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--- lesson 42 modern caveman |
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--- Listen to the tape then answer the question below. |
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--- With what does the writer compare the Gouffre Berger? |
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Cave exploration, or pot-holing, as it has come to be known, is a relatively new sport. |
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Perhaps it is the desire for solitude or the chance of making an unexpected discovery that lures people down to the depths of the earth. |
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It is impossible to give a satisfactory explanation for a pot-holer's motives. |
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For him, caves have the same peculiar fascination which high mountains have for the climber. |
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They arouse instincts which can only be dimly understood. |
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Exploring really deep caves is not a task for the Sunday afternoon rambler. |
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Such undertakings require the precise planning and foresight of military operations. |
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It can take as long as eight days to rig up rope ladders and to establish supply bases before a descent can be made into a very deep cave. |
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Precautions of this sort are necessary, |
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for it is impossible to foretell the exact nature of the difficulties which will confront the pot-holer. |
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The deepest known cave in the world is the Gouffre Berger near Grenoble. |
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It extends to a depth of 3,723 feet.w |
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This immense chasm has been formed by an underground stream which has tunnelled a course through a flaw in the rocks. |
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The entrance to the cave is on a plateau in the Dauphine Alps. |
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As it is only six feet across, it is barely noticeable. |
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The cave might never have been discovered has not the entrance been spotted by the distinguished French pot-holer, Berger. |
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Since its discovery, it has become a sort of potholers' Everest. |
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Though a number of descents have been made, much of it still remains to be explored. |
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A team of pot-holers recently went down the Gouffre Berger. |
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After entering the narrow gap on the plateau, they climbed down the steep sides of the cave until they came to a narrow corridor. |
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They had to edge their way along this, sometimes wading across shallow streams, or swimming across deep pools. |
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Suddenly they came to a waterfall which dropped into an underground lake at the bottom of the cave. |
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They plunged into the lake, and after loading their gear on an inflatable rubber dinghy, let the current carry them to the other side. |
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To protect themselves from the icy water, they had to wear special rubber suits. |
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At the far end of the lake, they came to huge piles of rubble which had been washed up by the water. |
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In this part of the cave, they could hear an insistent booming sound |
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which they found was caused by a small waterspout shooting down into a pool from the roof of the cave. |
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Squeezing through a cleft in the rocks, the pot-holers arrived at an enormous cavern, the size of a huge concert hall. |
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After switching on powerful arc lights, they saw great stalagmites -- some of them over forty feet high -- rising up like tree-trunks to meet the stalactites suspended from the roof. |
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Round about, piles of limestone glistened in all the colours of the rainbow. |
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In the eerie silence of the cavern, |
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