Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow : (2x4)+(1x4)=12 Imagine parking your car at a beautiful upland vantage point on a sparkling spring day. You open the boot and wear your flying suit and boots, then lift out your incredibly light flying machine in its carrying rucksack and trek off a few yards to where your friends are preparing to fly. After a few minutes spent inspecting your equipment, you don helmet and harness, look around, allow the wind to raise the canopy – and launch off into space. This is paragliding for novices and experienced pilots alike. Developed from parachuting canopies, modern paragliders can be soared effortlessly on windward slopes, and flown across the country. It’s the same freedom that hang-glider pilots enjoy, but a paraglider is more portable and a little easier to learn to fly. They are more hampered by strong winds than hang-gliders but are easier to land in small fields. Paragliding is a great community. You'll often find championship winning pilots comparing notes with novices. Both know that their sport is perhaps the simplest 12 Page 3 of 6 and most intuitive way of flying yet devised. If you want to enjoy the challenges that only being truly at one with the elements can provide, book a training course today! Many paraglider pilots strive to perfect their skills in cross-country flying. A summer sky filled with fluffy cumulus clouds provides abundant lifting currents which pilots use to gain altitude. Setting off on such a day, either towards a pre-selected goal or just drifting where the wind will take you is one of the most breathtaking experiences available. Most pilots will talk of the sense of freedom they feel when drifting from cloud to cloud, in almost total silence, watching the landscape unfold beneath them as they navigate across the sky. It normally takes around ten days of flyable weather to train a would-be pilot to Club Pilot Level, the minimum standard required to fly unsupervised with a recreational club. Your instructor will explain how the canopy is laid out, inflated and controlled by its brake lines. You'll then take it in turns with other members of your group to have your first short training hops down a gentle slope. (a) What equipment is required for paragliding? (b) What advantage does paragliding have over hang-gliding? (c) How do paragliders feel while flying across the sky? (d) What is the minimum standard required to fly unsupervised with a recreational club and how does one attain the acceptable level? (e) What is meant by the word ‘sparkling’? (Para 1) (i) colorful (ii) blinking (iii) dazzling (iv) twinkling (f) What is meant by the word ‘effortlessly’? (Para 2) (i) beautifully (ii) carefully (iii) easily (iv) immediately (g) What is meant by the word ‘novices’? (Para 3) (i) admirers (ii) trainer (iii) spectators (iv) beginners (h) What is meant by the word ‘breathtaking’? (Para 6) (i) charming (ii) exciting (iii) thrilling (iv) pleasing