Przeczytaj dwa teksty związane z diamentami. Z podanych odpowiedzi wybierz właściwą, zgodną z treścią tekstu. Zakreśl literę A, B, C albo D.
Tekst 1.
THE MINE
Mr F. led me across the long stretch of jungle and deserted hilly terrain. The earth trembled every few minutes, with me on its surface. “You can see now why Krakatoa was always considered unfit to live on. That’s the peculiar thing about nature,” explained Mr F.
“It guards its rarest treasures with the greatest care. This noisy and fearful volcano has a mine at its feet. I am now leading you there.” With considerable difficulty we reached the foot of the volcano. We were suddenly standing on a piece of ground which didn’t move. At last! Feeling dizzy and weary, I was grateful to Mr F. for bringing me to a bench on this motionless piece of earth. I sat down and took a deep breath. The tension disappeared. Mr F. sat beside me for a while and then suggested that we get going. It took us about ten minutes to get to an entrance in the wall of the mountain, the entrance covered up by an old wooden door from a ship. Mr F. took out two pairs of glasses with dark lenses. “You’ll need these,” he explained, “and whatever you do, do not remove them while in the mines.”
As soon as I entered the mine, I understood why the ground above it was such a peaceful retreat in this rumbling landscape. The walls, the floor, the ceiling were hewn out of the hardest of all minerals: pure, dazzling diamond. I walked up to my ankles in diamond pebbles. The floor was covered with diamonds as big as cobblestones, diamonds in their cleanest state, ready to be cut. If the famous Jonkers’ diamond, one of the largest ever found, had been tossed on the brilliant floor of the Krakatoa mine, it would have been as impossible to find as a grain of salt in a bag of sugar. I was naturally astounded. I had seen pictures of the famous salt mines of Poland and the crystal caves of Bermuda. Here was a sight a thousand times more blinding, more awe-inspiring; a sight to make reality of the most imaginative fairy tale. I greedily picked up some of the jewels letting the smaller ones slip through my fingers. I couldn’t resist taking the biggest diamond in my hands. It was the size of a baseball. I suddenly felt like a small child let loose in a candy shop. I put the diamond away reluctantly.
“May I have a handful of these?” I asked pointing to the diamond pebbles at my feet. My voice was trembling.
“Sure,” he said, “fill your pockets with them if you wish.”
adapted from The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois
