The Island of Laerg

Until that October I had never even seen Laerg. This may seem strange, considering my father was born there and that I'd been half in love with it since I was a child. But Laerg isn't the sort of place you can visit easily. The small island group is eighty miles west of the Outer Hebrides. Eighty sea miles may be no great distance, but this sea is the North Atlantic and the seven islands are a lonely group standing in the way of the great storms that sweep up towards Iceland and the Barents Sea.

Oddly enough, it wasn't my father who'd made me want to go to Laerg.

He seldom talked of the island. He'd become a sailor as a young man and then married a girl from Glasgow and settled down after surviving a shipwreck in mid-Atlantic but losing his confidence in the sea. It was Grandfather Ross who filled our heads with his talk of island history.

This old man with a fierce face and huge hands had been a powerful influence on both my brother lain and myself. He'd come to live with us when everyone left the island. He had been the only man to vote against leaving when the Laerg Parliament made its decision, and to the day he died he disliked living on the mainland. It wasn't only that he talked endlessly of Laerg; in the years he stayed with us he taught my brother and myself everything he knew about the way to live on that island of rock, sheep and birds.

I'd tried to get there once a long time ago, hiding away on a fishing boat. But on that trip the boat hadn't gone within a hundred miles of Laerg, and then I joined lain, working in a Glasgow factory. A year in the Navy followed, and then ten years at sea, and after that I had started the thing I had always wanted to do - I began to study as a painter. It was during a winter spent in the Aeg.ean Islands that I suddenly realized Laerg was the subject that most attracted me. It had never been painted, at least not the way my grandfather had described it. I'd packed up at once and returned to England, but by then Laerg had become a tracking station for the new missile developments. It was a closed island, forbidden to unauthorized visitors, and the Army would not give me permission to visit it.

That was the position until October in the following year when a man called Lane came to my house. It was just after ten in the morning that the phone rang, and a man's voice, rather soft, said, "Mr. Ross? My name's Ed Lane. Are you by any chance related to lain Ross, reported lost when the Duart Castle sank twenty years ago?" "H~ was my brother."

"He was? Well that's fine. I didn't expect to find you that fast. You're only the fifth Ross I've telephoned. I'll be with you in an hour. O.K.?" And he'd rung off, leaving me wondering what in the world it was all about.

I was working on another book cover for Alec Robinson, but after that phone call I'd found it impossible to go back to it. I went into the little kitchenette and made myself some coffee. And after that I stood drinking it at the window, looking out across the roof tops, an endless view of chimneys and TV aerials. I was thinking of my brother, of how I'd loved him and hated him, of how there had been nobody else in my life who had made up for the loss I'd felt at his going.

0 At the time of Ed Lane's telephone call, Mr. ROSS _____________

A had never been to the island of Laerg. B had been to the island of Laerg once.

C had some relatives living on the island of Laerg. D had not wanted to visit the island of Laerg.

11 When Ed Lane called Mr. Ross, who was on the island of Laerg?

A Mr. Ross's relatives. B A few visitors.

C Some islanders. D Army employees.

12 What makes the island of Laerg difficult to get to?

A The distance from the mainland. B The Atlantic weather.

C It is so rocky. D Boats do not call there.

13 Mr. Ross's father settled down on the mainland because _____________

A he had been told to move from the island. B his grandfather had voted to leave the island.

C he had become afraid of the sea. D his wife came from Glasgow.

14 Before calling Mr. Ross Ed Lane had recently ___________

A obtained the address of lain Ross's family. B telephoned four other people called Ross.

C lost a friend called Ross in a shipwreck. D visited Mr. Ross's house whilst he was working.

15 After Ed Lane's call Mr. Ross _____________

A returned to his work on a book cover. B went to the kitchenette to make some tea.

C wondered why Ed Lane had come to his house. D started thinking' of his brother.

Task 4 Read the text below. Match choices (A-H) to (16-20). There are two choices you do not need to use. Write your answers in the boxes. An example (0) has been done for you.

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