Matura Rozszerzona z Angielskiego – Maj 2023

A. Visitors to London often refer to the famous clock tower and the clock itself as Big Ben. But that’s not accurate. Big Ben is only the name of the bell inside the tower. The tower is called the Elizabeth Tower. Not many people know that it leans. This is only seen by those few passers-by who take the time to study its exterior very closely, because the tower leans only slightly – about 0.04 degrees.

B. Big Ben first chimed in July 1859, but two months later a crack appeared in the bell. This was most likely caused by a worker carrying out routine maintenance. As a result, the bell fell silent for four years. When the bell chimes, it not only informs Londoners and tourists about the time, but also illustrates an interesting phenomenon. As sound travels slower than radio waves, people listening to a live radio broadcast will hear the bell’s chimes one-sixth of a second earlier than people strolling past the clock tower.

C. The clock’s maintenance book reveals that the clock’s hands were blue when it was built in 1859, but London’s smog gradually turned them black. In the 1980s, a new coat of paint was applied. This time the colour black was chosen to avoid discolouration. The clock’s hands are illuminated by 28 energy-efficient bulbs, each of which has a lifetime of 60,000 hours. However, from 1939 to 1945, the authorities decided to make an exception – the clock’s hands remained unlit in compliance with wartime blackout rules.

D. In 1944, a flock of starlings rested on one of the clock’s hands. Their combined weight was enough to slow down the mechanism and change the time. Another incident occurred on 31st December 1962, when heavy snow and ice caused Big Ben to chime in the New Year with a 10-minute delay.

Ever since the "unsinkable" Titanic struck an iceberg and sank during her maiden voyage in 1912, she has been present in the popular imagination. A series of best-selling books and feature films has helped to keep her story alive, but as I see it, the most important factor in people's ongoing fascination with the Titanic is the discovery of the wreck in 1985. Before 1985, it was thought that the wreck was in one piece that might one day be raised. However, it turned out it had broken into two parts while sinking, and when it hit the ocean floor at a speed of about 48 km/h. The result was not a neat wreck, but piles of steel fragments that have been slowly eaten away by salt corrosion and metal-consuming bacteria. Since the wreck was found at a depth of 3,810 metres in the North Atlantic, it has been monitored, but only a few scientific expeditions have been carried out. Sadly, a manned dive to the Titanic which took place in 2019 revealed a shocking deterioration in the wreck's condition.
The video recording made during the expedition shows that a big section of the ship has been covered in rusticles, which develop as the bacteria slowly consume metal. Lori Johnson, a scientist on the expedition, said in an interview, "We knew the wreck was going to continue to decay over time, it's a natural process. But we didn't suspect that it would happen so fast." Parks Stephenson, a Titanic historian on the expedition, said that some parts of the captain's quarters had completely collapsed. The most shocking area of damage was the starboard side of the officers' quarters. "The captain's bathtub, a favourite image among Titanic enthusiasts, is now gone," he said. "That whole deck on that side is collapsing together with the staterooms."
The lack of light and intense pressure at a depth of nearly 4 kilometres make the wreck's environment inhospitable to most marine life, apart from the microbes which have colonized the ship. As a result, it will eventually dissolve into a fine powder and be carried off by ocean currents. Probably, there will be nothing left of the wreck by 2030. Fortunately, the 2019 expedition used specially adapted cameras that allowed computerised 3D models of the wreck to be created. The scientists plan to publish their material as a documentary.
Na podstawie: newatlas.com, www.theguardian.com

“Welcome aboard, Dr. Johnson. How are you feeling?”
“I’d like to know what’s going on,” Norman Johnson said.
“How about some coffee first?” Barnes said, and then the room suddenly went dark except for a ray of sunlight that streamed in from a side porthole. A man came in through a side door. “Working on it, Captain, but the sea is rough, so it may take some time,” he said.
“These things weren’t built for the kind of power loads we put on them now. And – ah, there we are.” The lights came back on. Barnes smiled. “Coffee, Dr. Johnson?”
“Black is fine,” Norman said. Barnes poured him a mug. “Thank you. So, why was I called here? I’m usually called to airplane crash sites,” Norman said. Barnes seemed uncomfortable.
“Actually, this isn’t an airplane crash site, Dr. Johnson. It’s a spacecraft crash site.”
Norman nodded, “I see.”
“That doesn’t surprise you?” Barnes said.
“No,” Norman said. “Actually, it explains a lot. If a military spacecraft crashed in the ocean, I can understand the secrecy. When did it crash?”
Barnes hesitated before answering. “We believe,” he said, “it crashed about three hundred years ago.”
There was a silence. Norman struggled to understand what he was being told. Three hundred years ago, he thought. But the space program wasn't three hundred years old. It was barely thirty years old. So how could a spacecraft be three hundred years old? Barnes must be mistaken. But how could Barnes be mistaken? He went over it again and again, getting nowhere, his mind dazed and shocked.
“Absolutely no question about it,” Barnes was saying. “We can approximate the date from coral growth with great accuracy. Pacific coral grows two-and-a-half centimetres a year, and the object – whatever it is – is covered in about five metres of coral. That’s a lot of coral. Of course, coral doesn’t grow at a depth of a thousand feet, which means that the present shelf collapsed to a lower depth at some point in the past. The geologists are telling us that happened about a century ago, so they’re assuming the craft is about three hundred years old. But it could, in fact, be much older. It could be a thousand years old.”
Barnes shifted papers on his desk, arranging them into neat stacks, lining up the edges.
“I don’t mind telling you, Dr. Johnson, this thing really scares me. That’s why you’re here.”
Norman shook his head. “I still don’t understand.”
“We sent for you,” Barnes said, “because of your association with the ULF project.”
“ULF?” Norman said. And he almost added, “But ULF was a joke…” Seeing how serious Barnes was, he was glad he had caught himself in time.
Na podstawie: Sphere by Michael Crichton

Bothies are shelters in mountainous parts of the UK. They can be used by anyone, but offer very little comfort. They are unique in that they cannot be booked in 7.1. – A. return B. exchange C. case D. advance , and are free of charge. Most of them are run by an association 7.2. – A. built out for B. made up of C. cut out from D. put up with volunteers.
Bothying originated in the 1930s. Back then, bothies were not easy to find. Printed lists of the shelters indicated just their 7.3. – A. related B. accurate C. average D. approximate locations. The exact sites of the bothies were revealed to the public in 2009. Since social media further popularised the shelters, there has been a huge increase in numbers of visitors.
To serve people well, bothies need constant renovation, as the unforgiving weather 7.4. – A. comprises B. makes C. affects D. involves them badly. That’s why the Mountain Bothies Association organises working holidays during which essential repairs 7.5. – A. will carry out B. are carrying out C. are carried out D. have carried out . The problem is that not many people want to take part in such holidays. There is a concern that 7.6. – A. unless B. as long as C. in spite of D. since more young volunteers can be found, the future of bothies will be at risk. To join the Mountain Bothies Association, go to www.mountainbothies.org.uk.