For items 1-15 fill in the gaps in the text choosing an appropriate word from the column
on the right. choose one word once only. there are two extra words in the right column
which you don’t have to choose. write the correct word in your answer sheet.
the monolithic statues of rapa nui (easter island) called moai are sublimely
beautiful works of art. tall figures carved out of volcanic rock the 11th and 14th
centuries by polynesian settlers, they have long, unsmiling faces, elegant, hawk-like
noses and brooding brows. they can seem alienating or enthralling, depending on the
angle, the light, your mood and the 2)
rapa nui is a tiny triangle some 14 miles long on its base and about seven miles
wide, making it roughly the of jersey. at each of its three corners stands an
extinct volcano. some 2,300 miles from the coast of chile, the island is one of the most
isolated places on the planet. it is treeless, dotted with volcanoes and fringed with
sandy beaches. high waves often lash 4) western shores.
this setting – and the 800 or so moai – have turned much of rapa nui 5) a
unesco world heritage site and a tourism magnet. its permanent population is around
5,200, about half of whom are of polynesian descent. in 2012, 86,949 visitors came,
most by plane from chile, though some tourists fly 6) from lima or from
australasia via tahiti. occasionally, cruises make stopovers.
rapa nui’s sites differ from most other ancient ruins because of the ongoing
mysteries that surround the moai and their makers. were the statues gods, shrines or
conduits to the heavens? how were they moved? how did the original polynesians
here? why are there no trees? did some natural or man-made cataclysm befall
the population? what do the present rapa nui – the name for the people as well as the
island – get from the moai now, if 8)
to the chagrin of native-born islanders, chilean settlers – and there are many –
insist on calling their adopted 9) isla de pascua (easter island). this was the name
given to the island by a dutch mariner, jacob roggeveen, the first european to 10)
landfall here on easter sunday in 1722. carbon dating of artefacts on rapa nui
indicates that polynesians landed on the island they call te pito o te henua (the navel
of the world) around ad 700. settled in tribes, they practised slash-and-burn
agriculture and built canoes, and eventually wiped 11) the island’s 16 million trees.
this, or internecine war, or rats, or european diseases – theories abound – brought a
population of as many as 12,000 down to just 111 by 1877.
chile annexed rapa nui in 1888 but allowed a scottish firm to 12) the island
as a large sheep farm until 1953 (with locals penned in at hanga roa). spanish is the
first language, though the rapa nui still 13) their language (also called rapa nui).
many islanders today have chilean roots, and south american food, social mores and
customs are inevitably eroding local traditions.
if you only have a 14) of days, a handful of essential sights shouldn’t be
missed. the most important will be the ahu, the ceremonial platforms on 15) stand
the moai. the figures originally had eyes of coral and obsidian; on the beach at ahu
tahai near hanga roa, you will see how they looked thanks to a reconstruction.
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