You are going to read an article about an activity in Spain. Seven sentences have been
removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A – H the one which fits each gap 1 – 7.
There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.
THE TOWER AND THE GLORY
Chris Wilson starts at the bottom when he joins a Spanish team making competitive human pyramids
A large man jams his foot in my ear and jumps on to my shoulders. He is quickly followed by another
only slightly smaller gentleman who grabs my belt and shimmies up me like a pole. Another follows. My
face contorts with pain as the fourth tier mounts on to my back and I begin to sway dangerously. (1)
..................
‘Castelling’ (making human castles) is a family sport in Catalonia. Groups normally consist of
everyone from tiny children, through awkward adolescents and wiry women, to well-built men at the
bottom. (2) .................. I had also heard that being overweight and unfit would not count against me.
Sure enough, when I turned up for my first training session, I could sense that, for the first time in years,
my ever-expanding physique was being appreciatively looked at.
Castelling began almost 200 years ago near Tarragona, just south of Barcelona. Out of nowhere, it
seems that people suddenly began forming themselves into human towers. Since then the sport, if you
can call it that, has become an expression of Catalan identity, with groups competing to build ever higher
and more elegant structures.
(3) .................. Once or twice it has managed a six-tier tower. The top teams regularly manage
eight or nine. It was my intention to add a little British beef to the group to help them reach the next level
in time for the competitions to be held tomorrow in Barcelona on the National Day of Catalonia.
At first I had thought that I might like to go on top to bask in the glory, but the club’s president soon
put me straight. He indicated a spindly little girl who looked as though she had been raised entirely on
broccoli, and not much of it at that. It is she who has pride of place on top of the pyramid.
(4) .................. For my first try-out I was given the role of segones mans (second hands), which
meant that I supported the wrists of the man who supported the buttocks of the first rank of the pyramid.
Once I had assumed my position, people began to scramble up me and on to the tower without
warning. (5) .................. Still, my hard work must have been appreciated because I was quickly
promoted to be primeres mans and support the bottoms of the first level of the pyramid that we were
making under the watchful eye of the artistic director.
My performance in the ‘hands’ section had obviously been satisfactory because at the third training
session I was called forward and given the very great honour of the President’s Belt. (6) ..................
Being offered this belt, still warm from the very waist of the President, was a clear gesture that me and
my bulk had been accepted. Finally, I had made it to the bottom of the pile.
Being a pillar in a Castell is much like being a bass player in a band. You know that everyone in the
crowd is cheering for the singer or the lead guitarist, no matter how important the rhythm section. When
we take the stage tomorrow, no one in the crowd will know who I am, or even be able to see me down at
the bottom. All their cheering will be for the little girl on top. (7) .................. It felt great.
A. The best I could hope for was to be at the bottom, but even that honour has to be
earned.
B. So I knew that everyone at the training session that night would have cheered with
good - natured delight if I had done that.
C. But that memorable night in Figueres, despite the incredible strain, I held steady and
the applause was all for me.
D. I had been attracted to castelling because I had been told that it requires almost no
skill or coordination.
E. Within seconds I had assisted in the formation of a three-tier tower without really
noticing what was happening.
F. Its not easy being the bottom man of a human pyramid.
G. Each casteller is wound into a large strip of material worn around the waist to support
the back and to help the other castellers grip when they climb.
H. The group I had joined in Figueres, near the French border, is very much a second-
division outfit.
Loga
Sinh Học lớp 12
