4.2 Explanation 143
die. Leaving a climber to his fate, just to
get to the summit of a mountain, was
unthinkable in Hillary’s day. Then
people climbed as members of large,
organised expeditions and knew each
other as friends and colleagues. Not
all of them were expecting, nor even
attempting, to reach the summit,
because it was the purpose of the
expedition just to get one or two
climbers to the top. It was a team effort,
and the credit was shared. Once the
mountain was beaten they could all go
home, satisfied that they had achieved
their shared goal. Today Everest is
besieged by swarms of individuals who
have paid thousands of pounds for
their one chance to make it, personally,
to the top. No wonder traditional
mountaineering morals have been
thrown to the 80-mile-an-hour winds.Is this passage an argument or an
explanation? (Give a reason or reasons for
your interpretation.)
• If it is an argument, identify its conclusion
and summarise the reasoning.
• If it is an explanation, state what
is being explained, and what the
explanation is.Answers and comments are on page 324.Which of the following, if true, would be a
plausible explanation for the data recorded
in the graph? (There may be more than one.)
A The fir trees planted at higher
altitudes tended to be shorter.
B The higher up a hillside you go, the
poorer the soil tends to be.
C Air temperature decreases with
altitude.
D The higher a tree is planted, the
smaller its growth.3 Re-examine the data in Doc 3 in
Chapter 4.1 (pages 131–2) and the
statistics discussed in this chapter from
Doc 4 (page 134). Suggest one or more
explanations for the widespread public
perception (shown by the charts) that
claims for injury are up, when official
statistics suggest that they are stable or
falling. Which is the best explanation, in
your view, and why?
4 (Harder task) Study the following short
article and complete the task below.
In 1953, New Zealander Edmund
Hillary and the Nepalese Sherpa
Tenzing Norgay became the first
climbers to reach the summit of Mount
Everest and survive. That was then.
Now Sir Edmund has come out in
forthright criticism of some 40 climbers
who passed a dying man on the upper
slopes of Everest, and left him there to