Comprehension

ACTIVITY 68: You'll read an explorer called Richard Livingstone talking about a trip he made in the rainforest of South America. After reading, complete the blank spaces in the sentences below. Then check the correct answers.

A TRIP IN THE RAINFOREST

I'd set off, with my friend Matthew Price, to sail down a little-known river in the rainforest, in a homemade boat. Our original idea was to go ail the way by boat, carrying it past any rough bits, but the river was much rockier and faster-flowing than we'd thought, which meant we were only covering a few kilometres each day. Then, suddenly, we realised that, as the river was about to go over a waterfall, we could go no further by boat.
As it was only a homemade thing, we decided to abandon it, and walk to the nearest road. As far as we knew, there were no villages or trading posts along the way and, on our map, it looked like a 100-kilometre walk.
And that walk, through thick rainforest with 25 kilos on our backs, was difficult We walked for six days, it was hot and we were permanently wet through, before we came to any sign of civilisation. There were times when we really wondered if we'd ever get out of that jungle alive.
Then, on the seventh day, we suddenly came across a path - not an animal trail, but a man-made one, so we knew there must be people living there. It was going roughly in the right direction, so we followed it and, at dusk, we came to a deserted camp in a hollow. Deserted, but not uninhabited. There was digging equipment wrapped in plastic, alongside two water-filled holes. Obviously someone had been digging in search of gold at some time or another.

Nearby, on a rough wooden table, were some cooking utensils and a few other supplies, and whoever was camping there must have been intending to return soon because there was a large pot full of thick soup. We couldn't identify either the strange-looking pieces of meat or the unfamiliar vegetables it seemed to be made from, but we were in a desperate state. Over the previous seven days, we'd only had flour and rice to eat and, although we had plenty left, we were low on energy. This was our greatest problem.
So, we cooked up some of our rice and decided to have two spoonfuls from the pot with it. It was good, so we had another spoonful. And then another. Soon, nothing was left of our host's meal. Afterwards, we began to get worried. People living this sort of life could be very tough, and this one could return any minute. We decided to make an early start.
To show we were grateful, we placed thirty dollars in the cleaned-out cooking pot. It was quite a lot for the quantity of food - it was probably only worth ten dollars or so - but that wasn't the point. This man wouldn't be able to pop to the supermarket to replace the food we'd eaten. But I have no regrets because that dinner gave us the strength to make it the rest of the way through the jungle.

1.  Richard and Matthew abandoned their boat because they couldn't get past a .

2.  They decided to walk through the jungle as far as the marked on the map.

3.  Richard says that during the walk, they were always both and .

4.  The first sign of human activity that they found was a .

5.  In a deserted camp, they found some soup made from unusual and .

6.  Richard says that by the time they had reached the camp, they were lacking in .

7.  Richard says that after the meal, they began to feel about what they'd done.

8.  Before leaving the camp, they left the sum of to thank their host.