English practice 37

The following paragraphs may or may not be in the most logical order. Each paragraph is numbered in brackets, and question 45 will ask you to choose where Paragraph 2 should most logically be placed.

Thrill Seekers Wanted

[1]

Like Indiana Jones, the staid college professor who undertakes daring adventures in his spare time, my father is a businessman by day and a thrill-seeking adrenaline fanatic by night. His enthusiasm rubbed off on me, and I have been lucky to be his sidekick on many an adventure. We started out small by conquering America's fastest, most twisted rollercoasters. After that, a whitewater rafting excursion through the Grand Canyon on the majestic, if murky³² Colorado River jumpstarted our search for other extreme thrills across the globe.

[2]

Anyone who loves a challenging thrill should try canyoning. Our adventure began with a 90-foot rappel down a canyon wall into a rushing, ice-cold river, and without³⁴ wetsuits we surely would have become popsicles! Intrepidly, we traversed the bone-chilling water toward the mouth of the river, our final destination, where the reward for the journey would be a panoramic view of the natural wonder³⁵ of the lush Interlaken basin.

[3]

Spectacular thrills awaited us at every corner of the world. A remarkable activity in its own right, like skydiving was³⁶ especially momentous when performed from a helicopter over the breathtaking Swiss Alps. We have gone spelunking in damp and ominous Peruvian caves. We have traveled to New Zealand for Zorb, a strange activity in which participants enter a giant, inflatable ball and roll down steep, grassy hills. Most recently, in Interlaken, Switzerland, we attempted "canyoning," because of which was³⁸ our most exhilarating adventure yet!

[4]

We had to navigate both the flowing river and the canyon walls we³⁹ became amphibious, moving seamlessly between land and water. We slid over slick rocks at one moment, leapt and descended⁴⁰ from waterfalls and swam through underwater tunnels the next. Back and forth we alternated, scaling rope ladders before zooming down zip lines back into the fresh mountain water. Certainly, danger from possible miscalculations were lurking⁴¹ in each of these activities, but that very danger provided the rush. Canyoning was indeed one thrill after another, from beginning to end.⁴²

[5]

While canyoning is possible only in certain locales, thrills and adventure can be found anywhere. Our humble beginnings in the U.S. showed us just that. We continue to seek the big thrills, but⁴³ in doing so, we have learned to seek lesser forms of excitement in daily life as well. After all, we can't go canyoning every day, and small thrills are better than none for us thrill seekers.⁴⁴