Part 1a text

PART 1a MULTIPLE MATCHING TEXT (1 mark each)



Read the newspaper article about flying kites. Choose the most suitable heading from the list A – I for each part (1 - 8) of the article.

There is one extra heading which you do not need to use.

Write your answers on the separate answer sheet.

A The future: newer, better, more expensive.

B Everything about kite-flying has changed.

C All shapes and sizes.

D Even you can afford it.

E Achieving official recognition.

F The excitement of the future.

G The principle of the new designs.

H Old designs from new materials.

I The sky does have a limit.

WILLIAM GREEN discovers a new look for a long-popular sport

1.

On the wall of Martin Lester’s kite workshop are the following words: ‘No bird flies too high if he flies with his own wings.’

Not everyone agrees. If you feel like breaking the world kite altitude record of 12,471 feet, you will have to obtain a special permit. Otherwise, the legal limit set for kite flying is a mere 180 feet.


2.

Lester, one of a dozen or so designers in this country who actually make a living out of kites, says the sport is no longer a matter of ‘kids running up and down a beach, with large wet bits of paper behind them’. New materials, new flying techniques and fresh ideas have turned the subject inside out.

3.

The traditional British kite was made of pieces of thin cotton cloth stretched on a frame of wood. The revolution in kite technology began in the mid - 1970s with the introduction of lighter materials. The new light kites needed wind speeds of as little as 5 miles per hour to fly in, so kite flyers could fly their creations more successfully and more often. More daring and more colourful kites – still using past designs – began to appear.

4.

In the old days, to get the kite in the air and hold it steady in a stiff wind was considered enough fun. As this became easier, designers turned to a more exciting possibility – the steerable kite. The new designs are steered by means of twin lines which are held one in each hand. Twin-lined kites are designed to be unstable, and once in the air they never keep still. The idea is to pull at one or other line to make the kite fly up, down and sideways, or in circles and loops. The basic skills of working such kites are easily learned, but mastering the art is an athletic occupation.

5.

In twin-line kite competitions complex patterns are drawn in the sky and judged for speed and accuracy. Such figure competitions, aerial ballets and aerobatic displays have become extremely popular and, as a result, a number of semi-professional kite teams have been formed. There is even talk of making kite flying an Olympic sport.

6.

Some kite flyers go for huge kites with many hundreds of square feet of sail, so big that they have to be licensed as aeroplanes. Large ‘lifting’ kites are often used to carry cameras for taking photographs from the air. At the other end of the scale, tiny kites may be no larger than postage stamps.

7.

Even with the best new materials and all the modern additions, it is still very hard to spend more than a couple of hundred pounds on a kite. Lester’s most expensive kite is £120. You only pay more if you want a hand-made kite, a huge box construction, or else a collector’s Japanese kite made of painted wasbi paper and special bamboo. Such kites look beautiful but nobody would dare to fly them, as they can be destroyed by a single crash landing, or the lightest shower of rain.

8.

The next development is likely to be the four-string kite which is said to be twice as much fun. Developed in the US, there are only half-a-dozen such kites in this country at present. Lester has already tried one. ‘It took me four hours,’ he says happily, ‘to get any sense of being in control.’