Arctic Security Money and a Coastal Hamlet

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CELPIP Practice Reading: Reading for Viewpoints ID: #63260 Hard Arctic Security Money and a Coastal Hamlet

Read the following article from a website.

Ottawa has announced a northern security package worth four billion dollars over ten years, and most of the money would go to patrol ships, coastal sensors and a new runway for military aircraft. In Nallik, a hamlet of nine hundred people on the Beaufort Sea coast, the plan has started a sharp debate. Local leaders say they learned the details from a news release, not from a meeting. Parliament is expected to vote on the package before the end of the year.

Zenobia Vasilakis, a retired colonel who spent years in Arctic command, says the country cannot afford to wait. “Foreign ships already test how quickly we respond up here,” she said. “Every slow response tells our rivals exactly where the gaps are.” Vasilakis adds that faster patrols would also help ordinary travellers. “More cruise ships and cargo vessels come north every summer, and someone has to reach them when things go wrong,” Vasilakis said.

Horatio Wolfe, the mayor of Nallik, is not persuaded. “A new runway means very little if our clinic has no nurse,” Wolfe said. “Young families are leaving because they cannot find a home. Our internet goes down every time a big storm comes through.” He wants the next round of federal money aimed at housing, staffed clinics and reliable connections. He points out that the hamlet’s only nurse left in the spring and has not been replaced.

Cosima Yilmaz, a defence economist in Ottawa, says the two goals do not have to compete. “Build every port and airstrip for civilian supply runs first, and give the military priority only in an emergency,” she explained. “That way the money serves the community all year.” Jago Ulayuk, who leads a volunteer search-and-rescue crew in Nallik, says he agrees with part of that. “My crew waits hours for help from the south,” Ulayuk said. “Any new ship should be based where the rescues actually happen. Under this plan, it would sit two thousand kilometres away.”

Using the drop-down menu (▾), choose the best option according to the information given on the website.

The article is mainly about 1.

a fishing boat that sank off the Arctic coasta shortage of nurses in southern hospitalsa federal defence package for the Northa plan to move a hamlet away from the sea

.

Cosima Yilmaz would likely say that new ports and airstrips 2.

should be used only by the armed forcesshould be useful to residents in normal timesshould be built far away from the hamletshould wait until housing has been fixed

.

The main point of the article is that 3.

the hamlet has already agreed to the federal planArctic patrols matter more than new housinga runway will be built in Nallik next yearthe new plan has people disagreeing over who should benefit

.

According to Zenobia Vasilakis, every slow response 4.

lets rival nations find Canada’s weak pointsmakes allies share less informationcosts the country more in fuelkeeps foreign ships away from the coast

.

This article would most likely appear in 5.

a military training manual for new patrol crewsa history book about the early Arctic explorersa health journal’s study of nurses in rural areasthe news pages of a Canadian newspaper

The following is a comment by a visitor to the website page. Complete the comment by choosing the best option to fill in each blank.

I fly into Nallik twice a year to clean teeth at the clinic, so I know how far that coast is from everything else. The package is worth 6.

four million dollarsforty million dollarsfour billion dollarsforty billion dollars

over ten years, which is hard to picture for a region with so few roads. Most people down south do not realize that the hamlet has only 7.

three hundredsix hundrednine hundredtwelve hundred

people living in it, and everyone seems to know everyone else by name. The retired colonel reminds us that more 8.

cruise ships and cargo vesselsfishing boats and ferriesicebreakers and tankersresearch ships and yachts

come north every summer, and I have seen them anchored off the coast myself. The mayor says the internet goes down every time 9.

the power plant shuts downa big storm comes throughtoo many people go onlinethe satellite dish freezes

, and that matches my own experience of trying to send patient files from the clinic. The rescue volunteer says his crew waits 10.

minuteshoursdaysweeks

for help from the south, and nobody in trouble on the water can wait that long.

AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.

Correct Answer: a federal defence package for the North

Why this is correct: Ottawa’s package would put most of its money into patrol ships, sensors and a runway. Every speaker reacts to that package.

Passage Reference: most of the money would go to patrol ships, coastal sensors and a new runway for military aircraft

Tips: Check every option against what Vasilakis, Wolfe, Yilmaz and Ulayuk say. An option that names an event the article never reports can go at once.