Questions 14-18 are based on the following text. Mount Everest, 29,002 feet high, is situated on the border of Tibet and Nepal. Since the end of the nineteenth centuries climbers have been ambitious to conquer Everest and stand on the highest point of land in the world. On Friday, 29 May 1953, two members of the British Everest Expedition succeeded in reaching the top. They were the first men known to have done so.
Before the successful climb of 1953 there had been ten other expeditions. The first attempts were made from the north, after permission had been obtained from the ruler of Tibet. The first expeditions were organized by the Alpine Club and the Royal Geographical Society. The aim of the 1921 expedition was to examine the mountain and the surrounding area, and find a route by which a later expedition might hope to reach the top.
The climbers were successful in mapping possible routes up the mountain from the north, the north-east, and the north-west. One of them, George Mallory, reached a height of over 24,000 feet, and was able to see an immense valley on the south-west side of the mountain. It was from this valley that the climb was made in 1953.
The expeditions of 1924 again approached the mountain from the north. Two of the climbers, Mallory and Irvine, set up a camp at 26,800 feet. From the camp they sent back a message saying that the weather was good and that they hoped to reach the top and get back to their tent the next day. They were seen the next afternoon through a break in the clouds at a height of about 28,230 feet. They didn’t return to their tent, and the weather made it impossible for other climbers to go to their help. Mallory’s ice-axe was found nine years later by members of another expedition.
In 1951 a British expedition, led by Eric Shipton found a way into the immense valley to the south-west of the mountain. The exploration and mapmaking were of the greatest value to the men who won success in 1953.
For questions 14-18, choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.
