands on the hospitality industry. He intends to change the way we look at hotel living. 'Staying in a
hotel should make people think about their own homes,' he says. 'I want guests to go away relaxed, but
thinking how boring their own surroundings are.'
100

A. 'We're living in a time of disposability and a time of no ownership,' he continues by way of

explanation. 'What that means is you can perpetually have newness, you can change with the times and
stay technologically on top – which is why I want to shape the future of the world.'
B. To this end, he has even written a book, ambitiously called I Want to Change the World. In the past
decade, he has created more than 800 objects – for which he's won some 50 awards. 'Honestly, I've lost
count of exactly how many things I've designed now,' admits Rashid when we meet in his downtown
studio.
C. The list he comes up with includes cigarette lighters, watches, trainers, packaging for Prada's unique
disposable daily cosmetics range, plastic pens, salt and pepper shakers, board games, a rubber chess set
(which, incidentally, sold 23,000 in just six weeks), as well as fabulously futuristic furniture and
organically shaped interiors for upmarket restaurants.
D. So what does this design dynamo do to switch off? 'I change the furniture around in our loft, which
is sensuously minimalist anyway,' he says. 'I grew up with that idea – my dad used to move the furniture
around in our house every Sunday. I guess I'm my father's son, which makes me very proud.'
E. Dressed in pristine white (he gave his thirty black designer-label suits to a second-hand shop) with
rapper-style, chunky silver 'blob' jewellery, he insists that the couple live their lives forwards, not
backwards, hence his inability to remember his many achievements.
F. And as if all this were not enough, Rashid also composes ambient music and, in his spare time – of
which he obviously has lots – he DJs around New York's club scene. According to his website, you can
hire him for parties.
G. Actually, many of us already own one: his 'Garbo' plastic wastepaper bin, which comes in improbable
colours such as metallic green or lilac, for instance. More than three million of these curvaceous,
covetable cult objects have been sold worldwide in less than four years.
101

LIFE CHOICES
Would you give up a dull but secure job to fulfil your real ambition? Susannah Bates did.
We last interviewed Susannah Bates five years ago, just after the publication of her second novel in
little more than twelve months. And then it went a bit quiet. Her third tale is now out – so why the long
gap? Well, we need to rewind to January six years ago. In that month, Susannah rekindled a romance
with a former boyfriend from her days at university. Her first book, Charmed Lives, was out not long
after – and pretty quickly it seemed life was imitating art.
1: ______________
The sequel, also featuring a city lawyer, was by this time pretty much done and dusted and would appear
on the bookshelves the following spring. 'I'd already done a bit of work on the next one, but not a huge
amount. But when I did get down to working on it, it didn't come as easily as the others. They came out
quite quickly, and then there's been this gap.'
2: ______________
The successful publication of three novels, with one to come as part of her current publishing deal,
certainly vindicates her decision to turn her back on the law after two years at law school, and a year
working in London. Wisdom is about realising what works for you, and she hasn't looked back.
3: ______________
'What's more, when I was trying to get published and taken on by an agent, I was treated more seriously
because I was a lawyer; I suspect because it shows you can put your head down and do hard work. But
I eventually decided I just wasn't temperamentally suited to it. I came to specialise in banking law. They
didn't ever say you had to be that good with numbers, but I think it would've helped!' she laughs.
4: ______________
'Those who stay in the industry do it because they love that side of it. They get a real buzz and think
"This deal's worth eight million" or "The deal we're working on is going to be on the front pages of the
business section." For me, it could have been eight dollars. Eight million? It wasn't that big an issue. It
didn't give me the same thrill.'
5: ______________
'I never thought writing was a realistic option, especially my sort of writing, because so many people
fail at it. Maybe it's my upbringing, but I really felt it was important, leaving university, to earn money,
and I didn't see how I could ever do that by writing. I think that was the real explanation, and I wanted
to be independent. I also thought that whatever I did, I'd put my head down and come to enjoy it; I didn't
realise I'd find the law quite so dry!'
6: ______________
But that's all in the past. Thoughts for the future centre on a fourth novel. There's no title as yet, but
there are many thoughts swirling and settling in Susannah's mind.
102

A. 'I was incredibly naive to think that initial feeling would change, and I took a while to realise I was
hitting my head against a brick wall. Maybe it was because there's a part of me that likes ticking boxes
and jumping through hoops and getting approval, and there's a lot of that in the law.'
B. It featured a successful high-flying young lawyer who has everything except a life outside the office
– until she meets her beau. Susannah was a lawyer who gave up the law in order to write, and who then
met hers. They got engaged as spring turned into summer, and before the end of the year, were married.
C. 'It's as if I suddenly saw the light,' she says. 'I've got a friend from that time and I hate to think what
he's earning compared to what I'm earning! But I don't really regret giving it up. I don't regret having
done it, either; I think it's a really great grounding, knowing what it is to be a professional, and I've used
aspects of that in my writing.'
D. 'My mother's quite realistic about decisions and I remember her saying when I was wondering
whether to go through with it: "Write a short story, send it to a magazine, see how it gets on."'
E. To an outsider, therefore, it seems a bit surprising that Susannah joined the profession in the first
place. As an English student at university, she co-wrote a couple of plays performed at a national
festival; one was nominated for an award. So why didn't she follow a literary star?
F. That department appealed because she liked the amusing people there. 'You could have fun flicking
elastic bands at everyone or sending a fake email from someone else's computer, but at the end of the
day you had to go back to your desk and look at those rows of figures,' she smiles.
G. 'When I'm working on a novel, I need to shut myself away. It's quite a sad, lonely activity,' she laughs.
'But when life's looking up and you're busy and have someone around, you're very easily distracted. It
took a long time to find my rhythm again.'
103

