Page 48 - index

2021 ‫מועד חורף‬ - 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) In 2008, award-winning American artist and sculptor Sam Van Aken decided to
create a unique and beautiful work of art that would make people stop in wonder. The
result was Van Aken's "Tree of 40 Fruit" – a tree that can produce 40 different kinds of
fruit, including peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, and nectarines. The tree seems

(5) ordinary enough until spring arrives, when it blooms into a spectacular collage of white,
pink, red, and purple blossoms. Come summer, these blossoms turn into an array of
different fruits. Van Aken has created more than a hundred of these trees since
launching his project and believes they change the way the viewer perceives nature.

Van Aken's trees are not the product of genetic engineering but rather of an age-old
(10) agricultural practice called grafting. Traditionally, this involves taking a section from

one tree and inserting it into the trunk of a second tree, known as the host. Adhesive
tape is used to hold the new section in place. If all goes well, the graft becomes part of
the host tree within a few months. Van Aken's grafting process is much more complex.
He begins by fixing about twenty grafts of different fruit varieties onto the host tree and
(15) gradually adds other varieties over the next few years. Van Aken carefully plans out his
work, taking into account when each type of tree blooms and bears fruit. And yet, a
Tree of 40 Fruit, like any other living organism, is subject to the unpredictability of
natural phenomena. "You can't really control which graft is going to grow more
successfully than others," says Van Aken.

(20) While creating his first tree, Van Aken had difficulty locating the dozens of different
fruit trees he needed. He discovered that many varieties that had once flourished in the
US were disappearing; farmers were no longer cultivating them because their fruit was
no longer commercially viable. Van Aken began to envision his project as an
opportunity to preserve them. He decided to visit farmers across the country so that he

(25) could graft these increasingly rare varieties onto his trees. "In a way," he says, "the Tree
of 40 Fruit is an archive of the agricultural history of our country."

Questions

13. The main purpose of the text is to discuss Van Aken's -

(1) unusual creations
(2) perception of art
(3) career as a sculptor
(4) views on genetic engineering

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