Passage 1: The Race to the South Pole
AIn the early twentieth century, the South Pole remained one of the last unclaimed geographical prizes on Earth, and by 1910 two rival expeditions were preparing to attempt it: one led by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, the other by the British naval officer Robert Falcon Scott. Scott had announced his expedition first, framing it chiefly as a scientific survey of the Antarctic continent with the Pole as a secondary objective. Amundsen, by contrast, had originally planned an Arctic expedition and only redirected his ship, the Fram, southward after learning that the North Pole had already been reached by an American rival; he kept his change of destination secret from his own crew until the vessel was well out to sea, informing Scott of his new plans only by a brief telegram sent from Madeira.
BThe two men differed sharply in their choice of transport, a decision that would prove decisive. Amundsen, who had spent years studying the polar travel methods of Arctic peoples, committed entirely to dog sledges and skis, arguing that dogs could be driven far harder than any other animal in cold conditions and that surplus dogs could, if necessary, be slaughtered along the route to feed the rest of the team. Scott's plan combined three forms of transport: Siberian ponies, motorised sledges, and man-hauling, in which the men themselves pulled heavily loaded sledges by harness. Motor sledges failed within days of landing, and the ponies, unsuited to the cold and the crevassed ice, had to be shot well before the polar plateau was reached, leaving Scott's team to haul their equipment by hand for the most punishing stretch of the journey.
CAmundsen also chose a shorter route to the Pole than Scott, having established his base camp on the Bay of Whales, roughly sixty miles closer to the Pole than Scott's base at Cape Evans. Before setting out, Amundsen laid a careful series of supply depots along his intended path, each marked with black flags spaced at intervals wide enough to be seen from a distance in poor visibility, a precaution that later proved critical when a return blizzard reduced visibility to a few metres. Scott's depots, by comparison, were fewer in number and less generously stocked, and his final depot, upon which the survival of his returning party ultimately depended, was left more than ten miles short of the position he had originally intended.
DAmundsen's party of five reached the South Pole on 14 December 1911, having covered the distance from their base in fifty-seven days with no serious mishap. They spent three days at the Pole taking observations to confirm their position beyond doubt, planted the Norwegian flag, and left a small tent containing a letter addressed to the King of Norway, together with a note for Scott in case his rival party arrived later. Scott's party of five, delayed by poor weather and the slower pace of man-hauling, reached the Pole on 17 January 1912, more than a month after Amundsen, and found the Norwegian tent and flag already awaiting them. Scott's diary entry from that day records the party's devastation at having been beaten to the goal that had driven them for over two years.
EThe return journey proved fatal for Scott's entire polar party. Exhausted by months of man-hauling, weakened by inadequate rations, and slowed further by a series of unusually severe blizzards, the five men died one by one on the return march; the last three, including Scott himself, perished in their tent only eleven miles from a supply depot that could have saved them, trapped by a storm that made further travel impossible. Amundsen's team, by contrast, returned to their base in good health, having lost no men and, remarkably, having gained weight during the return march because their sledges grew lighter as dogs were slaughtered for food along the way. News of Amundsen's success reached the wider world in March 1912; Scott's fate was not confirmed until a search party discovered the frozen bodies and diaries the following spring.
FHistorians have long debated why one expedition succeeded so completely while the other ended in tragedy, and most now point to a cluster of interlocking decisions rather than a single cause. Amundsen's exclusive reliance on dogs and skis, his shorter route, his generous and well-marked depots, and his years of prior experience with polar travel all compounded into a considerable margin of safety that Scott's more mixed and improvised approach never achieved. Scott's own writings suggest that he was aware of the risks he was taking with an untested combination of transport methods, yet he persisted with it partly for reasons of national prestige and partly because dog-driving skill of the kind Amundsen possessed was not widely held among British explorers of the period. The tragedy has since become one of the most studied case studies in the history of polar exploration and in the analysis of high-risk expedition planning more broadly.
- man-hauling:
- pulling a heavily loaded sledge by human effort rather than by animals or machines
- depot:
- a store of supplies left at a fixed point along a route for later use
أسئلة النص 1
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? 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.
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1Scott announced his Antarctic expedition before Amundsen announced his own plans to travel south.
TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN
اعرض الإجابة
TRUE
"'Scott had announced his expedition first, framing it chiefly as a scientific survey of the Antarctic continent' (Paragraph A)"
ليش صحيح: إعادة صياغة مباشرة.. سكوت أعلن عن حملته قبل أموندسن.
ليش الباقي خطأ: ليست FALSE لعدم وجود تناقض، وليست NOT GIVEN لأن ترتيب الإعلان مذكور بوضوح.
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2Amundsen informed his crew of the change in destination as soon as he made the decision.
TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN
اعرض الإجابة
FALSE
"'he kept his change of destination secret from his own crew until the vessel was well out to sea' (Paragraph A)"
ليش صحيح: العبارة تدّعي إخبارًا فوريًا، بينما النص يقول إنه أخفى الأمر.. تناقض مباشر.
ليش الباقي خطأ: ليست TRUE بسبب التناقض الصريح، وليست NOT GIVEN لأن التوقيت مذكور بوضوح.
