In the summer of 1869, John Wesley Powell set out with ten companions and four boats
A) ____________________ . Powell and his men planned to travel hundreds of miles
through unknown parts of the western United States. Powell was a naturalist, explorer,
and former army officer. Although his right arm had been amputated above the elbow
B)______________ , he never turned away from danger. In August, after travelling
through many canyons, the group reached the Grand Canyon. It often rained in torrents
and cloudbursts. At midday the sun poured down C) __________________ . More than
half the party was without hats and not one of them had an entire suit of clothes. They
sat up all night on the rocks, shivering, and were more exhausted by the night’s
discomfort than by the day’s heat and toil. They guarded their precious flour supply
D)_________________ , keeping it always in watertight compartments and dividing it
equally among the four boats – so that if one of the boats cracked up only a fourth of it
would be lost. Mile after mile, day after day, the vast gorge of the Colorado twisted on
through the earth, E)_____________________ . They had seen a few ancient ruins, but
no sign that any living Indians ever came down to the river. Suddenly, with their flour
almost gone, they saw a sight F)___________________ . On the bank they found a
garden planted with corn and squash.
1 . on one of the greatest adventures of all time
2 . they could scarcely believe
3. as if its waters would roar for eternity
4. as a result of a war injury
5. as if it would fry them down
6. they made about twenty miles a day
7. as if it had been sacks of gold