Page 42 - index

2021 ‫מועד אביב‬ - 41 - ‫ פרק ראשון‬- ‫אנגלית‬

Text II (Questions 18-22)

(1) Dowsing is the age-old practice of searching for underground water or minerals
using an instrument known as a dowsing rod – usually comprising two pieces of wire or
wood, or a single forked stick. Even today, dowsing remains a common practice. For
example, farmers sometimes hire dowsers to identify a promising place to dig a water

(5) well. Holding the rod parallel to the ground, dowsers walk over an area where they
suspect underground water may be found. They claim that when they pass over water,
the dowsing rod spontaneously moves, pointing toward it.

Despite many anecdotal reports of success over the centuries, dowsing is not
supported by any scientific evidence. How then can the fact that dowsers do sometimes

(10) find water be explained? Some amount of underground water can be found almost
anywhere, so it is highly probable that a dowser could point at random to nearly any
spot on the ground, begin digging, and eventually hit water. And what makes the rod
move? The seemingly involuntary motion of dowsing rods can be attributed to the
ideomotor response – muscle movements caused by unconscious mental activity. That

(15) is, when a dowser anticipates finding water, his body reacts reflexively without him
being aware of it.

As absurd as it may seem, ten out of the United Kingdom's twelve regional water
and sewer companies admit to at least occasionally using dowsers to detect leaks.
When this fact was disclosed by science blogger Sally Le Page, outrage ensued, with

(20) the public arguing that dowsing is an unproven practice that wastes time and money.
Defending the practice, a spokesperson for the Severn Trent Water company said,
"We've found that some of the older methods are just as effective as modern ones, but
we do use drones and satellites as well."

Questions

18. The main purpose of the first paragraph is to dowsing.

(1) describe the tools needed for
(2) introduce the people who use
(3) present the centuries-old activity of
(4) list the types of things one could look for using

)‫© כל הזכויות שמורות למרכז ארצי לבחינות ולהערכה (ע"ר‬
.‫ בלא אישור בכתב מהמרכז הארצי לבחינות ולהערכה‬- ‫ כולה או חלקים ממנה‬- ‫ או ללמדה‬,‫אין להעתיק או להפיץ בחינה זו או קטעים ממנה בכל צורה ובכל אמצעי‬