Reading task 5

iDevice icon Reading task: gapped text 5

Read the text and choose form the paragraphs A-G the one which fits each gap (1-6). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.

 

I wanted to spend a few days brooding under the midday moon. A heated log cabin and maybe a sauna, in Sweden's far north, above the Arctic circle. And I would meditate on the loss of light and the loneliness, in a drawn-out, snowy, winter world where the sun never shines. And that's what I said when the editor asked what I'd like to write about and I was quickly packed off to Övre Soppero with photographer Mark. 'Oh, it's, never dark up here,' our host Per-Nils Päiviö insisted when we met him and his wife, Britt-Marie, with lingonberry sauce.
1.

The next two days and nights in the warmth of the cabin and the traditional circular hut covered in turf, with wood-burning stoves – and yes, a sauna - were, cosy enough. Informative, too, as – along with a breakfast of pancakes - I was given a thorough education in the ancient and barely altered life of the reindeer-herding Sami people of northern Sweden. Just as I was beginning to relax, I found myself being introduced to ‘my’ reindeer. I was handed the reins along with some sparse instructions: pull left for faster, right for stop.
2.

Tonight Pers-Nils was taking us by snowmobile to the huts by the network of corrals where the families lived over the three-day round-up. But he, Mark and I were spending the night in a lavvu, guarding the reindeer. Back home I had discovered that 'lavvu', which had appeared on my itinerary, meant a tent. I imagined a nice, warm tourist tent. Now, ‘spending the night’ began to ring alarm bells.
3.

Somehow, I survived, stiff and a little mad with lack of sleep. Then the round-up began. All the
families revved up their snowmobiles and spread out in a mysterious pattern, surrounding the reindeer. Dogs barked, people shouted to each other in the grey light, and 7,000 reindeer ran in the desired direction: into a large correal. They were herded by a long line of people on foot towards the narrow passage; the 70 or so animals were funnelled into the small circular rodeo space which had gates to ‘family’ paddocks radiating off it.
4.

I declined to wrestle with a reindeer, but Mark put down his camera and became a veritable Sami by grabbing it and shouting, 'It's one of ours', as he was dragged across the corral floor. Having no interest in honour, I begged for a bed with walls around it that night, and maybe even with a jacuzzi.
We had another magical, frozen ride pack on the snowmobile and then a car to Kiruna, the town that contains the Sami parliament and is home to the Swedish iron ore mine. The mine has contracted and has utterly changed the traditional herding land, and is part of what threatens the Sami way of life.
5.

After a day off, I visited some Sami pupils at a local school. They take some of their lessons in
their own language and learn about skills and traditions that are rapidly being forgotten. All the youngsters were looking to the future and making plans for their lives beyond reindeer herding.
6.

Even the likes of me can recognise how privileged I was to participate in that. And we were told that the extra hands can even be useful: Mark apparently was an asset, not just a gawking outsider. Me? Well, now I've warmed up a bit, I am very grateful to have had such an extraordinary experience. All I can hope is that I didn't make life too difficult for my patient hosts.





A But for me, the best thing was that it had the Hotel Ralleran, an old, wooden building devotedly restored, and a shrine to simplicity and comfort. It had beautiful, pale-timbered walls, wooden floors, light, space and the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in and at last a jacuzzi.


B I sat in the family paddock by a fire of seven-foot logs and choked on woodsmoke. 'Ah', a fur-encased elderly lady laughed. 'The smoke follows you. It means that you will be rich.' Or so her daughter translated. What she was probably saying was: 'Who is this stranger?'


C Dinner was delicious and warming, and marked our introduction to Swedish Lapland as guests of the Sami, the indigenous people who were here long before the Swedes, Norwegians, Finns and Russians arrived. 'Snow. Northern lights. The moon for two weeks every month. You can go out in the forest in the middle of December and you hardly need a torch', he commented. Despite my initial reservation, I was becoming intrigued by this dark world and was actually keen to start our 'adventure'.


D Yet they showed a demonstrable desire to keep their Sami heritage, not as a museum exhibit but an actual existence. It's one reason why the Sami are inviting small groups of visitors to share something of their traditions and so they can try to sustain their reindeer-herding way of life.


E My fears turned out to be justified. The Sami version of a tepee had a layer of reindeer skins over the bare, snow-covered, and where I was sleeping, lumpy earth. The fifteen-centimetre gap around the bottom was apparently to let the fresh air in. I spent most of the time perched on my elbows, staring at the embers of the fire in the centre.


F The reindeer took over immediately, either sauntering along or racing his best mate. My performance did lose the respect of the other guides, but thankfully they were kind about it and excitedly started talking about tomorrow's agenda. They had brought together the 7,000 reindeer of the whole district, and tomorrow we would be able to participate in the great annual separation of the herds into family
groups. This is done according to the signs on the ears of each yearling calf and to allocate the winter grazing. Spending a day with 7,000 reindeer - naturally, I was thrilled!


G My job was to stand to one side and head off the stragglers and escapees. This is done by flapping the arms up and down (a good way of keeping warm) and hooting. Even the most desultory of flaps will persuade a wayward reindeer - as I discovered to my relief - to get back into the crowd.