2. Reading. Task 2. Saved by chance

Task 2 (10 points)
Read the text and decide whether each statement (1-10) is true (T), false (F) or not mentioned (NM), according to the text. Choose the appropriate bullet point. An example (0) has been given.
 

 

The story of saving the Pere David’s deer shows us how easily something beautiful can be destroyed by people forever.
 

Big herds of milu – as it is known in China – once lived there, but by the 1860s there were none of them living in the wild. The last population of milu lived in the Emperor of China’s Imperial Hunting Park. The park was surrounded by large walls and was well protected by the Emperor’s guards.
 

A French missionary, Pere (Father in French) Armand David combined diplomatic service with research work. Once he heard about the mysterious deer kept in the Imperial Hunting Park. However, there was one problem: the milu were so carefully protected that no one was even allowed to look into it. The punishment was death. But Father David had to see the deer. He gave money to the guards to let him see the animals. What could that possibly hurt? The guards agreed, but he could only look once.
 

The animals had a long tail and weird-branching horns unlike any other. Father David realised at once that it was an animal new to Western science. Father David managed to buy the skin of the unusual deer and send it to his country. The researchers confirmed that this really was a new, unknown type of deer. In honour of their discoverer the milu were named the Pere David’s deer.
 

The discovery of the unknown animal led to a fashion craze among European countries. After various diplomatic efforts two deer were sent to Europe. In 1869 the Emperor of China even presented some deer to France, Germany and Great Britain.
 

In the meantime in China, the Imperial Hunting Park proved to be not such a safe place after all. First, there was a great flood of the Hwang Ho River. The water stormed through the Emperor’s park, drowning some deer and freeing others. As the flood brought hunger, the deer were quickly eaten by starving people. Then, during the Boxer Rebellion, hungry soldiers killed and ate every last deer. It was the end of the Pere David’s deer in China.
 

Fortunately, there were still deer in Europe. The last sixteen deer were relocated to the Duke of Bedford’s deer park in England. By 1932 the Duke already had 182 animals in his park. The Pere David’s deer survived World War I, but when World War II started, the Duke decided not to keep all his deer in one place and sent many of them to zoos in other locations.
 

Today, the Pere David’s deer is found widely in deer parks, hunting ranches and zoos. In the 1950s a group of deer was sent to their historical homeland - China. The best zoos of the world breed and study these precious animals. Biologists confirm that the Pere David’s deer will not completely disappear from our planet. It forms a stable, ever-growing population. These magnificent animals, saved by people, are still sharing the planet with us.