Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 31 to 40.
One of the oldest mysteries in the world is Stonehenge. Even the name is ancient. The word “henge” comes from Old English which was used in England over a thousand years ago. The word meant “hanging" so Stonehenge means "hanging stones." However, the hanging stones go back much further than that.
Most recent research has found that Stonehenge was built in three stages and took at least 1,400 years to build. The first stage was started about 5,000 years ago and took 50 years to complete. In this first construction, the people who built Stonehenge dug a ditch and some holes. Historians believe these holes held long wooden poles. They don’t know if there was a round building there or if the log poles were connected together more like the stones that are there today. However, they have found some digging tools made from animal bones there which has told them how old this stage is.
The second stage lasted for approximately the next 500 years. In this phase, it seems that some new holes were made and some of the old holes were filled in. One of the most interesting things is that the old holes were usually filled with burnt materials, often human ashes! [I] These ashes and other building tools help historians tell the age of the second phase. The new holes also held wooden poles, but once again, no one seems to know how these poles worked together. Did they make buildings, or were they some other kind of construction? No one knows. [II]
The final phase took the longest time; almost 1,000 years. [III] Some of the stones were brought by water, while others came over land. These stones are terribly large and would be difficult even for modem machines to move. How did the ancient people manage to move them? No one can say for certain, but it seems most likely that they were moved through simple machines and willpower. [IV]
How the stones got into place is only one of the mysteries surrounding Stonehenge. Who built the massive monument? Why did they build it? Was it for an ancient religion? Was it a tomb for a great person?
No one can answer these questions, but there is one thing people agree on whenever they see it, Stonehenge is one of the most impressive ancient mysteries anyone has ever seen.
