3. IV. Sights

1. IV.I Loch Ness

1. Have you ever heard about Nessie (Loch Ness monster)?

9. Read the story about the Loch Ness Monster and choose the best sentence (a-i) to complete the gaps (1-8).

The story of the Loch Ness Monster, (0) …f…., began in the year 565. Saint Columbia had heard stories about a seahorse that lived in the loch and attacked people. One day, (1) …….. , he came across a swimmer who was being attacked by a monster. He saved the swimmer and then set off in his boat (2) …… and ordered the beast to stop attacking people.

(3) …….. a man reported seeing a strange creature in the loch. He was walking along a path and stopped to rest. (4) …….. a large ‘snake-like’ animal appeared in the water. The man watched as it swam towards the shore (5) …….. . Night after night he visited the same spot in the hope of seeing Nessie again, (6) ……. . He made up his mind to tell some friends, (7) …….. later that year.

Nobody knows if there really is a monster, (8) ……. has made this part of Scotland very famous.

a. to the middle of the loch

b. and one of them photographed the monster

c. As he looked out over the loch

d. but the legend of Nessie

e. but was always disappointed

f. or Nessie as she is often called

g. Then in 1933

h. where it suddenly disappeared

i. while he was rowing

3. Do you believe that this monster really exists? Today there are different opinions about this problem. Look at some of them and explain why scientists can not say if Nessie exists in reality.

People, who say that they have seen the monster, describe it as an animal with a small head, a long neck and a large body. Underwater photographs, however, did not help to find out what the monster really is. Expedition of British, American and Canadian scientists took more then one hundred thousand underwater photographs on Loch Ness, but neither of them was picture of a large animal.

4. Loch Ness is a well-known place of interest in Scotland. Read the text about it and decide if the statements are true or false.

A lot is written and said about the monster, and for some people Nessie is good business: shirts with “Nessie” on them, books about the monster and all kinds of picture postcards and souvenirs are sold to thousand of visitors every year.

The Loch Ness monster is a real attraction for people from all parts of Britain and from many other countries. It is interesting to know that museum of the Loch Ness monster was opened in Scotland several years ago. It has more than four thousand written reports and drawings of Nessie made by those who have “seen” it.

1. Some people make business using the stories about Nessie.

2. Visitors can buy many different picture postcards with Nessie.

3. The Loch Ness monster doesn’t attract people from other countries.

4. The Loch Ness monster is a fact.

5. They will open a museum of Nessie in some years.

5. Video. Watch the video, note the new information about Loch Ness. Be ready for discussion (what was new, interesting, unusual).

6. Imagine that you visited Loch Ness and met the monster. Make up a story about this meeting.

7. Read the letter from Nessie and write the answer.

Hello, Dear students!

My name is Nessiteras Rhombopterux. A beautiful name, isn’t it? But call me Nessie for short. I live in Loch Ness. It is one of the most romantic places in the world. If you ever come to Scotland, don’t forget to visit me. Perhaps I’ll show up. Perhaps not. You know I like to fool people. Hide–and–seek is my favourite game. But if you are lucky, you’ll be able to take a picture of one of the most beautiful creatures you have ever seen.

Many many years ago my great great grandmother suddenly bumped into St Columbia, founder of the first Christian monastery in Scotland, who was crossing the lake with his friends. This was the first time people saw our species. It happened in the 6^th century. But as time went by. People forgot us.

For centuries nobody paid attention to us. All this changed in 1933, when a new road was built around Loch Ness. One day I was basking in the sun in the middle

of the lake when two people suddenly saw me. I don’t know why, but they looked frightened. I tried to smile at them but it didn’t help. So I disappeared under the water. Later in the evening I wrote my first poem:

“When Nessie’s IN the loch

And you are OUT,

There is nothing to be scared about. ”

Two month later, a young man saw me washing my back. He managed to take a picture of me but I must say it isn’t very decent. It only shows my back and part of my beautiful tail.

In January, 1934, some mad motorcyclist jumped off his motorbike and decided to have a closer look at me. I quickly crossed the road and disappeared in the bushes leaving him wondering if it was me or not, and it was.

In April, 1934, a London surgeon made a photograph of me. I can’t say I like it very much, but people say it is the “most famous photograph of the monster”. Why “the monster”? Still I keep this picture in my family album.

In June, 1934, as I lay on the stone enjoying the warm morning sun, I caught sight of a pretty girl looking out of the window of a nearby house. I liked the girl because she looked friendly. “Why not make friends with her?” I thought. I spent 20 minutes waiting for her to come out but she never left the house. So I swam away.

Later, I read in a newspaper that the girl describe me as a creature with a “giraffe–like neck and an absurdly small head out of all proportions to the great dark–grey body. ” What strange ideas of beauty the young generation has!

After these events people got interested in me. They rushed to Loch Ness with their cameras and strange things that they called “equipment”. I became as famous as a pop star. Businessmen offered huge prices for me, dead or alive. One circus owner promised a sum of 20,000 pounds to any man who would bring me alive to his circus! If you think he wanted to keep me for a pet, you are wrong. He wanted to show me for money and even prepare a special cage for me.

The fools certainly underestimated me. I am too fast and too clever for them!

In 1960, a man filed me with his camera. Do you know what sceptics said about the film? Believe it or not, they said that I looked like a floating log. Of course, my feelings were hurt.

Two years later, I am proud to say, the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau was set up. If I were “a floating log”, would the serious institution like that have been created?

The 1970s were a busy time for me. Newspapers and magazines published articles about me. Scientists all over the world searched the lake. Someone managed to take picture of my beautiful flipper and sure enough, the news hit the headlines.

In 1987, the loch was covered from side to side with line of boats using a thing called sonar but I managed to evade them.

All this years a have been successfully fooling the people. Sceptics say that I am the myth. Some fools think they can only see me if you have drunk several glasses of whisky. Enthusiasts suggest that there is a whole colony of our species in Loch Ness. Scientists continue to search the lake. But I am still a puzzle to them. They have to answer a lot of questions: What sort of creature am I? How did I get to the lake? Who were my parents? How old am I?

If you believe in me, come and see me some day.

Yours, Nesie.