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3Amundsen had worked as a professional dog trainer before organising his expedition.
TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN
اعرض الإجابة
NOT GIVEN
"'who had spent years studying the polar travel methods of Arctic peoples' (Paragraph B)"
ليش صحيح: النص يذكر دراسته لأساليب السفر القطبي لكن لا يذكر مهنة تدريب الكلاب تحديدًا.
ليش الباقي خطأ: ليست TRUE لعدم ذكر هذه المهنة، وليست FALSE لعدم وجود نفي صريح لها.
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4Scott's motor sledges stopped working only a few days after being brought ashore.
TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN
اعرض الإجابة
TRUE
"'Motor sledges failed within days of landing' (Paragraph B)"
ليش صحيح: إعادة صياغة مباشرة لحقيقة مؤكدة في النص.
ليش الباقي خطأ: ليست FALSE لعدم وجود تناقض، وليست NOT GIVEN لأن الحقيقة مذكورة صراحة.
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5Scott's base camp was located closer to the Pole than Amundsen's.
TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN
اعرض الإجابة
FALSE
"'Amundsen had established his base camp on the Bay of Whales, roughly sixty miles closer to the Pole than Scott's base at Cape Evans' (Paragraph C)"
ليش صحيح: النص يقول صراحة إن قاعدة أموندسن كانت الأقرب.. عكس ما تدّعيه العبارة.
ليش الباقي خطأ: ليست TRUE بسبب التناقض الصريح، وليست NOT GIVEN لأن المسافة مذكورة بوضوح.
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6The passage states exactly how many dogs were slaughtered for food during Amundsen's return journey.
TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN
اعرض الإجابة
NOT GIVEN
"'having gained weight during the return march because their sledges grew lighter as dogs were slaughtered for food along the way' (Paragraph E)"
ليش صحيح: النص يذكر ذبح الكلاب دون تحديد رقم دقيق لعددها.
ليش الباقي خطأ: ليست TRUE لعدم ذكر رقم محدد، وليست FALSE لعدم وجود نفي لوجود هذا الرقم.
Complete the notes below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Scott's expedition was chiefly framed as a scientific (7) ________ of the continent.
Amundsen's expedition had originally been planned as a journey to the (8) ________.
Amundsen relied entirely on dogs and (9) ________ for transport.
Scott used Siberian (10) ________, which later had to be shot.
Amundsen's depots were marked with black (11) ________ spaced for visibility.
Amundsen's party reached the Pole after (12) ________ days of travel from base.
Scott's last three men died in their (13) ________, close to a supply depot.
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7Question 7
اعرض الإجابة
survey
"'framing it chiefly as a scientific survey of the Antarctic continent' (Paragraph A)"
ليش صحيح: الكلمة مأخوذة حرفيًا من النص.
ليش الباقي خطأ: أي كلمة أخرى مثل expedition أو study ليست الكلمة المستخدمة حرفيًا في هذا الموضع.
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8Question 8
اعرض الإجابة
Arctic
"'Amundsen... had originally planned an Arctic expedition' (Paragraph A)"
ليش صحيح: الكلمة الدقيقة لوجهة أموندسن الأصلية.
ليش الباقي خطأ: كلمات أخرى مثل Antarctic تعاكس المعنى المطلوب تمامًا.
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9Question 9
اعرض الإجابة
skis
"'committed entirely to dog sledges and skis' (Paragraph B)"
ليش صحيح: الكلمة الدقيقة المذكورة إلى جانب الكلاب.
ليش الباقي خطأ: كلمات أخرى مثل sledges لا تكمل الفراغ بشكل صحيح مع 'dogs and' في هذا الموضع.
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10Question 10
اعرض الإجابة
ponies
"'Scott's plan combined three forms of transport: Siberian ponies' (Paragraph B)"
ليش صحيح: الكلمة الدقيقة المستخدمة لوصف حيوانات سكوت.
ليش الباقي خطأ: كلمات أخرى مثل horses غير مذكورة في النص لهذا السياق.
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11Question 11
اعرض الإجابة
flags
"'each marked with black flags spaced at intervals' (Paragraph C)"
ليش صحيح: الكلمة الدقيقة لعلامات مستودعات أموندسن.
ليش الباقي خطأ: كلمات أخرى مثل markers ليست الكلمة الحرفية المستخدمة في النص.
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12Question 12
اعرض الإجابة
fifty-seven / 57
"'having covered the distance from their base in fifty-seven days' (Paragraph D)"
ليش صحيح: الرقم مأخوذ حرفيًا من النص.
ليش الباقي خطأ: أي رقم آخر غير مذكور ويناقض الحقيقة المذكورة.
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13Question 13
اعرض الإجابة
tent
"'the last three, including Scott himself, perished in their tent only eleven miles from a supply depot' (Paragraph E)"
ليش صحيح: الكلمة الدقيقة لمكان وفاة آخر ثلاثة رجال.
ليش الباقي خطأ: كلمات أخرى مثل camp ليست الكلمة المستخدمة حرفيًا في هذا الموضع.