pl-mt4-3 · Matura Practice Tests
Task three. You will hear an interview with Lena, who spent a year at a research station in Antarctica.
Lena Novak spent last year at a research station in Antarctica as a cook. Lena, how did a cook end up at the South Pole?
Well, not exactly at the pole, but close enough! I saw a job ad online by chance. I was working in a hotel restaurant in Chicago, and I was bored. I sent my application as a joke, and three months later I was on a plane to New Zealand, and from there to the ice.
What was the hardest thing about cooking there?
Everyone expects me to say the cold, but the kitchen was warm. The real problem was that we got supplies only once a year, by ship. If you forgot to order something, you had to live without it for twelve months. I forgot cinnamon, and people still complain about it.
How many people lived at the station?
About forty in summer, but only fourteen in winter. In winter it's dark for months, and you can't leave. So you have to get along with everybody, even with people you would never choose as friends.
How did you spend your free time?
We organized all kinds of things: film nights, a chess tournament, even a dance class, although nobody could dance. I also taught two of the scientists how to bake bread. And I read more books in that year than in the previous five.
What do you miss most now that you're back?
The silence. And the sky. The southern lights are incredible, much more beautiful than any photo. In the city I can't even see the stars.
Would you go back?
Not next year. I promised my family I'd stay home for a while. But maybe one day, if they need a cook who knows how to live without cinnamon.
Lena Novak spent last year at a research station in Antarctica as a cook. Lena, how did a cook end up at the South Pole?
Well, not exactly at the pole, but close enough! I saw a job ad online by chance. I was working in a hotel restaurant in Chicago, and I was bored. I sent my application as a joke, and three months later I was on a plane to New Zealand, and from there to the ice.
What was the hardest thing about cooking there?
Everyone expects me to say the cold, but the kitchen was warm. The real problem was that we got supplies only once a year, by ship. If you forgot to order something, you had to live without it for twelve months. I forgot cinnamon, and people still complain about it.
How many people lived at the station?
About forty in summer, but only fourteen in winter. In winter it's dark for months, and you can't leave. So you have to get along with everybody, even with people you would never choose as friends.
How did you spend your free time?
We organized all kinds of things: film nights, a chess tournament, even a dance class, although nobody could dance. I also taught two of the scientists how to bake bread. And I read more books in that year than in the previous five.
What do you miss most now that you're back?
The silence. And the sky. The southern lights are incredible, much more beautiful than any photo. In the city I can't even see the stars.
Would you go back?
Not next year. I promised my family I'd stay home for a while. But maybe one day, if they need a cook who knows how to live without cinnamon.
