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8
You are going to read an article about the Lost City of Atlantis. For questions
1-8, choose the ansvver (A, B, c or D) vvhich you think fits best according to
the text.
THE SEAIICH FOR ATLANTIS

The location of the Lost City of Atlantis is a mystery which has puzzled
humanity for thousands of years. Since Plato ílrst told the story of this
fabulous island city more than 2000 years ago, historians and archaeologists
have continually debatod whether or not the story was true and where the
island may have been located. In recent years an international investigation
team began searching waters off the South coast of Spain in an attempt to
establish once and for all the true location of Atlantis.

The story of Atlantis begins in 360 BC, when Plato wrote two short
works, Critias and Timaeus which mentioned a great civilisation based on an
island in the Atlantic. In Plato’s account, a large number of pcople lived on
this huge island which he called Atlantis, and they developed an almost
períect society. They built a wonderful city surrounded hy circular canals
and protected at each entrance hy huge gates and towers. Aíter lĩghting wars
against Europe and North Africa, the Atlanteans were eventually deíeated.
Some time later, according to Plato, “there occurred violent earthquakes and
íloods; and in a single day and night the island of Atlantis disappeared in the
depths of the sea.”

This may seem an unlikely tale, but many people believe even today, that
while Plato undoubtedly invented some of the story, parts of it are based on
historical fact. And like all the best stories, it has been retold many times in
different forms. A numbcr of other ancient historians described similar
island civilisations and the tale of Atlantis was passed down through
generations, although it then appears to have been largely forgotten for
many years. However, in the late nineteenth century there was a huge
resurgence of interest in Atlantis, particularly after the American writer
Ignatius Donnely wrote a book suggesting that all the major ancient
civilisations were iníluenced hy the Atlantean Empire.
This controversial work inspircd many different theories in the years that
followed, including one that suggested that Atlantis was an island located in
the Caribbean whose inhabitants used fantastical ships and even aircraít.
Edgar Cayce, who dcvelopod this theory, also suggested that parts of Atlantis
would rise from the sea in 1968 or 1969. As if to coníírm his theory, a major
underwater geological lormation was in fact discovered in the Caribbean in
1968. Some people believe this to bo the true location of Atlantis and it is
still being explored today.

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