Vocabulary

rower	гребец
to head	направляться, держать курс, следовать
to haul	тащить
to alert	предупреждать; поднимать по тревоге
to settle down	устраиваться
to divert	отклоняться (от курса)
flare	сигнальная ракета
to clamber	карабкаться
disappointed	огорченный

II. Vocabulary Practice

1. Give synonyms to the following words:

to haul, to clamber, to divert, upturned, to alert, to be alive.

2. Use the above words in the sentences of your own.

III. Grammar Review

Fill in the blanks with the proper preposition.

1. The rowers were rescued … spending six hours … a life-raft which was floating … their upturned boat.

2. They had begun the race … the Canary Islands … the end of November and were heading … the Caribbean island of Antigua.

3. US coastguards picked … an emergency beacon signal.

4. They then settled … … a long wait … the middle … the ocean.

IV. Speech Practice

1. Explain in English what might have happened with their rudder.

2. Rephrase the following sentences:

1.	Two rowers trying to cross the Atlantic Ocean have been rescued by a tanker.
	When crossing…
2.	They lost the use of the rudder on their small rowing boat.
	They lost control of … after…
3.	They said they were disappointed their race was over, but were simply happy to be alive.
	Though the race …, they … to survive.

3. Speak about the accident according to the plan of your own.

Text 3. Mystery of "dumped" man found drifting on raft of oil drums

I. Read the text.

Make sure you understand the words below:

obvious	clear, apparent
response	reaction
to schedule	to plan

A man found floating on a raft 30 miles (48 km) out to sea between Norway and Denmark insisted yesterday that he had been thrown overboard from a British ship.

The crew on the Norwegian gas tanker Berge Odin thought that they were mistaken when they spotted the lone man sitting on a raft made of oil drums and planks in international waters. They had mistaken him for a large piece of debris, but when they approached him he politely explained in English what had happened. "I have been dumped from another boat", he said. The Norwegian crew lowered a rescue boat, helped him aboard their vessel and gave him a hot bath, dry clothing and food before alerting the Norwegian Sea Rescue Service.

At first the crew believed him to be in good health, but it soon became obvious that the hours on the raft had taken their toll¹. The man was suffering from hypothermia, was dehydrated and exhausted.

Anders Bang-Andersen, spokesman for the southern Norwegian Sea Rescue Centre, in Sola, said: "He had hardly any clothes on him and was frozen through. You hear these Robinson Crusoe stories from other parts of the world, but not very often here in the far north".

Mr Bang-Andersen praised the ship's crew for its fast response, calling the effort "an excellent example of seamanship". The man has said little, other than that his name is George and that he was born in California in 1959.

The ship continued on its way to the southern Swedish port of Marstrand, where the man was scheduled to be interviewed by police.