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Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images Richard Baker/Getty Images
Narrative

Attenborough has become a highly visible environmental advocate. These are photographs taken at
protests for environmental causes.
What makes the use of Attenborough’s image an effective tool for protest? Based on what you read in
this except of his memoir, why might you conclude he is a strong supporter of environmental causes?

the morning with more food. And they left. an ambush? We had no idea. After calling for
The following morning, they reappeared with several minutes, we turned and walked back to
more roots as we had hoped they would do. We camp.
asked if we might see where they were camped I had had a vision of how all human beings
and perhaps meet their women and children. had once lived — in small groups that found all
After some confusion — or was it perhaps they needed in the natural world around them.
reluctance — they nodded and led us off into the The resources they relied upon were self-renewing.
forest. We followed a few yards behind them. It They produced little or no waste. They lived sus-
was hard going. The vegetation was very thick. tainably, in balance with their environment in a
We lost sight of them as we rounded the trunk way that could continue effectively, for ever.
of a gigantic tree; on the other side, there was A few days later, I was back in the twentieth
no sign of them. They had vanished. We called. century and behind my desk in the Television
But there was no reply. Were we walking into Centre.

Understanding and Interpreting

1. Contrast the differences between exploration before the twentieth century with how
Attenborough describes exploration in the twentieth century.
2. Based on what you have read in this narrative, why do you think that Attenborough wanted to
undertake the project in New Guinea? What seems to drive him to this work? Use evidence
from the piece to draw your conclusions.
3. Reread the two paragraphs starting with “And then one morning . . .” (pars. 10–11). Summarize
the encounter with the aboriginal men. Explain how these men and Attenborough’s group were
able to communicate with each other and what they learned from each other.
4. Although Attenborough does not explain, try to speculate why the men disappeared when he
and his film crew wanted to see their homes. What evidence leads you to this speculation?

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Uncorrected proofs have been used in this sample.
Copyright © Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
For review purposes only. Not for redistribution.

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