MASTER OF THE DEEP

Jacques-Yves Cousteau, 1910-1997, was one of the greatest Frenchmen of the 20th century. He invented
the modern diver's breathing apparatus, and went on to become one of the world's best-known explorers.
A new era of marine exploration began in the summer of 1943 in a secluded French cove when Cousteau
first slipped into the sea wearing his Aqua-Lung, the simple but elegant invention that enabled humans
to take their breath with them beneath the sea.
1: ______________
He knew what he wanted, but it did not exist. What he wanted was self-contained compressed-air
cylinders plus a device with hoses and mouthpiece. This device would feed him air only on the intake,
at the pressure of the surrounding sea, shutting off the flow when he exhaled.
2: ______________
For human use the device proved remarkably effective, so much so that today millions of divers put on
this device without a thought. But at the time the Aqua-Lung was history in the making. It opened the
submarine world to a new age of discovery.
3: ______________
The end of World War II freed naval officer Cousteau for further joyful underwater pursuits. He used a
wooden-hulled, former minesweeper, the Calypso, to continue his exploration of the ocean depths. He
recorded his experiences in his book, The Silent World (1953), a publishing sensation that sold five
million copies and was translated into 22 languages. In subsequent years, Cousteau developed a
miniature submarine, the Diving Saucer, built underwater dwellings for prolonged diving, and produced
a series of television films that would make him one of the world's best-known faces. But as the years
passed, he began to notice something disturbing in the Mediterranean Sea.
4: ______________
This was especially apparent in the Mediterranean Sea, which is an enclosed, nearly tideless, sea with
many of the characteristics of a lake, so that any environmental interference would not take long to
show itself. Later Cousteau went on the high seas, returning to Assumption Island in the Indian Ocean,
where many years before he had filmed much of The Silent World.
5: ______________
He founded the Cousteau Society to publicise and support his new passion. He took Calypso all over
the world, documenting the unchecked looting, as he called it, of the oceans and rivers. Everywhere he
went he talked to fishermen, farmers, and even to Presidents.
6: ______________
Cousteau will be remembered for his ability to communicate, just as his name will always be connected
with water. In 1992 he attended the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development
in Rio de Janeiro, pleading for the sane use of Earth's finite resources. He spent the rest of his life in
tireless advocacy of the sea. Truly, Jacques-Yves Cousteau was the 'master of the deep'.
104

A. He was horrified to find the same sickness. What had been an aquatic paradise, pulsating with life
and ablaze with colour, was nearly lifeless. Appalled and angered, Cousteau the diver and film-maker
became Cousteau the environmentalist.
B. At night I had often had visions of flying by extending my arms as wings,' Cousteau wrote in his
diary. 'Now I flew without wings. On that first Aqua-Lung dive, I experimented with loops and
somersaults. I stood upside down on one finger. Delivered from gravity and buoyancy, I flew around as
if in space.'
C. His divers were having problems with their bulbs for flash photographs: in the high pressure of deep
water they tended to leak around their base, causing them to misfire. Cousteau's solution was inspired.
The ship's engineer drilled two small holes in the bases, the cook melted wax for them, and the surgeon
injected the liquid wax into them using a syringe. When it solidified, underwater lighting was assured.
D. Cousteau wished to be able to swim horizontally like a fish, weightless, and manoeuvering easily in
three dimensions. He would have nothing to do with the divers in the standard diving dress of the time,
whom the French called 'heavy feet', with their copper helmet and lead-soled boots, making their
ponderous way across the seabed.
E. Unlike many brilliant technical men, Cousteau was supremely articulate and conveyed his
compelling ideas with eloquence. He lectured equally well in French or English, often without notes,
with a vivid imagery in both tongues that a poet would have been proud of.
F. Cousteau took his idea to an engineer called Emile Gagnan. He was astonished when Gagnan picked
something up from his work surface and said 'You mean like this?' It was the valve for the 'gazogene',
a gadget designed to enable motor cars to run on domestic gas in times of petrol shortage.
G. In many places fish were growing scarce, and once richly-carpeted seabeds now lay bare. Alarmed,
he began a survey, testing water quality and analysing seabed sediments. Everywhere the message was
the same: overfishing, pollution, and unrestrained 'development' of the shores had reduced its marine
life by 30 to 40 percent, Cousteau estimated.
105

