Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 44 to 50.
Mike Rutzen has one of the most thrilling occupations you could possibly imagine. He is an expert in the secrets and behaviour of one of the most powerful and feared natural predators on the plant, the great white shark. Once a fisherman who was scared of this mysterious animal, Mike has learnt to admire and understand great whites, and now, he spends a large part of his time in their company. Mike's passion for sharks goes beyond the limits of most sharks experts, though. Believe it or not, Mike doesn't simply observe sharks in a tank or in the oceans; he actually pets them, plays with them and even hypnotises them. He has developed such a special bond with sharks that he is known as the Sharkman.
Rutzen is not a scientist. In actual fact, he taught himself everything he knows about sharks. He was brought up on a farm in the South African countryside and knew nothing about sharks until he started working as a fisherman off the coast of Gansbaai, a fishing village near Cape Town. As tourism developed in the area, there arose a need for experienced boat skippers to take giant fish and developed a very close relationship with them. He took lessons in freediving so he could swim with sharks and he slowly learnt how to interpret their behaviour and adapt his posture to avoid being attacked.
Mike's interest in sharks doesn't end there, though. He has set himself the goal of changing the negative perception that so many people have of great white sharks. “They may be the top predator in the sea, but they are not the man-eating killers of our nightmares” he says. The Sharkman has become a great champion of shark conservation, seeking to highlight the great white shark's status as an endangered species and to raise awareness of the need to protect them. He regularly travels to give talks and lecturers on the great white shark and he also makes documentaries about them. In Sharkman, a Discovery Channel programme, he tours the world and dives with different species of sharks, demonstrating his ability to hypnotise them. He also starred in an episode of the BBC's Natural World. He not only has an exciting and rewarding job, but he is also, as is stated by the title of another BBC programme: A living legend of Gansbaai.
