PRACTICE7 | PEOPLE Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow To non-aficionados of high diving, the records set may not appear all that spectacular at first glance. However consider this when Dick stood on the diving perch, he was almost as high as a 20-storey building; the pool below looked no bigger than a postage stamp; and when he hit the dense salt-water he was travelling about 135 kilometres per hour. “There is no room for error at heights we're diving from,” Dick said before the dive. “You don’t want to rotate too far or too slowly. You have to hit the water just right or you're going to get hurt--either the water is going to give, or the object hitting it.” Apparently, Dick's legs were slightly awry when he hit the water after executing two somersaults and a half-twist on the four-second plunge. The force of the impact drove them farther apart and broke a bone in his thigh. But a professional diver for a decade, he came up grinning and waving to the crowd and gamely swam to the edge of the pool. It was only then that it became apparent he was injured and team-mates came to his assistance. Jane was more fortunate. after a slow climb up the ladder to her narrow perch, she paused, inclined forward and performed a single somersault before hitting the water feet first at 110 kph without mishap. “Imagine yourself driving your car at more than 110 kph and having just 6 metres to stop in,” she says. “That’s basically what we're talking about. One mistake from heights above 35 metres and the consequences are very dangerous. I’m happy, I'm glad it’s over. I'm ecstatic,” she added. Like many professional athletes, Dick and Jane began taking sports seriously at a young age and quickly developed a driving force for excellence. For Dick, diving evolved from gymnastics and the trampoline when a former cliff-diver and Olympian coached him on toa diving board, Ina matter of weeks, Dick was jumping from 10 metres. As diving was not an Olympic event, he decided to turn professional after proving himself against older, professional high divers. “I loved to flip and somersault as a kid,” he says, “and from the time I was 15 I dreamed about diving higher than anyone else, of setting a record.” “The first time I set my record was a real rush, “ he said, “I just couldn’t believe the feeling after I hit the water and climbed out of the pool. It was great; this is my profession and I want to be the best I can. But afier the jump, about a half-hour later when I was in the shower, my legs began to tremble. I couldn't stop it. It was like my body had finally caught on to the danger I put it through.” Jane was a competitive track athlete in high school when she turned to diving. She continued high jumping but quickly became a champion diver. “After leaving college, I got a job diving at an amusement park. I’m happy I’ma professional diver. High diving and going for a record is such a challenge. It is really something you have to experience for yourself before you can understand it-the feeling and the adrenalin you get from doing something like this is...t’s like winning a gold medal,” Dick and Jane have successfully knocked on Guiness’ door and will be included in the latest edition of the book after verification procedures. However their entry was not an end in itself. It was merely a by-product of personal quests for excellence, the stuff champions are made of. Jane at the age of 24, has a long career ahead of her and will dive for a record again if her current one is equalled or bettered. Not so for Dick. Prior to setting his record he remarked he may hang up his trunks afier the attempt, in the sense of not trying for a higher record. That comment proved prophetic. Doctors say Dick broke his leg in four places and as a result will never dive professionally again. But for Dick, itis not the end of his life in sports. He will coach gymnastics professionally, a second career he has practised every year with youngsters during diving’s winter hiatus. Adapted from High board daredevils by Richard Tomkins 60Answer the questions in the order set 1. From paragraphs | and 2, (@) why did the pool look “no bigger than” a postage stamp” to Dick? wee ps [1 mark] = (6) what does the expression no room for error mean? gh — J mark] ores. BE . 2, From paragraph 3, (@) what was Dick's initial reaction even though he was injured? hea ii | co. [i mark] . Tet : > why did he react so? eS [1 mark] [2 marks} 4, (@) From paragraph 6, when did Dick begin to realise that diving was a dangerous sport? [1 mark] " “From paragraph 8, why is achieving a record not “an end in itself” to Dick? [1 mark paragraph 9, [when will Jane dive for a record again? [mark] sentence “That comment proved prophetic” (paragraph 9) refers to. [mark] 6