CORMORANTS
Wherever there are fish there are likely to be cormorants. But how does a bird that can live in the tropics
also survive in the Arctic?
Cormorants are the most widespread and versatile of the world's seabirds. They can be seen diving
anywhere from the Arctic to the tropics. Anglers hate these birds because of their voracious appetite for
fish, but scientists, notably biologists Sarah Wanless and David Gremillet, are fascinated by their
adaptability. How can a bird whose body does not seem specially adapted to the cold spend the whole
year in polar regions such as Greenland, where the air is typically minus 25°C?
1: ______________
A new study by Wanless and Gremillet has recently shed some light on the cormorant's ability to survive
during the Arctic winter. But it took a lot of failed experiments before they met with any success. They
looked first for signs that the bodies and wings of Arctic cormorants had adapted subtly to life in the
cold.
2: ______________
Next, Wanless and Gremillet tested the hypothesis that Arctic cormorants would obtain extra energy by
eating more than their temperate counterparts. They used electronic nest balances to record the birds'
bodyweight before flying out to fish and then on their return. Surprisingly, their calculations showed
cormorants ate no more in Greenland than in France. And their food consumption turned out to be no
more than that of other, better insulated seabirds.
3: ______________
These showed that, during the summer, they spend about two hours diving per day in Normandy and
only 40 minutes in Greenland. At last the research had hit upon something interesting. Next they needed
to get figures for the Arctic winter. Wanless and Gremillet found the world's most northerly cormorant
colony 150 km above the Arctic Circle, where strong tidal currents preserve some open water all year.
They visited the colony in March, when there was enough light to study the birds, but temperatures
were still far below zero.
4: ______________
The conclusion is that cormorants survive in the high Arctic not by any physical adaptation but by
finding places where fish are extremely plentiful – and feeding so efficiently that they spend very little
time exposed to the icy water. Furthermore, Gremillet discovered that their main prey is a little spiny
fish called sculpin, which has no commercial value. Both these facts are relevant to the debate in many
parts of the world between naturalists and fishermen, about the damage that growing cormorant numbers
are doing to fish stocks.
5: ______________
The research does leave some biological questions unanswered, however. Arctic cormorants may limit
their diving to a few minutes, but how do they avoid freezing solid when they emerge from the icy sea
into winter air temperatures far below zero?
6: ______________
How they avoid freezing, with their plumage affected in this way, is indeed a mystery. More cormorant-
watching in extremely inhospitable conditions will be required to come up with a convincing answer.
106

A. They discovered that the cormorants spent most of the time asleep on an icy cliff and flew out once
a day to dive off the edge of the ice pack. The birds needed just nine minutes on average to catch enough
fish for the day. This is an astonishing feeding rate, 30 times higher than anyone had previously recorded
for a seabird.
B. Gremillet observed that the Greenland birds always shake their wings very vigorously as soon as
they surface, to get rid of the water. But he also realised that their body feathers must retain a lot of
moisture since their backs become partially waterlogged.
C. They demolish the popular belief that cormorants are a greedy nuisance, eating far more than other
fish-eating birds of similar size. The findings also show that cormorants have a feeding strategy
reminiscent of the large carnivores such as snakes and big cats: they catch a vast amount of prey in a
very short time and then rest for long periods.
D. This aspect of their research proved fruitless. They found that cormorants from the frozen Arctic and
from the much warmer climes of France, birds which belong to the same subspecies, are actually very
similar in size and weight. Nor was there any difference in the plumage: both regional groups have very
low volumes of insulating air trapped between their feathers.
E. Wanless and Gremillet, therefore, concluded that European cormorants would be particularly
attracted to fish farms and artificially stocked lakes, whereas the Arctic birds would be less suited to
such convenient eating places.
F. All the more surprising is that, whereas other polar mammals and seabirds have evolved extra
insulation - layers of fat or waterproof plumage – to protect themselves from the icy water, cormorants,
birds with a high energy requirement when diving in cold seas, have very little body insulation and their
plumage gets wet when they dive for fish.
G. The researchers concluded that cormorants must have another way of compensating for their
increased energy requirements while diving. To investigate their fishing behaviour further, Wanless and
Gremillet attached miniature radio transmitters to the birds.
107

