(UECE- 1997)TEXTO PARA A PRXIMA QUESTO:Read the fo

(UECE - 1997)

TEXTO PARA A PRÓXIMA QUESTÃO:

Read the following passage carefully:

After getting stores and various other commodities together in Mamfe, ¹John and I decided to split up. John wanted to go to a village called Bakebe, some twenty-five miles from Mamfe, which he thought would be a good place for birds. I, on the other hand, wished to go to Eshobi. This village is situated north of the Cross River on the edge of a section of forest that stretches unbroken and almost uninhabited hundreds of miles northwards until 2it reaches the desolate mountains where the gorilla has its stronghold. I set about the task of obtaining carriers for the treck to Eshobi (for there was no road to it), and hiring a lorry to transport John to his village, which was, fortunately, on a road.

The morning of our separation arrived and, with it, my ten carriers. John and I surveyed them as we ate breakfast under the trees on the rest house lawn. 3They were an unprepossessing lot.

'I shouldn't think,' said John, eyeing them, 'that you will even reach Eshobi with that lot.'

At this moment, however, the barber arrived. It had been John who had suggested that I 4should get my hair cut before plunging off to Eshobi, and the suggestion was sound.

As I seated myself, and the barber placed his robe reverently round me, I noticed that the carriers were dancing about, slapping themselves and cursing. I thought nothing of it until I was suddenly assailed with a series of agonizing bites on my leg, and I looked down and got my first view of a driver ant column spread out to attack. The ground was a seething black mass of ants. I roared for rescue, and two of the staff came dashing to my aid, rolled up my trousers and started to pick the ants off my legs. Just at that moment a small boy wandered on to the scene carrying two baby Drills clasped round his waist. Now I was very anxious to obtain some of these baboos, so I bargained furiously with the lad, ⁵and eventually bought them. He planted them both in my lap and departed hurriedly, for the ants were already investigating his legs. The Drills decided that this change of ownership did not appeal to 6them at all, and they both started to kick and scream and bite like spoilt children. The scene in the compound now beggared description: the carriers were leaping about to keep clear of the ants, our staff were trying to get the ants out of the carriers' loads, I was struggling with the Drills, finding myself very much hampered by the barber's cloak, and two members of the staff were still working on ant extermination on my upper calves. The barber had not enjoyed himself so much for years: he gazed at the lively scene, occasionally exchanging a bit of good advice or an insult with one of the carriers or the staff, and absent-mindedly chopping in the general direction of my scalp. Once, when he told a carrier which load to take, the argument waxed so fierce that I expected an ear to fall in my lap at any moment.

Eventually we sorted things out, and John accompanied us to the rusty suspension bridge which spanned the Cross River. On the other side was the forest and Eshobi. We stood there, watching the line of carriers make their way across, a hundred feet above the dark waters. As they reached the other side they were swallowed up in the multicolored undergrowth of the forest. When the last had disappeared, and only their voices came faintly to us, I turned to John.

'Well, dear boy,' I said. 'I must brave the unknown. See you in about three months' time.'

'Good luck,' said John, and, as an afterthought, 'you'll need it I expect ...'

Choose the best alternative according to the text.

'Split up' in '...John and I decided to split up...' (ref. 1) means that...