Listening Comprehension Test
for 11th Form Students
From “Escape from Katmandu” by Kim Stanley Robinson
Then a movement across the pool
caught my eye, there in the shadow of two gnarled oak trees. I froze, but I was
right out in the open for anyone to see. There under one of the oaks, in shadow
darker for the sunlight, a pair of eyes watched me. They were about my height
off the ground, I thought it might be a bear, and was mentally reviewing the
trees behind me for climbability, when it moved again, it blinked. And then I
saw that the eyes had whites visible around the iris. A villager, out hunting?
I didn’t think so. My heart began to hammer away inside me, and I could not
help swallowing. Surely, there was some sort of face there in the shadows? A
bearded face?
Of course I had an idea what I might
be trading glances with. The yeti, the mountain man, the elusive creature of
the snows. The Abominable Snowman, for God’s sakes! My heart never pounded
faster. What to do? The whites of its eyes… baboons have white eyelids that
they use to make threats, and if you look at them directly they see the white
of your eyes, and believe you are threatening them; on the off-chance that this
creature had a similar code, I tilted my head down and looked at him
indirectly. I swear it appeared to nod back at me.
Then another blink, only the eyes
did not return. The bearded face and the shape below it was gone. I started
breathing again, listened as hard as I could, but never heard anything except
for the chuckle of the stream…
I rounded a big boulder that stood
on the bank and almost ran straight into a yeti coming the other way, as if we
were on a busy sidewalk and had veered the same direction to avoid each other.
He was a little shorter than me; dark fur covered his body and head, but left
his face clear – a patch of pinkish skin that in the dim light looked quite
human. His nose was as much human as primate –broad, but protruding from his
face, like an extension of the occipital crest that ridged his skull fore –to-
aft. His mouth was broad and his jaw, under its ruff of fur, very broad, but
nothing that took him outside the parameters of human possibility. He had thick
eyebrow crests bent high over his eyes, so that he had a look of permanent
surprise, like a cat I once owned.
At this moment I/m sure he really
was surprised. We both were as still as trees, swaying gently in the wind of
our confrontation, but no other movement. I was not even breathing. What to do?
I noticed he was carrying a small smoothed stick, and there in the fur on his
neck were some objects on a cord. His face –tools- ornamentation: a part of me,
the part outside the shock of it all, was thinking (I suppose I am still a
zoologist at heart), “They aren’t just primates, they’re hominid”.
As if to confirm this idea, he spoke
to me. He hummed briefly; squeaked; sniffed the air hard a few times; lifted his
lip (quite a canine was revealed) and whistled very softly. In his eyes there was a question, so calmly, and
intelligently put forth that I could hardly believe I couldn’t understand and
answer it.
I raised my hand, very slowly, and
tried to say “Hello.” I know, stupid, but what do you say when you meet a yeti?
Anyway, nothing came out but a strangled “Huhn.” He tilted his head to the side
inquisitively, and repeated the sound. “Huhn. Huhn. Huhn.”
Suddenly he jacked his head forward
and stared past me, upstream. He opened his mouth wide and stood there
listening. He stared at me, trying to judge me. I swear I could tell these
things.
Upstream there was a crash of
branches, and he took me by the arm, and suddenly, we were atop the stream
bank, and in the forest. Hoppety-hop through the trees and we were down on our
bellies behind a big fallen log, lying side-by-side in squishy wet moss. My arm
hurt.
Phil Adrakian appeared down in the
streambed, looking considerably the worth for wear. He had scraped through some
brush and torn the nylon of his jacket in several places, so that fluffy white
down wafted away from him as he walked. And he had fallen in mud somewhere. The
yeti squinted hard as he looked at him, clearly mystified by the escaping down.
“Nathan!” Phil cried. He was still
filled with energy, it seemed. “I saw one. Nathan, where are you, dammit1” He
continued downstream, yelling, and the yeti and I lay there and watched him
pass by.
I don’t know if I’ve ever
experienced a more satisfying moment. When he had disappeared around a bend in
the stream, the yeti sat up and sprawled back against the log like a tired
backpacker. The sun rose, and he only squeaked, whistled, breathed slowly,
watched me. What was he thinking? At this point I did not have a clue. It was
even frightening me; I could not imagine what might happen next.
His hands, longer and skinner than
human hands, plucked at my clothes. He plucked at his own necklace, pulled it
over his head. What looked like fat seashells were strung on a cord of braided hemp. They were fossils, of shells very like
scallop shells – evidence of the Himalayas’ days underwater. What did the yeti
make of them? No way of knowing. But clearly they were valued, they were part of a
culture.
For a long time he just looked at
this necklace of his. Then, very carefully, he placed this necklace over my
head, around my neck. My skin burned in an instant flush, everything blurred
through tears, my throat hurt, and I felt just like God had stepped from behind
a tree and blessed me, and for no reason, you know? I did not deserve it.
Without further ado he hopped up and
walked off bowleggedly, without a glance back. I was left alone in the morning
light with nothing except for the necklace, which hung solidly on my chest. And
a sore arm. So it had happened, I hadn’t dreamed it. I had been blessed.
Listening Comprehension Test
for 11th Form Students
Assignments
Glossary: gnarled – сучкуватий, викривлений, boulder – валун, брила,
fore-to-aft – спереду назад
Task 1. Put
“+” if the statement is true, put “–“ if
it is false.
1. In the
beginning of the text the narrator was well hidden while looking for the yeti.
2. The narrator
is taller than the yeti.
3. The yeti
didn’t react to the narrator’s indirect gaze like baboons do when threatened by
staring.
4. The yeti’s
first sound was whistling.
5. The narrator
always predicted the yeti’s next move.
6. The yeti was
curious about this stranger in its woods.
7. Phil Adrakian
was visibly dirty.
8. The yeti
responded to the narrator’s greeting in good English.
9. The Himalayas
were once covered by water.
10. Nathan sat
up and sprawled back against the log like a tired backpacker.
Task 2. Circle the correct letter A, B, C or D
11. The story is
told from the perspective of:
A. Phil Adrakian B. the yeti C. Nathan D. another character
12. The yeti was
also called all of the following EXCEPT…
A. the
boogeyman.
B. the mountain man.
C. the Abominable Snowman. D. the
elusive creature of the snows.
13. What was the
first human characteristic the narrator noticed about the yeti?
A. its bearded
face B. the
whites of his eyes
C. its working
hands D. its pinkish skin
14. The yeti had
similarities with all of the following animals EXCEPT…
A. a bear B. a cat
C. a rabbit D. a baboon
15. Where did
Nathan and the yeti hide together?
A. in a
tree B. in moss C. on a fallen log D. between two gnarled oak trees
16. The yeti had
all of the following with him EXCEPT…
A. a
necklace B. smooth stick C.
fossils D. a boulder
17. In what way
was the yeti different from human?
A. He was
carrying tools B. He had long skinny hands
C. He used
spoken language
D. He was wearing ornamentation
18. What
convinced the narrator that the yeti was part human?
A. the
necklace B. its face C. the small smooth stick D. all of the above
19. According to
the text the yeti could best be described as:
A. animated and
active B.
scary and frightening
C. secretive and
cautious D.
wild and crazy
20. In the text
the narrator was never specifically mentioned feeling:
A.
frightened B. satisfied
C. blessed D. happy
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