WHAT TO DO IF SUMMER GETS UP YOUR NOSE

Hay fever, like the common cold, is one of those seasonal diseases people have to muddle through as
best they can, hoping for a change in the weather. Where it differs from colds and flu is that only part
of the population is vulnerable to it, those who have an allergy to pollen. That proportion is increasing
every year. In the past twenty years the number of medical consultations involving hay fever has
quadrupled. Up to a fifth of people in Britain may now have the allergy, although this may only be
known to their long-suffering colleagues and families and their local pharmacist. As British summers
hot up with global warming, and nasal tracts get increasingly pollen-sensitive, hay fever could soon
overtake the weather as the nation's favourite summertime complaint.
1: ______________
'With pollen counts over 50 grains per cubic metre, virtually every person with hay fever will be feeling
the effects,' says Professor Dorothy Linberg, director of the national pollen research unit, which
compiles the pollen count figures published in the media. 150, she says, is considered high. During a
midsummer heatwave weekend in 2000, several locations in southern Britain, ranging from coastal and
rural areas to big industrial cities, had a pollen count close to 700, the highest figure recorded since
1968.
2: ______________
So what is to blame? Experts themselves confess to being unsure as to what prompts the allergy. 'We
think it's to do with the western lifestyle,' says Professor Linberg. Things like immunisation and,
ironically, hygiene, have been implicated.'
3: ______________
The over-protection of children's immune systems produces softies too enfeebled to fight off pollen
allergies in their teens and twenties, the disease's peak years.
The key to coping with hay fever', says Linberg, 'is understanding how it works.' Despite the name hay
fever, grass pollen is not the only trigger – a minority of sufferers are affected by pollen from quite
another source.
4: ______________
Sufferers of all types of hay fever may not realise that genetic factors may be to blame. Before concerned
mums and dads start rolling their toddlers in grime and pushing them out of the door to catch a few
colds and grow up hardy, they should pause to consider their own background.
5: ______________
Nice thought, if hardly practical advice for millions of sufferers. But there are steps you can take to
avoid the disease. Maternal smoking during pregnancy and passive smoking as a child are known to
contribute to the allergy's development in later life.
6: ______________
The millions for whom the annual battle with pollen is a wearying one can at least console themselves
that the most successful cure for hay fever is time. Hang on in there: it should start to fade when you
reach middle age.
108

A. Tree pollen allergy, typically birch trees, can be linked to asthma, and sufferers often experience
what is called a cross reaction when they eat tree fruits: apples and stone fruits like peaches. Because
tree pollen peaks earlier, those who suffer symptoms in March and April are likely to have this type of
allergy.
B. 'The best thing you can do to avoid developing hay fever,' says Linberg, 'is choose your parents. The
child of two parents who are sufferers has a 70-90% chance of developing the allergy. This falls to 50%
with one parent, and less than 20% if neither has it.'
C. For that secret army of silent sufferers late June is the prime grumbling season in Britain. The famous
lawn tennis tournament, Wimbledon, ironically, takes place during the very worst fortnight to be around
grass. And this seasonal effect has been intensifying year by year.
D. Linberg counsels watching the pollen forecast carefully – her unit can supply information of counts
on certain days. This way, sufferers can plan their days so as to minimise their exposure to pollen. 'If all
else fails,' she says, 'try to take a holiday abroad or by the coast when pollen is at its peak.'
E. Wearing sunglasses, keeping car windows shut and fitting a pollen filter to your car can also help, as
can staying indoors in late afternoon, when the pollen count is at its highest. However, none of these
suggestions is anything more than a preventative measure.
F. 'If you are a runny-nosed kid chasing around with ten siblings who all catch coughs and colds, you
are probably more likely to be protected from hay fever in later life', she says.
G. We tend to assume that environmental extremes are necessarily our fault, but while global warming
may have had a part to play in muddling up flowering seasons, pollution does not cause hay fever. It
may aggravate the symptoms and irritate an already streaming nose, but it's not the trigger.
109

NO LONGER BLOWING IN THE WIND

Plastic bags disfigured South Africa's landscape until a small town decided to act.
They have been called the national flower of South Africa. Outside every city, town and village,
hundreds of them flutter and rustle in the thorn bushes with the evening breeze. They come in red, green,
blue and black, and even in multi-coloured stripes. Plastic bags. Lots of them. South Africa consumes
eight billion per year, or nearly two hundred for every man, woman and child in the country. But the
country is not uniquely cursed. From the deserts of Yemen to the mangrove swamps of Thailand, the
discarded plastic supermarket bag disfigures the landscape of much of the developing world.
1: ______________
'Our town was filthy,' says Sheila Joseph whose family has run the local general store for ninety years.
'Our park looked as though there had been a snowstorm every weekend. It was littered with plastic bags
and rubbish. We had lots of clean-up campaigns, but they didn't work. After two or three weeks, the
town was filthy again.'
2: ______________
There are so many plastic bags blowing around the Northern Cape that a job-creation project in the
provincial capital employs 38 people to wash discarded bags, cut them into strips and knit them together
into brightly-coloured hats, carpets, doormats, bags and even picture frames for sale.
3: ______________
'The biggest businesses have been with us from the start, and haven't given a plastic bag out since,' says
the polite but steely Joseph, whose advice is now eagerly sought by other litter-strewn towns across
South Africa. Within two weeks, our park was clean. It definitely brought the community of Douglas
together.'
4: ______________
As a representative explained: 'We all want Douglas clean, but I will give a plastic bag instead of talking
about it for ten minutes if a customer moans.' But if the government has its way, the store and others
like it across the country may soon be banned from handing out the bags.
5: ______________
Plastic manufacturers and retailers have reacted to the plans with predictable outrage. They warn that
thousands of people would lose their jobs and that the new rules are likely to be unenforceable as
importers would almost certainly ignore them. They pointed out that old-fashioned heavy-duty bags use
more plastic, not less. Consumers, they insisted, would be greatly inconvenienced.
6: ______________
The proposals may eventually need to be softened to allow manufacturers more time to adapt. The
determination to eradicate the plastic scourge of the countryside has already galvanised some of the
culprits into action, however.
7: ______________
Indeed, on the clean streets of Douglas it is difficult to believe that South Africans really ever needed
those eight billion plastic bags. 'It's not that much of a hardship to remember to bring a shopping bag,'
says one elderly resident getting into her car outside Joseph's store. 'Is it, dear?'
110

