3 READING COMPREHENSION

The example that follows consists of a reading passage and a series of short-
answer questions to test your understanding of it. Read the passage ‘The Lost
Lagoon’, which is an account of a visit to the Esteros del Iberá in the north-east
of Argentina, and then answer the questions that follow.

The Lost Lagoon

1 Yellow and black, it was hiding among the sun-bleached branches at the
water’s edge. Our boat nudged closer to the island. I lifted my camera and
pulled the creature’s beady eyes into focus. Then, in a quarter of a second,
measured by the camera’s rapid frame-burst, the anaconda snapped open
its jaws, sprang forward, and hissed in my face. In the Esteros del Iberá, I
learned, it’s hard to avoid getting up close and personal with nature.
2 Our guide, Máximo, was smiling. There was no danger, he told me.
Anacondas aren’t poisonous – they squeeze their victims to death. I can’t have
looked convinced because he quickly edged the boat away from the bank,
and soon we were threading our way through the streams and inlets that
weave an unknowable pattern through the embalsados – hundreds of floating
islands that bump and skitter across the surface of this vast lagoon system, in a
kind of slow-motion game of dodgems.
3 The Esteros del Iberá is the least known of Argentina’s natural wonders.
Its 63 lagoons are spread across an area the size of Wales and mark the
former course of the Paraná River. In these vast wetlands an improbably
rich ecosystem thrives, but until recently it received only a passing mention
in many guidebooks. Only now, with a flurry of low-rise, eco-friendly
development, is the Esteros finally opening up to tourism.
4 To reach the Esteros from Buenos Aires we took an overnight coach to the
dusty town of Mercedes. After a further hour’s journey in a 4×4 truck down
the dirt track otherwise known as ‘provincial route 40’ and as a red sun
crawled over the horizon, we approached the makeshift bridge that serves as
a gateway to the Laguna Iberá. Iberá means ‘bright water’ in Guaraní, and as
we rattled over the bridge, the surroundings fell away as if we were driving
across a gleaming ocean.
5 The sweeping lawns of the Posada de la Laguna were dotted with a selection
of multicoloured birds. One had a shock of bright red head feathers, as if it had
been dunked headfirst in a pot of Day-Glo paint. The birds barely noticed us;
it was hard not to trip over them as we rolled our luggage through the freshly
cut grass. Later, at breakfast, I turned to see a pair of hummingbirds on the
veranda. They would return every morning.
6 We were staying in the small town of Colonia Carlos Pellegrini, an ideal base
for exploring the Esteros. The Posada was built in 1997, and in recent years a
number of other lodges that share its emphasis on conservation and tradition
have opened nearby. But none has such a privileged position, right on the water.
7 Walking to the small jetty, it was difficult to see where the Posada’s four acres
of gardens ended and the water began, so dense was the covering of aguape
and irupé: water hyacinths and lilies. As Máximo readied the boat, he told
us that these plants spread so quickly he has to clear a new path through the
water each morning.

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 3.4 Practice reading comprehension questions

8 We pushed away from the jetty, thrilled by a glimpse of a basking yacaré.

Soon, sightings of this South American alligator would prompt little more
than a nod of recognition. It seemed that every few metres you could spot a
leathery snout and pair of prehistoric yellow eyes poking through the water.
9 The yacaré feast on the local fish. Fat and happy, they pose little threat to
humans. And some say it’s OK to swim, as long as you don’t mind the odd
nibble from the palometas, a type of piranha found in these parts. I decided
that any swimming would be confined strictly to the hotel pool.

10 Due to their relatively small size, the yacaré are generally not considered to be
fatally dangerous to humans.
11 When the Esteros became a natural reserve in 1983, hunting was banned and
indigenous Guaranís like Máximo retrained as guides. Each day we explored
a secluded new site offering an uncanny array of river otters, bizarre spiders,
carpinchos, yacarés, snakes, butterflies and howler monkeys. We would hear
rumours of a beautiful rare deer that constantly seemed to elude us. And then
there were the birds. Almost 400 species call these marshes home. Some are
difficult to miss, such as the chaja, which resembles an ugly turkey and emits
a gurgling scream. Others take a little searching out: kingfishers, heron, ibis
and eagles.
12 The lagoon system is so vast we rarely saw another boat. The wildlife here
works in shifts, so when the daytime gang clocks off, many rarer creatures
show their faces. Back among the water lilies where we had spent our first
afternoon, we continued our search for the elusive marsh deer. Here the
islands had rearranged themselves so extravagantly that, for the first time,
even Máximo looked a little confused. As dusk turned to night and the
darkness became inky black, he flicked on a powerful torch.
13 There was a movement in the reeds. We edged closer. The torch picked out a
pair of eyes. And then, finally, there it was. A marsh deer standing glorious in
the landscape, the furry tufts of its ears lit up by the tungsten glow of the torch.
It turned its gaze towards us for a moment and then, with a twitch of the nose,
disappeared into the darkness. It had been worth the wait.
By Philip Smith, adapted from The Guardian, 29 November 2008

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