Reading Test Intermediate
Reading Test Intermediate
Tribal tourism is becoming more popular. But at what cost to the locals? Tribal
tourism is a relatively new type of tourism. It involves travellers going to
remote destinations, staying with local people and learning about their culture
and way of life. They stay in local accommodation, share facilities with local
people, and join in with meals and celebrations. At the moment, less than one
percent of holidays are tribal tourism holidays, but this is set to change.
Tribal tourism is often compared with foreign exchange visits. However, a
foreign exchange involves staying with people who often share the same
values. Tribal tourism takes visitors to places where the lifestyle is very
different from that in their home location. Those who have been on a tribal
holiday explain that experiencing this lifestyle is the main attraction. They say
that it offers them the chance to live in a way they never have before. Not
everyone is convinced that tribal tourism is a good thing, and opinions are
divided. The argument is about whether or not it helps the local population, or
whether it exploits them. The main problem is that, because tribal tourism is
relatively new, the long-term effects on local populations have not been
studied in much detail. Where studies have been carried out, the effects have
been found to be negative. Travel writer Ian Coleman recalls a recent trip to
Guatemala, where he saw an example of this. 'There is a village with a statue
of a man called Maximon, who has a special spiritual meaning for the local
tribe,' he explains. 'The statue is kept indoors, and once a year the locals bring
him out and carry him around the village. However, visitors now pay money for
them to bring the statue out and carry it around, while they take photographs.
As a result, Maximon has lost his original meaning, and is now just another
tourist attraction.'
So, is it possible to experience an exotic culture without harming it in some
way? 'With a bit of thought, we can maximise the positive impacts and
minimise the negative; says travel company director Hilary Waterhouse.
'Remember that you are there not only to experience a different culture, but
to help it in some way. Tourists bring money to the community, which the
community can invest in local projects. However, this does not mean you can
act the way you might do back home. The most important thing is to show
respect, learn about, and be aware of, local customs and traditions. Always
remember you're a guest.' Dawn Baker, manager of travel company Footprints,
runs tours to tribal areas in Peru. 'Good companies specialising in tribal tours
are very careful about who they allow on their tours,' she says. 'They won't
take anyone they feel is unsuitable.' Baker offers reading recommendations so
that visitors can read about the country and its cultures. 'The rewards of a trip
to this country are priceless, and the more you know in advance, the more
priceless they are: Tribal tourism travellers are often surprised at how basic
their facilities are when they get there. 'It's not for everyone, but for me it was
all part of the experience,' says Jamie White, who has recently returned from a
trip to Borneo. 'We stayed in the same huts that everyone was living in, with
no running water and no electricity. It was basic, but it was an ethical way to
travel. Being comfortable means you use more local resources and so have
more of an environmental impact' (unit 8
workbook)
Questions 1-8 Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO
WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
Questions 9-13. Look at the following statements and the list of people
below. Match each statement with the correct person, A-D.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
9. Travellers may need to change the way they behave.
10. Some travellers would not enjoy living the way that the local people do.
11. Tribal tourism can have benefits for local people.
12. Some travellers make local people do things that they would not normally
do.
13. Learning about a place before you go there makes your trip much more
satisfying.
A. Ian Coleman
B. Hilary Waterhouse
C. Dawn Baker
D. Jamie White
THE POMPIDOU CENTRE
More than three decades after it was built, the Pompidou Centre in Paris has
survived its moment at the edge of architectural fashion and proved itself to
be one of the most remarkable buildings of the 20th century.
It was the most outstanding new building constructed in Paris for two
generations. It looked like an explosion of brightly coloured service pipes in
the calm of the city centre. However, when in 1977 the architects Richard
Rogers and Renzo Piano stood among a large crowd of 5,000 at the opening
of the Centre Culture! d'Art Georges Pompidou (known as the Pompidou),
no one was really aware of the significance of this unusual building.
