Darmowe konto pozwoli wrócić do niego później.

Germany flourished and modernized, and East Germany struggled, so many people who

lived there wanted to leave the country, but it was not allowed. Among them were the

families of Günter Wetzel and Peter Strelzyk. One Saturday in September 1979 they made

a night-time getaway from East Germany in a hot air balloon they’d built from scratch.

The thought of leaving had been on their minds for years, but doing it via a land route

seemed impossible. 5.1. _____ The brilliant idea eventually turned into the most daring

escape ever made from East Germany.

In 1961, East Germany built a wall to keep its people in and prevent them from escaping to

the richer West Germany. Despite these efforts about 150,000 people attempted to run away

between 1964 and 1989. 5.2. _____ Perhaps this was because making a hot air balloon was

an incredibly difficult task. First of all, Strelzyk and Wetzel had to buy hundreds of metres of

material to make the balloon. Then, the men needed to build a propane gas fire burner which

would heat the air inside the balloon. After months of hard work they were ready to go, or so

they thought. 5.3. _____ Nevertheless, they were not discouraged.

In their second attempt, Wetzel and Strelzyk came up with the idea of filling the balloon with

cool air before the balloon was heated. That turned out to be crucial because it let the

balloon fully inflate within minutes. After five labour-intensive weeks, the constructors and

their families got into the balloon’s basket and they were ready to set off. 5.4. _____

However, they were no longer able to steer the balloon and were left at the mercy of the

wind. After some time they spotted bright searchlights which marked the border. A few

moments later, the balloon started to go down and then landed among some

trees. 5.5. _____ The arrival of West German police a few minutes later was the ultimate

confirmation that they were safe and free.

Na podstawie: www.cnet.com

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A. In April 1978, they attempted to carry out a test flight but due to a serious error in their

calculations the balloon couldn’t even get off the ground.

B. The men doubled the size of the balloon to 4,200 cubic meters, which would require more

fabric. They used everything they could find even umbrella fabric, tent nylon and bed

linen.

C. What inspired the men to consider an escape in a balloon was a magazine article about

the International Balloon Fiesta held in New Mexico.

D. The disoriented passengers didn’t know if they had made it to the West. When they saw

an advertising billboard for a West German product they realized they had managed to

reach the destination.

E. The flight didn’t start smoothly, though, as the fabric caught fire. The passengers,

however, succeeded in putting out the flames and the balloon kept going up.

F. Out of these, an estimated number of 40,000 succeeded, but no one had ever organized

an escape by balloon before.

PRZENIEŚ ROZWIĄZANIA NA KARTĘ ODPOWIEDZI!

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