The mysterious desert drawings known as the Nasca lines have puzzled people since they first became widely known in the late 1920s. Before air travel in Peru began, it was impossible to get a clear view of the giant drawings of the spider, monkey and hummingbird. Yet the Nasca people who made these patterns 2,000 years ago couldn’t have seen them from above.

One of the first formal studies of the lines was by Maria Reiche. She spent half a century working for their conservation and was convinced that the lines must have been part of an astronomical calendar. Other people thought they might have been ancient Inca roads or irrigation systems. The weirdest idea was that they could have been landing strips for alien spacecraft!

This region of Peru is one of the driest places on Earth and yet successful societies, including the Nasca, lived here. Water must have had an incredible significance to these societies, so perhaps the lines were related to this. We know that the Nasca River, which comes down from the nearby mountains, runs underground for about fifteen kilometers before suddenly emerging on the surface again. This must-have seemed an astonishing, even sacred, phenomenon to ancient societies. It has also become clear that there are many huge drawings in the area, not just the ones on the flat desert plain. Many are much older than the Nasca figures themselves, so the same group of people can’t have created them. It now seems that the Nasca lines may have been part of a long tradition of ceremonial activities connected to water and religious beliefs.

QUESTIONS 1-4

What is the general subject of passage?

The discovery of Nasca lines

The mystery of Nasca Lines

Existence of Nasca line due to ceremonial activities

The significance of Nasca Lines

What is more likely implied in the article about ?

The Nasca people made the Nasca lines to puzzle the people

A lot of studies made but the Nasca lines remain a mystery

Nasca lines may have been part of a tradition of ceremonial activities

Nasca lines are a part of phenomenon to ancient societies

What can be inferred in this sentence in paragraph 1.?

“ The mysterious desert drawings known as the Nasca lines have puzzled people since they first became widely known in the late 1920s”

The Nasca Lines remain mysterious since 1920.

The Nasca lines have fascinated people since they first became widely known.

The magical desert is known as the Nasca lines.

The nasca lines remained a mystery to the people.

Which is the writer’s tone in this passage?

Informative

Warning

Skeptical

Ironic

QUESTIONS 5-7

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN If there is no information on this

The author believes that the thought that the Nasca line is due to landing strips for alien spacecraft is a strange idea.

The author believed that the Nasca lines were perceived as a wonderful phenomenon to ancient societies.

The Nazca river is in the Region of Peru.