Page 48 - index

2023 ‫מועד סתיו‬ - 47 - ‫ פרק שני‬- ‫אנגלית‬

Reading Comprehension

This part consists of two passages, each followed by several related questions. For each
question, choose the most appropriate answer based on the text.

Text I (Questions 13-17)

(1) More than a thousand years ago, the Norse peoples of Scandinavia set sail to
establish colonies in distant lands. Success depended on a combination of good fortune,
hard work, and the ability to adapt to a new environment. The Norsemen who sailed to
Greenland believed that they were coming to a land of green pastures and fertile soil

(5) where they could establish farms like those they had left in Scandinavia. However,
upon arrival, they discovered that the name Greenland was a misnomer: there were few
large fields, pasturelands, or forests. Nonetheless, the Greenland Norse worked hard,
and for quite a time the colony prospered. They raised cattle, sheep, and goats, and built
ships for fishing and for hunting whales and walruses.

(10) Unfortunately, the Norse failed to recognize that their way of life would prove
unsustainable in Greenland. In time, the animals that they raised depleted the region's
sparse grasslands and the herds began to dwindle. Their farmland became less fertile
from overcultivation. In addition, the trees that were cut down for firewood and
shipbuilding were not replaced and, in their absence, the soil eroded.

(15) But the fate of the Greenland Norse was sealed by a factor completely beyond their
control. Their arrival in Greenland coincided with a long period of unusually clement
weather, but eventually the climate reverted to its former harshness. The build-up of sea
ice made it virtually impossible for the Norsemen to launch their large wooden boats in
order to fish.

(20) In the end, the Norsemen began in desperation to adapt their diet, homes, and way
of life to their surroundings, but it was too little too late. After five hundred years, their
numbers shrank until nothing remained of the Norse settlement in Greenland.

Questions

13. The main purpose of the text is to -

(1) discuss why the Norse moved to Greenland
(2) describe the first Norse colonies
(3) explain why the Norse colony in Greenland failed
(4) present the history of the Norse people

)‫© 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