雅思阅读第063套P1-THE LOCH NESS MONSTER
READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
THE LOCH NESS MONSTER
l In the Scottish Highlandsthere, is believed to be a monster Jiving in the waters of Loch Ness. Thewaters of Loch Ness are one mile wide and 24 miles long, the largest body offreshwater in the United Kingdom. To many sceptics, this monster is only amodem day myth, but to others who claim they have seen it, the monster existsand still lurks in the waters of Loch Ness today.
l Throughout Scotland, researchhas been done at several lakes but Loch Ness Is the icon for monsters – Nessie,as the monster is affectionately named, being the most popular of them all.Both professionals and amateurs flock to this lake with their cameras in thehope of capturing a brief glimpse of Nessie and possibly solving the mystery ofthe Loch Ness monster.
l The very first sighting ofNessie was as far back as 565 AD. It is believed that she ate a local farmer andthen dived back into the waters, with no accounts of being seen again for over100 years. However, since the turn of the 20th century, several other peoplehave claimed to see her. Some people believe that old Scottish myths aboutwater creatures such as Kelpies and water horses have contributed to the ideaof tills wondrous monster lurking beneath.
l 2007 brought about the mostrecent sighting of Nessie. A tourist named Gordon Holmes from Yorkshire visitedthe Loch Ness waters and claims lie not only saw her, but has captured her onvideo. He claimed she was jet black, about 15 metres long and travelling in avery straight line at about 6 miles per hour. Despite this supposed evidence,controversy still reigns and opinion clearly divided about its existence. Thevideo footage has been discredited amid accusations of tampering, whilst othersclaim mat the image caught by Holmes could be nothing more than a tree trunk oreven one of the otters that inhabit the loch.
l Some scientists believe thatthe Loch Ness monster could a mirage or a psychological phenomenon in as muchas sometimes we see what we want to see. Of course those who have seen her begto differ, but many experiments have been conducted to arrive at theories toexplain what it is that people could be witnessing. It has been suggested thatNessie could be related to a prehistoric animal known as a Plesiosaur, ananimal that measured up to ten metres in length and is otherwise thought to beextinct, although this theory is unsupported by any data, One scientist inparticular has been researching the lake itself to find out more about itshistory, It seems that for such a large animal to Jive in this lake it wouldrequire a vast food source, but for such an amount of fish to survive therewould need to be plenty of microscopic animals called zooplankton. The only wayto find out how much of this there is in the water is to measure the amount ofalgae. Algae needs light to survive so by measuring just how deep the daylightcan penetrate the lake scientists can then start to work out what kind ofpopulation can be sustained. Despite results that suggest that the fishpopulation was too small, the conclusions drawn were inconclusive.
l In the 1900s, a ten yearobservational study was carried out, recording an average of 20 sightings ofNessie per year, The phenomenon exploded in second half of the century, whenphotos were publicly released of a 'flipper’, Submarines were sent into dieLoch Ness to try to discover more about this creature (and now are actually runas tourist attractions). Another theory behind why Nessie rose to the top ofthe waters where she was more likely to be seen, was that disruption fromnearby road works in the 1930s forced her to move to higher levels due to theamount of vibration fell in the water. Another argument centres on thegeographical placement of the Loch, which sits on the Great Glen fault lineformed over 400 million years ago. Some scientists have claimed that resultingseismic activity in the lake could cause disturbances on its surface and peoplecould be mistaking this for Nessie.
l Up until today, there is noconvincing proof to suggest that the monster is real, which, given thepreponderance of digital cameras, webcams trained on the loch and othertechnological advances in recording equipment, suggests that the myth of Nessiemay be just that – a myth. Nonetheless, accommodation all over the ScottishHighlands offers tours of the lake itself so tourists can try to catch theirown glimpse of Nessie, In 2007, it was estimated that related tourism broughtin an estimated £6 million to the region, thanks to the attention of the filmindustry.
Questions 1-6
Do the following statementsagree with the information given in the reading passage?
In boxes 1-6 on youranswer sheet write
TRUE
if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE
if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN
If there is no information on this
1 _________________ The first reportedsighting of the Loch Ness monster was in 1962.
2 _________________ It is believed the ideafor the Loch Ness monster may have been inspired by other stories of seacreatures.
3 _________________ The last person whoclaims to have seen the Loch Ness monster has video footage.
4 _________________ There is evidence tosuggest that the Loch Ness monster is related to the plesiosaur.
5 _________________ Testing of algae in theloch proved that the food source was insufficient to sustain Nessie.
6 _________________ Movement along a faultline could have caused Nessie to rise to the surface.
Questions 7-13
Answer the questions belowusing NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for eachanswer.
Write your answers in boxes 7-13 on your answer sheet.
When was the first recordedsighting of Nessie?
7 _________________
What was Cordon Holmessuspected of doing to the video footage?
8 _________________
What common animal may havebeen caught on camera and mistaken as proof of Nessie?
9 _________________
Images of what, caused anincrease in the number of Nessie enthusiasts?
10 _________________
What can visitors hoping to seeNessie travel in?
11 _________________
Disturbances caused by whatcould have caused the creature to surface?
12 _________________
What has promoted tourism inthe Loch Ness area in recent years?
13 _________________