A. Eager to fend off even more draconian legislation, however, many retailers are now promising to
help with a nationwide recycling programme for the bags they give away.
B. She blamed the mess on the thin bags handed out free to shoppers. Douglas's 15,000 residents did
not like the litter. Nor did the tourists who came to see the confluence of the Vaal and Orange, two of
southern Africa's greatest rivers. Farmers were unhappy too. Livestock sometimes ate the bags and died.
C. Someone, of course, had to spoil the party. At the small Orange Vaal store down the road from
Joseph's, they're still giving out free plastic bags to customers who want them, although demand has
halved since the campaign began.
D. First inspired by the people of Douglas, they are equally passionate in their hatred of the bags. They
nonetheless remain somewhat sceptical about the practicalities of such a solution.
E. South Africans, however, have decided to do something. And it was the hitherto unremarkable town
of Douglas in the arid Northern Cape region that took the lead.
F. The argument put forward by the authorities is that thicker bags would not only be used again and
again, but would also be easier to collect and recycle. Supply of bags with a thickness of less than 80
microns (a micron is a millionth of a metre) is therefore likely to be outlawed.
G. So it was that the people of Douglas, rejoicing in the slogan 'Fantastic – no plastic' came to
ceremonially execute an effigy made up from old plastic bags by the project staff. Since then, shoppers
bring their own, reusable baskets and bags, including those made from locally recycled plastic.
H. 'It won't work,' said a spokesperson. 'The problem is not the plastic bags, the problem is litter, it's a
question of attitude. What worries me is that instead of having cheap plastic bags cluttering up the
streets, we'll have expensive ones.'
111

THE THATCHERS
Thatched roofs, made of dried straw or reeds, are a regular feature of houses in English villages and for
many people typify an ideal of the countryside. We meet two craftsmen who are keeping their traditional
skills in the family, writes James Hughes-Onslow.
Thatcher, Jonathon Howell, is something of an expert at juggling new technology with old. Such is the
rapidly changing face of his craft that he needs to be in touch with all new developments. In some ways,
his profession has changed beyond all recognition since he learned his skills from his father, but in
others it remains exactly the same.
1: ______________
Jonathan is a tenth generation thatcher who still works with his father, Bob. Arriving at Chisbury in
Wiltshire, on a brisk, clear winter's day, the visitor finds the two men perched high up on the roof of the
13th century chapel, with a commanding view of the rolling Wiltshire hills. This scene must have been
re-enacted many times over the centuries, but here the signs of progress are clear.
2: ______________
But new technology hasn't changed everything. For instance, no-one has yet managed to improve on
the traditional hazel spar (twigs from the hazel tree used for constructing and repairing thatched roofs),
Jonathan observes with satisfaction. If you twist them when bending them, as he demonstrates, they
don't snap as most other types of wood do.
3: ______________
The Howells used to make their own hazel spars but now they're too busy, so they buy ready-made ones.
Such is the pressure of having a skill that is increasingly in demand. According to Howell senior, there
is more work for thatchers – there are around 1,000 in England today, with a turnover of £50m – than
there used to be.
4: ______________
Times may be good now for thatchers, but much needs to be done at a political level to safeguard the
future for the profession. Speaking at the English Thatcher's Conference this year, Sir Jocelyn Stevens,
Chairman of English Heritage, called for local authorities to research and preserve traditions in their
areas. He also demanded more research into methods and materials used and into growing types of
straw that have fallen out of use.
5: ______________
The Howells for their part use combed wheat reed for their thatch; this has to go through a thresher and
binder rather than a modern combine harvester, which cuts the straw too short. For traditional roof use,
the straw also has to be 'stooked' (stood upright and left to mature and dry outside) and later 'ricked' (the
traditional method of stacking) and combed.
6: ______________
Traditionalists are particularly upset by the use of water reeds from other European countries, because
no-one knows for sure whether foreign products, however excellent in quality they may be, will be
suited to English conditions. Water reeds have been grown and used for centuries in English counties
like Norfolk, but the worry is that, if foreign water reeds become more widespread, the skills of
thatching with long straw and combed wheat reed may be under threat.
7: ______________
So, far from being a scene of rural bliss, peace and tranquility, the thatching industry in some
countryside areas is fraught with conflicts and disagreements. Conservationists and thatchers are
frequently in opposing corners, with expert advice hard to come by and no unified standards of good
112

practice in place. But, as Jonathan Howell says: "The only really important thing is to keep the skills of
thatching alive.'

