Wisconsin congressman describes swimming to safety after small plane makes emergency landing in Lake Wausau

Study the questions and tasks

Work through the material below, or start the interactive practice above to complete an attempt. Try the exercises before opening any answer or transcript sections, then use them to review your work.

Practice level

C2. Try this level if you can follow the instructions and understand most of the language; choose an earlier level if you need more support.

Question formats

Single choice

How to approach this practice

Read the passage for its main idea, then return to the relevant sentence or paragraph for each question. Base answers on the passage.

1. Question 1 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What is the article’s primary purpose?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. To explain the mechanical cause of the landing
   2. To narrate survival while acknowledging evidentiary limits
   3. To assess Tiffany’s gubernatorial campaign
   4. To criticize emergency-response procedures
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   To narrate survival while acknowledging evidentiary limits

   It narrates the survival sequence while explicitly preserving factual limitations.

   They do, however, describe the central sequence clearly.

2. Question 2 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   Why does the article mention that the swimming distance may seem modest?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. To suggest the men exaggerated their ordeal
   2. To emphasize the circumstances’ significance
   3. To calculate the lake’s precise dimensions
   4. To question whether rescue was necessary
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   To emphasize the circumstances’ significance

   The comparison emphasizes how circumstances transformed an ordinary distance.

   That distance may appear modest in ordinary circumstances, but the setting made it consequential: the men were moving through a lake after an aircraft had made an emergency landing and begun to disappear beneath them.

3. Question 3 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What does “That distance” refer to?

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   1. The distance from the aircraft to the shoreline
   2. The distance the men swam
   3. The distance between two rescue vessels
   4. The distance beneath the water’s surface
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   The distance the men swam

   The phrase points back to the estimated distance the men swam.

   Tiffany said he and the pilot then swam approximately 100 to 150 feet.

4. Question 4 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What can be inferred about the article’s treatment of causation?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. It confidently identifies mechanical failure
   2. It avoids attributing an unsupported cause
   3. It implies pilot error was responsible
   4. It treats causation as irrelevant
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   It avoids attributing an unsupported cause

   The article separates reported events from explanations unsupported by supplied accounts.

   The supplied accounts do not establish what caused the landing or provide further details about the pilot’s condition.

5. Question 5 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   How is the account organized overall?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. Chronologically, then interpretively
   2. By political affiliation, then geography
   3. From speculation toward confirmed causation
   4. By comparing several unrelated incidents
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   Chronologically, then interpretively

   It moves from the emergency through actions, limitations, emotions, and significance.

   The plane came down in Lake Wausau, Tiffany and the pilot called for help from its upper surface, and both eventually moved through the water to a shallower area.

6. Question 6 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What relationship does the article establish between laughter and tears?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. They indicate mutually exclusive emotions
   2. They jointly express the experience’s complexity
   3. They reveal uncertainty about the sequence
   4. They undermine Tiffany’s credibility
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   They jointly express the experience’s complexity

   Both reactions are presented as emotionally meaningful responses to danger.

   The contrasting reactions suggest the difficulty of putting a frightening experience into words: laughter offered a release, while tears reflected the seriousness of the danger.

7. Question 7 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   Why does the article call the actions “decisive”?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. They determined the men’s survival trajectory
   2. They proved the aircraft was defective
   3. They resolved the investigation’s questions
   4. They established Tiffany’s political judgment
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   They determined the men’s survival trajectory

   Those actions directly enabled the men’s movement from danger toward safety.

   Tiffany’s account focuses on a small number of decisive actions—staying on the aircraft long enough to call 911, leaving it as it sank, and swimming until standing became possible.

8. Question 8 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What limitation does the final paragraph preserve?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. The men’s identities remain uncertain
   2. The emergency’s underlying explanation remains unknown
   3. The swimming distance cannot be estimated
   4. The location was never confirmed
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   The emergency’s underlying explanation remains unknown

   The narrative gains shape without resolving why the emergency landing occurred.

   Those details give the incident its shape without resolving the unanswered questions surrounding the emergency landing.

What to review next

Find the words that support each answer. For a mistake, compare the question with the evidence and identify the detail or inference you missed.

A focused practice result shows how you did on these tasks. Use several activities across skills to decide what to study next; one practice score does not certify an overall CEFR level.

Before you practise: a worked example

Look for evidence in the text. Separate what the writer says from what you already know about the topic.

The library normally closes at six, but on Fridays it stays open until eight. When does it close on Friday?

The answer is eight. But introduces an exception to the normal closing time, so the first time mentioned is not the answer.

This teaching example is separate from the scored questions. After your test, compare any mistakes with the explanation and revisit the topic before trying again.