Page 49 - index

2018 ‫מועד סתיו‬ - 49 - ‫ פרק שני‬- ‫אנגלית‬

Text II (Questions 18-22)

(1) In 2016, the United Kingdom's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
asked the public to propose names for its new £200 million polar research ship. The
proposal that won the online vote by an overwhelming majority was Boaty McBoatface,
which lent an air of lightheartedness to a serious scientific endeavour. NERC, however,

(5) vetoed what they considered to be a ludicrous proposition, opting instead for the fourth
most popular choice: Sir David Attenborough, in honour of the prominent naturalist
whose television documentaries have introduced people around the world to the
wonders of nature. Nevertheless, in the interests of democracy, NERC bestowed the
public's choice of name on another vessel: a small, state-of-the-art, unmanned

(10) submarine that would be launched from the mother ship to investigate the ocean's
depths. Despite its silly name, Boaty McBoatface would soon prove its worth.

In the spring of 2017, Boaty set off on its maiden trip. Its task was to gather
measurements from one of the deepest and coldest ocean regions on earth: the
83-kilometre-long, 3.5-kilometre-deep Orkney Passage, located in the Southern Ocean

(15) roughly 800 kilometres from Antarctica. Boaty's ability to manoeuvre underwater
allowed it to collect a wider variety and larger amounts of data than surface research
ships can; the latter are able to take measurements only from a fixed location. Lead
scientist Professor Alberto Naveira Garabato from the University of Southampton notes,
"We are now able to obtain a much more detailed picture of what is happening in this

(20) very important underwater landscape."

The information provided by Boaty gives scientists a greater understanding of
changes in the Antarctic region and also contributes to the UK's efforts to tackle global
climate change. Naveira Garabato explains that over the past few decades, the speed of
winds blowing over the Southern Ocean has increased, causing currents carrying the

(25) cold Antarctic bottom water to accelerate and, as they move faster, to produce more
turbulence. This, in turn, causes more of the warm water from the upper ocean layers to
mix with the colder water of the bottom layers, raising its temperature. As the warmed-
up bottom water travels toward the equator, it could affect worldwide weather patterns
and sea levels. The data collected during Boaty's mission will be used not only to

(30) investigate these phenomena but also to determine whether other processes are involved
in them.

It is unlikely that this Antarctic research project would have attracted public
attention if Boaty McBoatface had been called only by its technical name: the Autosub
Long Range. If not for the goofy name, the public would have missed a fascinating

(35) lesson in science.

Questions

18. The main purpose of the text is to -

(1) compare the missions of Sir David Attenborough and Boaty McBoatface
(2) describe the work of NERC
(3) present recent findings about the climate in the Antarctic
(4) discuss Boaty McBoatface's contribution to scientific research

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