A. Jonathan remains philosophical on this issue. 'You can understand if some house owners and some
thatchers go for water reed if it is the quickest, cheapest and most reliable material they can find. But
some traditionalists get very upset if a cottage or barn in their area has been re-roofed in imported water
reeds. They don't like it when a new roof is not in the traditional style of the region.'
B. One of the big decisions they have to make when starting repairs is how much of the old thatch to
remove. In the days of horses and carts, hair-raising economies were made to avoid having to transport
the old straw, or the new, any further than was strictly avoidable.
C. Some observers fear that these new techniques will spell the end for traditional English thatching but
Jonathan remains an optimist. That, too, is a prerequisite for the job.
D. Indeed, in the UK, thatching has suffered lately from a shortage of home-grown materials, forcing
property owners to buy cheaper water reeds from abroad, to replace the more traditional home-grown
long straw. Ironically, these problems are compounded by the use of artificial fertilisers by English
farmers, which discourages the production of the longer stems of straw that English thatchers normally
desire.
E. This is partly due to well-off town people buying up country cottages as second homes and then often
extending them, but also because farmers have become more conscientious about the restoration of
agricultural buildings.
F. However, this is the kind of painstaking work that the average farm worker of the 21st century has
neither the time, the skill, nor the financial incentive to cope with. So the increasing use of imported
water reeds really is not surprising, even if some experts say it is threatening the architectural style of
roofs in England.
G. Some thatchers use willow for this purpose, but it doesn't last as long in damp conditions and can't
be used on exposed ridges. Others have tried plastic but it tends to perish in the sun and invariably
involves the use of glue, which eventually melts or cracks under the elements.
H. Next to Jonathan is his mobile phone, neatly secured to a twisted strand of straw. Thankfully, any
callers tend to keep it short – just in case he loses his balance or drops a bundle of thatch.
113

SUPERSTARS ON ICE
Ice hockey, once considered as a minority sport in Britain, is becoming much more popular.
The rink may be freezing but the atmosphere in the stadium is hotting up, as rock classics blast out of
the sound system. Twelve futuristic-looking warriors, clad from top to toe in riot-resistant armour, hit
the ice. The game commences. The black rubber puck flies across the ice, through a crowd of sticks,
and into the goal. Hundreds of hot-dog munching fans jump to their feet. Welcome to the British sport
of ice hockey.
1: ______________
As a result, ice hockey is more popular now than ever before. Although it always was the country's
biggest indoor spectator sport, it still played second fiddle to outdoor sports like soccer and rugby. Now,
however, thanks to this new league, several teams are attracting crowds of 8,000 more than some
professional soccer teams.
2: ______________
In fact Superleague ice hockey now seems to have as much to do with show business razzmatazz as it
does with sporting achievement. Chief Executive, Bob Hooper, takes this as a compliment. 'As far as
I'm concerned, we are entertainment first and a sport second,' he says. The Superleague is following a
North American blueprint in an ambitious attempt to make ice hockey more appealing to the young.
3: ______________
Hooper remains unsympathetic. 'Something had to be done if we wanted to create a sport fit for the
twenty-first century. The reality is, we needed a more commercially-driven league.' The Superleague is
now owned by its nine constituent clubs and controlled by a board of directors largely made up of club
owners. It has also adopted the franchise system from North America, whereby individuals or
companies can buy the rights to own a Superleague team in a particular city and to apply for
sponsorship.
4: ______________
Not every would-be team owner has had to pay for a stadium to secure one franchise, however. Bob
Zeller bought the franchise and set up the Giants team after learning of plans to build a major new
leisure complex in his area, partly funded by a government grant. The Giants, like other big sides, have
succeeded by playing up the show business, avoiding competing directly with soccer, and targeting the
family.
5: ______________
The Superleague has also shown forward thinking by introducing a wages cap. Admittedly, teams can
circumvent the cap by offering players packages that include a car or rent-free flat. But such a policy
should at least prevent the boom-bust experience of the past, where teams simply could not meet the
wage bill.
6: ______________
Even with good financial planning and the success of ice hockey teams in Cardiff, Manchester and
Sheffield, establishing a new side in London was deemed essential to raise the game's national profile.
Hooper was delighted when a big American corporation bought the London franchise and set up the
London Knights.
7: ______________
Bob Hooper can see both sides of the argument. He too is concerned that the Superleague relies heavily
on imported players, but has to balance this against the wishes of franchise owners for whom moving
114

players about between teams that they oversee makes perfect business sense. Whatever the outcome of
the problem, British ice hockey can rest assured that its future is in the best possible hands.

