Reading
American Adventure in the Australian Outback
Before you start reading, study the following vocabulary:
to cling
outback
squeeze into
hasty
to chase
numbness
Chad Vance, 19, is lucky to be alive after he survived for two and a half hours clinging to the outside of a train as it traveled through the Australian outback at speeds of up to 70mph. This American tourist jumped on to The Ghan, which travels from Adelaide to Darwin, as it was pulling out of the station in Port Augusta. He had hopped off the train to stretch his legs while it was stopped, but panicked when he saw it moving off. While the train was moving slowly he managed to climb on and squeeze himself into a small stairwell, but as it gathered speed and as night fell he realized his hasty decision could be fatal.
"I was worried I wasn't going to survive," Mr Vance said. "If I'd fallen off at that speed and hit the nasty-looking rocks below, I don't think I would have made it." Mr Vance, a student from Alaska, clung on to the speeding train for two hours and 20 minutes before Marty Wells, a Ghan crew member, heard his desperate cries for help and brought the train to an emergency stop.
"Chad is a very lucky guy – when we rescued him his skin was white and his lips were blue," said Mr Wells, a technician with The Ghan's operator. "We were still about three hours away from our next scheduled stop and in that time, he could have easily died of hypothermia or lost his grip and fallen to his death if he hadn't been rescued."
Mr Vance boarded The Ghan in Adelaide for the journey to Alice Springs. The university student lost track of time during a stop in Port Augusta and arrived back at the platform just as The Ghan was pulling out. Mr Vance said he knew The Ghan would pull up outside town to change drivers before continuing its journey so he decided to chase the train before it came to a rest. He said that when he caught up to the stopped train, he started frantically banging on the windows of the first class dining carriage. He said the passengers ignored him because they "probably thought I was some crazy kid" outside.
After five minutes, the train started to slowly pull away again and he made the "instinctive" decision – which he admitted later was a "pretty crazy idea" – to climb back onboard. Mr Vance, wearing only jeans, boots and a t-shirt, had to endure sub-zero temperatures before he was rescued. "He was also shaking uncontrollably for several hours and complained of numbness to the left side of his body and arms and said his face was also stinging," Mr Wells said. "I've never seen anything like this before and I sure hope I don't ever see it happen again."
Questions
Choose the best explanation for the following words and phrases from the reading...
- “He decided to CHASE the train” means
- If you are making “DESPERATE cries for help”, it means
- “He could have lost his GRIP” means
- “HASTY decision” is a decision that is
- “He knew The Ghan would PULL UP outside town” means
Are the following statements about the reading correct?
1. Mr Vance finally managed to get himself onto the train safely.
2. When Mr Vance was rescued, the train was 20 minutes away from their next scheduled stop.
3. Mr Vance was clinging to the outside of a train for about half an hour.
4. At the end of his experience, Mr Vance was in quite a good condition.
5. He got off the train in Port Augusta to relax for a while.