1
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Read the excerpt from a novel by Knut Hamsun and discuss the questions with a
partner.
“Night was coming on again; the sun just dipped into the sea and rose again, red,
refreshed, as if it had been down to drink. I could feel more strangely on those
nights than anyone would believe."
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2
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Read the text and answer the question. For 1-8, choose from the paragraphs
(A-E). Each paragraph may be chosen more than once. Which section contains the following information?
6. a suggestion that can help have a perfect memory of the visit 7. an explanation of the occurrence of the midnight sun away from the Arctic Circle 8. a comparison of local people with tourists |
A. |
Roughly speaking, every place on Earth spends half the year in daytime, and half the
year in nighttime. At the equator, the periods of daytime and nighttime are more or
less equal to about 12 hours each throughout the year. As you move away from the
equator, the balance changes every day. Eventually, as you get close to the North
Pole or South Pole, periods of daytime and nighttime can last a full 24 hours. This
phenomenon is called polar day and polar night. The popular term for polar day is
the midnight sun, when the sun stays above the horizon 24 hours a day - meaning no
sunrise or sunset, just constant daylight.
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B. |
The midnight sun is a result of the Earth's tilt. Due to this fact, one of the
Earth's poles is normally tilted toward the Sun, while the other is tilted away. In
June, when the North Pole is pointed toward the Sun, no matter how much the Earth
rotates, the Sun never appears to set: the midnight sun. The South Pole, on the
other hand, is in 24-hour darkness: polar night. Six months later the situation is
reversed. Now the North Pole is pointed away from the Sun, and the Sun does not rise
at all. Meanwhile, the other pole of the planet, however, witnesses an inverse
effect: the South Pole is bathed in the continuous sunlight of polar day.
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