Paper 1: Reading. Part 1: Multiple Choise

In at the deep end

British explorer Lewis Pugh wants to conquer some of the most inhospitable, dangerous places in the world in his own unique way - by swimming through them.

Brought up on a diet of stories about Ernest Shackleton, Captain Cook and Sir Edmund Hillary. Lewis Pugh's childhood dreams were filled with his heroes' ground breaking expeditions to the Poles, Australia and Mount. Everest The son of a Royal Navy officer. Pugh was 17 before he learned to swim but he took to it, literally, like a duck to water and from then on die British lawyer decided lie would combine his passion for adventure with his other love: swimming. Just one month after his first
in lesson, Pugh decided to do something normally reserved for experienced athletes: die five mile crossing from Robben Island (The island where Nelson Mandela was a prisoner) to Cape Town in water of 16 degrees centigrade Five years later Lewis swam across the English Channel, the biggest challenge for most extreme swimmers.
Twenty years ago a large chunk of the world's waters had still not been swum so Pugh decided that, while getting on with his studies in maritime law. he'd spend as much time as he could going around the world to collect firsts'. Some of these achievements are impressive because of their distance, like the longest cold water swim (204 kilometres down Norway's longest fjord}. Others would make even the greatest animal lover tremble with fear: crossing African lakes Tilled with hippopotamuses and Crocodiles or swimming round the southernmost tip of Africa in shark-infested waters. But for Pugh, each challenge has to be greater than the last.

This attitude ended up taking him to the most inhospitable regions in the world: in August 2005 Pugh made world-wide headlines when, ignoring the threat of polar bears, he broke the world record for the most northern swim, as he plunged into the near frozen waters of the Arctic near the North Pole and swam for a kilometre. Four months later he went on to do the same for the most southern part of the Antarctic This time there were icebergs around, the water was at freezing point and it was snowing, yet despite these more extreme conditions he did the same distance in even less time. His incredible achievement was broadcast by more than 500 TV channels around the world.

The first dive in Antarctica was an unforgettable experience. You get a terrible headache and your breathing speeds up until you can't control it. Then the skin gets terribly burned. After five or ten minutes you start losing the feeling in your lingers and toes; says Pugh, known as 'The Polar Bear- because of his ability to swim in temperatures which, physiologically, should be impossible. Like the seals and polar bears that live in these freezing conditions. Pugh has to insulate his body by putting on IS kilos before a swim in order to up his fat levels. However, it is his unique ability to raise his core body temperature by as much as two degrees in anticipation of the water by the power of his mind that has made him a medical phenomenon.

It is incredible enough that anyone would choose to put themselves through the experiences he does, especially as. to raise the game, he wears only swimming trunks, a cap and goggles. So what drives him? Sometimes we set boundaries for ourselves in life, or even worst-, we allow others to do so. In many cases these boundaries are just in our mind and need to be pushed away If you worry about sharks and things like that, the fear will paralyse you. You have to do maths problems or think about something else, otherwise you will fail. He insists that everyone - however ordinary - is capable extraordinary things if you can do this.

By swimming more than 1 km in all five oceans of the world Pugh has fulfilled every swimmers dream. So his latest adventure - swimming down the Thames in London - might seem a little tame, until you realise that this was the full length of the river - 325 km in 21 days - in a heat-wave. As well as collecting another first, he used this as a publicity opportunity for a concern very close to his heart; during his swim members of his team put on polar bear costumes and gave out leaflets to educate passers-by about ways of preventing global warming. Although he is currently planning his next round of adventures, he remains tight-lipped about them. It may be that I'll quit
the aquatic world for a change, he told us. But trust me: no matter what I do, it'll be something that no one has ever seen before.

As a child, Pugh's ambition was to be:
1. a sailor
2. a lawyer
3. a swimmer
4. an explorer
Why did Pugh make travel a priority?
1. to improve his knowledge of the seas
2. to achieve something never done before
3. to find out how far it was possible for him to swim
4. to swim amongst the world's most dangerous animals
What was so extraordinary about Pugh's achievement in 2005?
1. He broke the record for the fastest cold water swim
2. He swam in absolutely dreadful weather conditions
3. He was the first person to swim so near both the North and South Poles
4. He is the only human ever to dare to swim near polar bears in the Arctic
What is so unusual about Pugh?
1. He is able to make himself warm when he needs to.
2. He is able to put on weight before an important swim.
3. He has the kind of skin which can tolerate extreme cold.
4. He has trained his body not to be affected by freezing water.
What motivates Pugh to do what he does?
1. his determination not to be beaten
2. his love of competitive swimming.
3. his obsession with any form of sport.
4. his fascination with the Polar regions.
What do we learn about Pugh from the last paragraph?
1. He no longer feels the need to beat world records.
2. He is putting all his energy into saving the environment.
3. He feels he has achieved all he wants to as a swimmer.
4. He is not prepared to say what he might be doing next
What does Pugh believe that everyone should do?
1. learn to overcome any personal fears
2. prevent global warming by any means possible
3. do dangerous things in order to feel more alive
4. continue to do things that people have never done before