Icebergs - Test 2
B2 First · Gapped Text · Cambridge English First 3, Cambridge University Press
You are going to read a newspaper article about the filming of a television documentary about icebergs. Six sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits each gap (1–6). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.
Icebergs
There's more to icebergs than meets the eye – as I discovered filming on one of these gigantic Arctic fortresses as it slowly melted.
These lead down to waterfalls of meltwater cascading into the ocean.
But it will lose the battle in the end and the last piece of solid ice will melt.
When it touches the cliffs that I saw, it will connect our iceberg to all the other ice in the Arctic.
The ice fights a losing battle along its edges, as warm ocean water eats into it.
The only sound comes from water lapping against the ice, and a lone seal swimming nearby.
The Arctic summer can, however, be a very hard time for them.
The supply of energy from the sun is so weak, the battle is over for this year.
Imagine a solid sheet of frozen water 3 km across and 100 m thick. Imagine it floating quietly in dark ocean waters, somewhere between Canada and Greenland. Imagine the near-silent desolation of the inhospitable Arctic environment around it, getting harsher as winter approaches.
Imagine this forbidding, massive place. But it really exists. This iceberg right now is floating in peace as we all go about our busy, bustling lives. Back in the summer, things were different. This iceberg was a dynamic battleground, floodlit by 24-hour daylight. Once an iceberg is released from its parent glacier, its time is very limited.
Then mini-bergs break off the weakened front. Some of these events we witnessed were sudden, loud and violent. We had come to spectate on this oceanic siege, and to learn its rules. The ice edge towered over us, vertical, angular and utterly spectacular. We steamed around the berg until we found lower cliffs, and suddenly the icescape behind was revealed. Gentle mounds are separated by valleys.
An iceberg makes its own fog, so we could only see a little way into the centre, peering hopefully over the top of the cliffs. Curious polar bears peered back. We had thought we would be lucky to see one or two, but the iceberg turned out to have a healthy population of these huge carnivores.
They must wait for the sea ice to come back so that they can hunt. So they were snoozing, not at all bothered that their chosen holiday home was moving, tilting, melting, breaking up and giving a TV production team and some scientists severe logistical headaches. That's how I remember the iceberg, and that's the side of it you'll see if you watch the programmes. But since then things have changed. We left a GPS tracker as a passenger, so we know that the iceberg has travelled 60 miles, and is now about 30 miles south of where it was in August. Only 65% of it is left. The iceberg only gets 7 hours and 40 minutes of daylight now, and soon the darkness will swallow it up completely.
Winter is beginning, and with it a period of stability. Sea ice is advancing towards the berg from the north. This is the other type of ice at the poles, formed when the sea surface itself freezes. In an average year, the sea ice would already have reached our iceberg. But this year, there was less summer sea ice in the Arctic than any other year on record, so it is taking longer for the great freeze to reach it. The sea ice is still crawling south.
Then the iceberg will be frozen in place. Darkness and silence will rule. The bears will be able to walk out on to the sea ice and hunt again.
Imagine a solid sheet of frozen water 3 km across and 100 m thick. Imagine it floating quietly in dark ocean waters, somewhere between Canada and Greenland. Imagine the near-silent desolation of the inhospitable Arctic environment around it, getting harsher as winter approaches. ___ Imagine this forbidding, massive place. But it really exists. This iceberg right now is floating in peace as we all go about our busy, bustling lives. Back in the summer, things were different. This iceberg was a dynamic battleground, floodlit by 24-hour daylight. Once an iceberg is released from its parent glacier, its time is very limited. ___ Then mini-bergs break off the weakened front. Some of these events we witnessed were sudden, loud and violent. We had come to spectate on this oceanic siege, and to learn its rules. The ice edge towered over us, vertical, angular and utterly spectacular. We steamed around the berg until we found lower cliffs, and suddenly the icescape behind was revealed. Gentle mounds are separated by valleys. ___ An iceberg makes its own fog, so we could only see a little way into the centre, peering hopefully over the top of the cliffs. Curious polar bears peered back. We had thought we would be lucky to see one or two, but the iceberg turned out to have a healthy population of these huge carnivores. ___ They must wait for the sea ice to come back so that they can hunt. So they were snoozing, not at all bothered that their chosen holiday home was moving, tilting, melting, breaking up and giving a TV production team and some scientists severe logistical headaches. That's how I remember the iceberg, and that's the side of it you'll see if you watch the programmes. But since then things have changed. We left a GPS tracker as a passenger, so we know that the iceberg has travelled 60 miles, and is now about 30 miles south of where it was in August. Only 65% of it is left. The iceberg only gets 7 hours and 40 minutes of daylight now, and soon the darkness will swallow it up completely. ___ Winter is beginning, and with it a period of stability. Sea ice is advancing towards the berg from the north. This is the other type of ice at the poles, formed when the sea surface itself freezes. In an average year, the sea ice would already have reached our iceberg. But this year, there was less summer sea ice in the Arctic than any other year on record, so it is taking longer for the great freeze to reach it. The sea ice is still crawling south. ___ Then the iceberg will be frozen in place. Darkness and silence will rule. The bears will be able to walk out on to the sea ice and hunt again.
Available as a free printable PDF worksheet with an optional answer key.