Science and Purity!

V Set I

IV TERM – READING ACTIVITY

First read the text. Then answer the questions.
Digging deep

The Antikythera shipwreck is one of the greatest archeological discoveries of all time. The shipwreck was first discovered in 1900
by accident when some divers from the island of Antikythera in Greece entered the water to search for sponges. At around 50
metres under water, one of the divers found something that looked very ancient.
What the divers had found there was an ancient shipwreck, now thought to be from Ancient Rome, which had sunk while carrying
a large amount of precious cargo. In the year 1900 a team was sent to search for cargo from the wreck and in that year alone
hundreds of objects were found, including a curious object now named The Antikythera Mechanism, a device considered by
many to be the world ’s first mechanical computer.
The shipwreck was so deep and so diffic ult to access at the time that no more objects could be brought to the surface. The
search for the rest of its treasures was over. But some locals continued diving and said there were beautiful ancient statues and
ordinary goods that had probably been intended for trade in Ancient Rome, such as vases. It was not until the 1970s that another
organised effort was made to search the wreck and reveal its secrets to the world. This project was led by the famous explore r
and documentary filmmaker, Jacques Cousteau.
During this second underwater expedition nothing was removed from the wreck, but instead the sunken ship and its secrets were
recorded and shown on television for the first time. Following this no-one attempted to access the wreck until a new team of
investigators started a third dive in 2012. During this visit, a lot of new treasures were located. Many of these were reported to be
undamaged and in excellent condition. The divers estimated that hundreds more valuable objects could be buried under the
seabed.
The next exploration of the wreck will happen later this year. Using cutting -edge technology, the divers will be able to go deeper
and spend more time under the water than ever before. Who knows what new secrets will come to the surface!

Choose the correct answer, A, B or C.

1 This text is about __________ .
A deep sea diving B an underwater archeological site C Ancient Roman trade
2 In the year 1900, divers __________ .
A found the Antikythera Mechanism
B found all the objects in the ship
C made the world’s first mechanical computer
3 The vases (underlined in paragraph 3) were probably meant to __________ .
A reveal the shipwreck’s secrets
B be sold to ancient Romans
C carry goods
4 The latest expedition will __________ .
A reveal many new treasures
B show the shipwreck to the public for the first time
C involve the use of advanced technology
Match the words/phrases in bold italics in the text (5–10) to what they refer to (A–H). There are two
options you don’t need.
5 there ____ A the 1970s
6 Device ____ B Ancient Rome
7 at the time ____ C the sunken ship
8 its ____ D the year 1900
9 This ____ E the second underwater expedition
10 this ____ F around 50 metres underwater
G The Antikythera Mechanism
H the third expedition