Read the passage and answer the question that follow.
The Land of the Vikings
Who has not heard of the Vikings—the
dauntless sea-rovers, who in the days of long
ago were the dread of Northern Europe?
We English should know something of
them, for Viking blood flowed in the veins
of many of our ancestors. And these fierce
fighting men came in their ships across
the North Sea from Norway on more than
one occasion to invade England. But they
came once too often, and were thoroughly
defeated at the Battle of Stamford Bridge,
when, as will be remembered, Harald
the Hard, King of Norway, was killed in
attempting to turn his namesake, King
Harold of England, off his throne.
Norwegian historians, however, do not say
very much about this particular invasion.
They prefer to dwell on the great deeds
of another King Harald, who was called
“Fairhair”, and who began his reign some
two hundred years earlier. This Harald was only a boy of ten years of age when he
came to the throne, but he was determined
to increase the size of his kingdom, which
was then but a small one, so he trained his
men to fight, built grand new ships, and
then began his conquests. Norway was
at that time divided up into a number of
districts or small kingdoms, each of which
was ruled over by an Earl or petty King,
and it was these rulers whom Harald set
to work to subdue. He intended to make
one united kingdom of all Norway, and he
eventually succeeded in doing so. But he
had many a hard fight; and if the Sagas, as
the historical records of the North are called,
speak truly, he fought almost continuously
during twelve long years before he had
accomplished his task, and even then he
was only just twenty-one years of age.
They say that he did all these wonderful
things because a girl, named Gyda, whom
he wanted to marry, refused to have anything
to say to him until he had made himself
King of a really big kingdom. He made a
vow that he would not comb or cut his hair
until he had conquered the whole country.
He led his men to victory after victory,
and at length fought his last great battle
at Hafrsfjord (to the south of Stavanger).
The sea-fight was desperate and long, but
Harald’sfleetsucceededinoverpoweringthat
of the enemy, and Sulki, King of Rogaland,
as well as Erik, King of Hardanger, were
slain. Then Harald cut and dressed his hair,
the skalds composed poems in honour of the
event, and for ever after he was known as
Fairhair. He was truly a great Viking, and
he did not rest content with the conquest
of Norway alone; for he brought his ships
across the North Sea and conquered the
Isle of Man, the Hebrides, the Shetlands,
and the Orkneys, and he lived to the age
of eighty-three.
King Harald ‘Fairhair’ fought for twelve years before he accomplished his task.
In the passage, the word ‘task’ refers to
Harald’s __________.
Afight to win the heart of Gyda
Bresolve to unite the fragmented Norwegian
kingdoms under him
Cdream to conquer the Isle of Man, the
Hebrides, the Shetlands, and the Orkneys.
Ddesire to build grand new ships and use
this navy for conquests
The correct answer is B, but the answer provided is shown as D.