A. While applauding this idea, there remain some people, however, who are not so enthusiastic about
the changes. Some of the more traditional ice-hockey associations are not convinced that this change of
emphasis is wholly beneficial to the future of the sport.
B. Such international interest in the game in Britain is a huge vote of confidence in the Superleague,
but some fans are worried that it may affect the best British players. The fans argue that talented home-
grown players may not get a chance to play, or will simply be trained up to go and play abroad for
bigger North American or continental European teams under the control of the same franchise owners.
C. There's an irony in all this. Not so long ago, ice hockey in Britain was in danger of withering away,
the victim of competition from bigger sports and inadequate arenas. But the game's legislators have
fought back with the introduction of a new Superleague, combining a solid business framework with a
younger, trendier image.
D. The strategy seems to be paying off – 43% of the Superleague audience is female and 38% of sales
are season tickets to a child accompanied by an adult.
E. Indeed, Hooper points out that the Superleague has not been without its problems. One team,
Basingstoke, has been forced to drop out because it couldn't get planning permission for a new stadium.
Others have run into financial trouble, and there was initial difficulty in attracting sponsorship.
F. To match this demand, millions of pounds have been poured into setting up teams such as the London
Knights, building new arenas and refurbishing old ones. This is helping to banish forever the old image
of a minority sport played in gloomy, old-fashioned ice rinks.
G. 'Consequently, we don't have the problems of rugby and soccer with inflated costs and dividends to
the shareholders that can't be met, says Hooper. There are lessons here for the Football League,
following forecasts that clubs in the lower divisions may face bankruptcy because of escalating salary
demands from players.
H. However, there is first the small matter of finding somewhere to play. 'We're wholly dependent on
the development of new arenas,' admits Hooper. 'I need to find someone with £50 million to invest in
an arena before I can allow them to buy into the league.'
115

LEARNING TO BE AN ACTION HERO

Alex Benady has a lesson in fitness from a film stuntman.
'Now see if you can touch your toes,' says Steve Truglia. As a former Army physical training instructor,
he is used to dealing with less than sharp trainees. But how hard can that be? Fifteen seconds of blind
confusion ensue before I finally locate my feet. The truth is I can't reach much past my knees and the
effort of doing even that seems to be rupturing my kidneys.
1: ______________
These days, Steve is one of Britain's top stuntmen. You might have seen him in various well-known
action movies. Although I have no real desire to enter rooms through the ceiling or drive into walls at
high speed like him, I wouldn't mind looking a bit more like an action hero, so Steve is showing me
exactly how he stays 'stunt fit'. 'It's a very particular, very extreme kind of fitness,' he explains,
'consisting of stamina, flexibility, strength and core stability, balance and coordination.'
2: ______________
Right now, we are working on spatial awareness, a subset of coordination which he says is key to being
a stuntman. 'It's easy to get disoriented when you are upside down. But if you have a high fall and you
don't know exactly where your body is, you won't be able to land safely. If you are lucky, you'll just end
up with some serious injuries.' From where I'm hanging, that sounds like a pretty positive outcome. Yet
it had all started so well.
3: ______________
He usually does this at the end of the session. 'On set, you can guarantee that if you have a big dangerous
stunt, you won't do it until the end of the day, when you are completely exhausted. So I design my
training regime to reflect that.' At first, this part of the session consists of standard strength-building
exercises: dips – pushing yourself up and down on the arms of a high chair, for triceps and chest; some
bench presses, again for chest; lower back exercises; and curls to build up biceps. Then Steve introduces
me to the chinning bar, which involves movements for building strength in your back and arms.
4: ______________
We move on to balance and coordination, starting by walking along three-inch-wide bars. Not easy, but
doable. 'Now turn round,' says Steve. Not easy and not do-able. I fall off. Now he shows me how to
jump on to the bar. Guess what? I can't do that either. Then he points to a two-inch-wide bar at about
waist height.
5: ______________
Now it's outside for some elementary falls. He shows me how to slap the ground when you land, to
earth your kinetic energy. He throws me over his shoulder and I arc gracefully through the air, landing
painlessly. But when it's my turn, I don't so much throw him as trip him up and he smashes into the
ground at my feet, well short of the crash mat. Sorry, Steve.
6: ______________
At least I'll never suffer from an anatomical anomaly – which is what happens when your thighs are so
massive, the other parts of your anatomy look rather small by comparison.
116

A. 'We'll just warm up first,' says Steve as we enter the Muscleworks Gym in East London. Five minutes
on the recumbent cycle and I'm thinking this stunt lark is a piece of cake. Then we start some strength
work, vital for hanging off helicopters, leaping off walls, etc.
B. It's clear that I have some work to do before I am ready to amaze the world with my dripping physique
and daredevil stunts. But I have taken one comforting piece of knowledge from my experience.
C. Instead, we work on what he calls our 'cores'. 'All powerful movements originate from the centre of
the body out, and never from the limbs alone,' he says. So we'll be building up the deep stabilising
muscles in our trunks, the part of the body from the waist to the neck.
D. He reckons anyone can get there with a couple of gym sessions and a couple of runs a week. 'The
key is variety: do as many different types of exercise as possible. Even 20 minutes a day will do.'
E. Much to my surprise, I can actually do a few. Then he says innocently: 'Just raise your legs so they
are at 90 degrees to your body.' Pain, pain, pain. 'Now open and close your legs in a scissor motion.' I
manage to do that once.
F. You may think that this sounds a bit feeble. But I was dangling upside down at the time, suspended
from a bar by a pair of gravity boots.
G. With feet firmly together, he leaps on, balances himself, leaps off, on, off. For good measure he
circuits the gym, leaping from one to another, using his thighs to generate the power to leap and the
power to stop himself from falling when he lands. Despite his heavy build, he has the feet of a ballerina.
117

