ACT Reading Practice Test 25

PROSE FICTION: The Lessons of Wilderness Living

Members of modern society are fortunate to enjoy many conveniences once unheard of or reserved for the elite. Imagine, if you can, only one day without running water. It strains the mind to think of all the daily rituals

Line 5 one would have to change if the tap suddenly went dry. People today take electricity for granted, too. Lately, I’ve realized that while reliance on modern technology can improve the efficiency and quality of life, it also keeps people from learning meaningful lessons

10 about living with the earth. The conservation ethics that I gained this summer while working at a hunting lodge I could not have learned elsewhere. The lodge is located on a massive, little known lake in northern Canada, closer to the Arctic Circle than

15 it is to the U.S. border. Every spring, the lodge reopens to welcome scores of dedicated anglers itching to dip a line in the nearby pristine creeks. By summer, the small lodge fills to capacity with eager hunters. On the guided treks, these men and women primarily chase

20 migratory birds and caribou, but I have seen plenty of other unique game come back to the lodge kitchen for preparation. Every hunter agrees that what one finds at the lodge is a truly luxurious hunting experience. Many people are surprised to find the lodge is totally

25 self-sufficient, with the exception of the food staples it receives by small airplane. For a whole season, I was “off the grid,” totally dependent on the lodge to provide me with heat, light, water, and sanitation. When I asked the owner why he built his

30 modern-looking log lodge so far beyond the reach of civilization, he replied, “I didn’t really like hunting anywhere the sewer line ran.” Or electricity or telephone or the water main, I thought to myself. The boss is a peculiar man, but I see why he had no reservations

35 about setting up shop so deep in the wilderness. He had learned to love it years ago when he was an elite mountain soldier in the army. He always mentioned that life wasn’t as difficult in the sub-arctic wilderness as people think. Of course, he had a lodge to run, and

40 not everyone was as hardy as he. His creative solutions to the lack of infrastructure are impressive. The first necessity of employees and guests is clean water for cooking, eating, and washing. A nearby creek feeds a large pump that draws the water through a

45 particulate filter and into a large holding tank. A much smaller pipe takes some of this water through a series of purification devices. Inside, every sink has three taps: two blue and one red. Guests are used to the blue ones, drinkable hot and cold water, but the red one

50 always requires an explanation. My contribution over the summer was to design a sign for each sink explaining the ways one could use the unpurified water from the red tap that came directly from the holding tank. Showering and cleaning are the most important uses,

55 but “red” water is also useful for the garden or to give to the dogs. The roof of the lodge is layered with solar cells to take advantage of the bright, clear summer sky. On average, the 10-room lodge can generate the

60 same amount of power as a conventional two-bedroom apartment uses. Naturally, this poses challenges. The biggest conservation measure I could see was total lack of electronics, with the exception of the computer in the back office, which I’ve never seen turned on. The

65 ceiling of every room has a large skylight, eliminating the need for electric light during the day. At night, a limited set of high-efficiency fluorescent bulbs illuminates the corridors and public spaces. Staff is equipped with flashlights for use in closets, outside, or in other

70 unlit spaces. Interestingly, the low lighting seems to foster an “early to bed, early to rise” mentality among the guests, who always rave about how rested they feel after a week’s stay. Guests and staff alike stay warm with heavy

75 woolen blankets, or, as my boss once quipped, “personal insulating devices.” A full-circle fireplace in the center heats the main space. Smoke floats up the chimney while the heavy stainless steel hood reflects heat to all corners of the room. When guests close their

80 room doors at night, they can barely hear the high speed electric impellers that draw warmth from the fire into the rooms. The lodge is a model of efficiency in an oftenunforgiving territory. My summer there taught me to

85 budget more carefully my consumption of water and power. It is such discipline that will be necessary in the future when costs of these commodities might be so high that civilization can no longer take their abundance for granted.