Rogers was only 38 when he and Piano won the competition to design a
new cultural centre for Paris in the old market site. Young, unknown
architects, they had been chosen from a field of nearly 700 to design one of
the most prestigious buildings of its day. After six difficult years, with 25,000
drawings, seven lawsuits, battles over budgets, and a desperate last-minute
scramble to finish the building, it had finally been done.
Yet the opening was a downbeat moment. The Pompidou Centre had been
rubbished by the critics while it was being built, there was no more work in
prospect for the architects, and their partnership had effectively broken
down. But this was just a passing crisis. The Centre, which combined the
national museum of modern art, exhibition space, a public library and a
centre for modern music, proved an enormous success. It attracted six
million visitors in its first year, and with its success, the critics swiftly
changed their tune.
The architects had been driven by the desire for ultimate flexibility, for a
building that would not limit the movement of its users. All the different
parts were approached through the same enormous entrance hall and
served by the same escalator, which was free to anyone to ride, whether
they wanted to visit an exhibition or just admire the view. With all the
services at one end of the building, escalators and lifts at the other, and the
floors hung on giant steel beams providing uninterrupted space the size of
two football pitches, their dream had become a reality.
The image of the Pompidou pervaded popular culture in the 1970s, making
appearances everywhere — on record-album covers and a table lamp, and
even acting as the set for a James Bond film. This did much to overcome the
secretive nature of the architectural culture of its time, as it enabled wider
audience to appreciate the style and content of the building and so moved
away from the strictly professional view.
The following year, Rogers was commissioned to design a new headquarters
for Lloyd's Bank in London, and went on to create one of Britain's most
dynamic architectural practices. Piano is now among the world's most
respected architects. But what of their shared creation? It was certainly like
no previous museum, with its plans for a flexible interior that not only had
movable walls. but floors that could also be adjusted up or down. This
second feature did not in the end survive when the competition drawings
were turned into a real building. In other ways, however, the finished
building demonstrated a remarkable degree of refinement — of
craftsmanship even — in the way the original diagram was transformed into
a superbly detailed structure. It was this quality which, according to some
critics, suggested that the Pompidou should be seen as closer to the
19th-century engineering tradition than the space age.
Nevertheless, as a model for urban planning, it has proved immensely
influential. The Guggenheim in Bilbao* and the many other major landmark
projects that were built in the belief that innovatively designed cultural
buildings can bring about urban renewal are all following the lead of the
Pompidou Centre.
Other buildings may now challenge it for the title of Europe's most
outlandish work of architecture. However, more than a quarter of a century
later, this construction - it is hard to call it a building when there is no
facade, just a lattice of steel beams and pipes and a long external escalator
snaking up the outside - still seems extreme.
Today, the Pompidou Centre itself still looks much as it did when it opened.
The shock value of its colour-coded plumbing and its structure has not
faded with the years. But while traditionalists regarded it as an ugly attack
on Paris when it was built, they now see it for what it is - an enormous
achievement, technically and conceptually.
Questions 1-4 Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
1. What does the writer say in the first Darnall about the opening of the
Pompidou Centre?
A. The elderly did not like it.
B. The architects were not present.
C. The atmosphere was very noisy.
D. The people did not realise its importance.
2. What does the writer say in the second paragraph about the
construction of the Pompidou?
A. There was a hurry to complete it.
B. It cost less than expected.
C. Other experts helped draw the plans.
D. The market location was criticised.
3. What is the writer's main purpose in the third paragraph?
A. to explain the multi-functional role of the centre
B. to praise the architects for their design ideas
C. to say why some people's opinions quickly altered
D. to show how the media benefited from its success
4. What was the architects’ "dream', referred to in the fourth paragraph?
A. to become famous
B. to provide entertainment
C. to allow visitors to use it freely
D. to build the biggest museum in the world
Questions 5-8. Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F,
below.
5. The escalators and lifts inside the Pompidou
6. In the 1970s, pictures of the Pompidou
7. The original plans for the floors of the Pompidou
8. The detailed structure of the finished building