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Nivel: principiante/intermedio
MACHU PICCHU
Machu Picchu is the most popular tourist destination in Peru.
The famous Inca citadel, world-famous as “The Lost City of the Incas”, was built for the Inca emperor Pachacuti who lived from 1438 to 1472.
Work started on the (1) …………..……. in the early fifteenth century (around 1400 to 1450).
MONUMENT TO INCA CULTURE
Machu Picchu is considered to be the outstanding monument of the Inca culture. The site was abandoned about a hundred years after it was built, approximately at the (2) ……………….. of the Spanish Conquest of the Inca Empire.
But it seems that Machu Picchu was abandoned only as an indirect result of the Conquest because the Conquistadors never knew it was there.
The experts have different theories about the purpose of this magnificent place but most agree that Machu Picchu had great religious significance.
Even if it was not a religious site it was a place of outstanding
(3) …………...…….. .. to the Inca people and it was well-know to them. It is not clear if it was a place of pilgrimage; it probably was not a shrine for very large numbers of people, because of the difficulty in reaching it.
Over the years it became overgrown by the surrounding jungle and was hidden from view. This, together (4) ………………. its inaccessible location, kept Mach Picchu intact and in good condition.
It remained untouched and secure until a North American lecturer from Yale University, Hiram Bingham, was led to it by a (5) …………………….. boy, Pablito Alvarez, in July 1911.
Bingham knew he had made an amazing ‘discovery’ and undertook long and serious researches at Machu Picchu. He (6)………………….. later visits to the site and his exciting reports caught the attention of other experts.
MACHU PICCHU BECAME FAMOUS IN 1913
The site became famous to the (7) ………………….. public when the National Geographic Society filled its entire magazine issue of April 1913 with reports, stories and maps of the site.
Like many explorers and scientists from the North, Hiram Bingham took away many artifacts from the site, presumably on the curious belief of earlier centuries that ‘they didn’t really belong to anyone.’
To its credit, Yale University entered into an (8) ……….………….. with the Peruvian government in 2007 to return these treasures to Machu Picchu.
PERUVIAN TOURIST ATTRACTION
The site was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. Like other such sites, its great popularity is a (9) ……………………… to its existence, as it is so popular with tourists and receives over 500,000 visitors per year.
Access to the Machu Picchu site is normally limited to 2,500 people per day and entry to the Inca Trail – a four-day trek for (10) ……………………, is restricted to 500 walkers per day. More restrictions can be expected from Peru’s National Institute of Culture.
Machu Picchu survived the era of the conquistadors; it is now challenged to survive the effects of popular tourism in the 21st century.
CHOICES:
1. a) site b) slight c) tight, d) night
2. a) tension b) temper c) time d) test
3. a) price b) weather c) importance d) rest
4. a) to b) from c) under d) with
5. a) Gringo b) Costa Rican c) local d) German
6. a) done b) did c) do d) made
7. a) gentle b) general c) gentile d) genius
8. a) door b) deal c) Peru d) agreement
9. a) tourism b) gift c) threat d) throat
10. a) anteaters b) backpackers c) coal miners d) hotels
ANSWERS:
1a, 2c, 3c, 4d, 5c, 6d, 7b, 8d, 9c, 10b
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