ANSWER KEY

PEACH OF AN IDEA: C – G – B – A – F – D
MIND YOUR LANGUAGES: E – G – F – D – C – A
WIND-LASHED WORKERS WHO…: G – C – E – F – B – D
AN EXHIBITION OF WORKS BY THE ARTIST JOHN CRAXTON: F – A – E – G – C – B
INTRODUCING CHORAL MUSIC TO CHILDREN…: F – B – G – C – E – A
HOW I BECAME A BRITISH ASTRONAUT: F – E – D – G – A – C
SCOTT AND BAILEY: E – A – D – G – F – C
DO FLEETING CHANGES OF FACIAL EXPRESSION…: D – A – G – B – F – C
WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY: F – C – A – G – B – D
HOW THE INTERNET IS ALTERING YOUR MIND: G – B – A – D – F – C
JONAH LEHRER: THE PRODIGY WHO LIGHTS UP YOUR BRAIN: G – E – B – F – C – A
IS KIERON BRITAIN’S MOST EXCITING ARTIST?: E – G – B – D – F – C
IMPOSSIBLE ROCK: F – B – D – G – E – C
CITY OF HEAT: G – B – D – C – E – F
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE WILD KIND: B – D – G – E – F – A
FIELDWORK IN THE RAINFOREST OF ECUADOR…: E – C – F – A – G – D
TAKING DINOSAURS APART: C – G – D – F – A – E
THREE RULES OK?: C – E – B – G – A – D
TELL ME A STORY!: C – B – G – A – E – F
LONG-DISTANCE WALKING: C – G – F – A – E – B
IN SEARCH OF THE ICE CAVE: E – A – B – G – C – F
FINDING AN ALTERNATIVE TO SUGAR: E – G – B – F – A – C
THE LOST CIVILISATIONS OF PERU: G – F – C – A – D – B
ENERGY-EFFICIENT DESIGN: E – F – G – A – B – D
ALL THIS JAZZ: G – A – D – F – C – E
5,000 YEAR-OLD TEMPLES DISCOVERED…: D – F – A – G – C – E
WHEN THE HIPPOS ROAR, START PADDLING!: D – F – A – G – E – B
CHOCOLATE CAKE WARS: B – F – A – G – E – C
REEF ENCOUNTER: D – B – A – F – G – C
AFTER THE FRISBEE: D – B – G – C – A – F
THE MAGIC LUTE: G – A – B – D – E – C
118

CHEWING GUM CULTURE: D – A – G – E – B – C

PLUGGING IN THE HOME: D – G – F – A – B – E
SCIENCE FLYING IN THE FACE OF GRAVITY: E – A – G – C – D – B
DROP ME A LINE: C – A – F – D – H – B – G
IT’S TRUE – WE’RE ALL GETTING TOO BIG FOR OUR BOOTS: C – G – D – F – H – A – E
IN HOT WATER: E – C – D – A – G – F – B
KEEP THE HOLIDAY-MAKERS HAPPY: G – E – C – F – D – A – H
THE MODERN ADVENTURER: G – E – A – C – F – D
CALLS FROM THE DEEP: B – G – D – E – A – C
THE BIRTH OF SPIDER-MAN: G – C – E – D – F – A
ELEPHANT INTELLIGENCE: C – G – E – A – F – D
THE BOAT OF MY DREAMS: F – A – G – B – D – C
IN SEARCH OF TRUE NORTH…: D – B – G – E – A – C
BEGINNER TAKES ALL: F – A – E – G – C – B
WHERE THE LANDSCAPE WILL DO THE WALKING: F – D – G – E – A – C
ON A WING AND A WOOF: F – D – B – A – E – G
THE LONG WAY HOME: D – G – A – C – F – E
CALL OF THE WILD: G – C – F – D – B – E
STIFF BREEZE, NO COCKTAILS: F – B – E – G – A – D
BREAKING THE MOULD: G – B – E – C – A – F
LIFE CHOICES: B – G – C – F – E – A
MASTER OF THE DEEP: D – F – B – G – A – E
CORMORANTS: F – D – G – A – C – B
WHAT TO DO IF SUMMER GETS UP YOUR NOSE: C – G – F – A – B – E
NO LONGER BLOWING IN THE WIND: E – B – G – C – F – H – A
THE THATCHERS: C – H – G – E – D – F – A
SUPERSTARS ON ICE: C – F – A – H – D – G – B
LEARNING TO BE AN ACTION HERO: F – D – A – E – G – B