[ENVIRONMENT ★]
SHARK ATTACK SURVIVOR VOWS TO LIVE “NORMAL LIFE”
(P1) One of the brave survivors of the two shark attacks that occurred Sunday in North Carolina has spoken out about the GRISLY incident, while still RECOVERING in his hospital bed.
(P2) Hunter Treschl, 16, OPENED UP about losing his arm in the attack and how he VOWS to “live a normal life” in a series of videos released in recent days by the New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, North Carolina.
(P3) The Colorado native described the first moment he felt the animal GRAZE his leg while he was playing in the WAIST-deep water with his cousin off the coast of Oak Island.
(P4) Wearing a hospital gown, he calmly described on camera, “Then I felt it … one more time and it hit my arm and that was the first I saw it when it was biting up my left arm.”
(P5) In another clip, he remembered arriving at the medical center where he was surrounded by roughly 25 people who helped “fix my arm up,” he recalled, “and they did a pretty good job on it, too, from what I hear,” Treschl said with a smile.
(P6) But Treschl has plans to TAKE THE HIGH ROAD, saying, “I have two OPTIONS.”
(P7) “I can try to live my life the way I was and make an effort to do that even though I don’t have an arm, or I can let this be completely DEBILITATING and bring my life down and ruin it in a way,” he said. “Out of those two, there’s really only one that I would choose to do and that’s the first – to try to fight and live a normal life with THE CARDS I’VE BEEN DEALT.”
(P8) Another young victim, Kiersten Yow, also lost a portion of her arm after a separate shark attack on the same day, on the same strip of shore.
(P9) “She has a long road to recovery that will include surgeries and REHABILITATION, but her doctors at UNC expect she will keep her leg, and for that we are grateful,” the 12-year-old’s parents Brian and Laurie Yow said in a statement Tuesday.
(P10) “We want to thank the GOOD SAMARITANS and EMERGENCY RESPONDERS whose CLEAR HEADS and quick actions saved Kiersten’s life,” the statement continued. “We also want to thank her EXTRAORDINARY doctors and nurses in Wilmington and Chapel Hill.”
(P11) Yow, from Archdale, North Carolina, is out of surgery and remains in STABLE condition.
(P12) Three shark-bite incidents have been reported in North Carolina in recent days. Another 13-year-old was injured in an attack last Thursday in Ocean Isle Beach, about 20 miles up the coast from where Sunday’s attacks TOOK PLACE.
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SOURCE: http://www.people.com/article/hunter-treschl-oak-island-shark-attack-youtube-videos
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
If you found the passage difficult to read or had problems understanding specific words or idiomatic expressions, please discuss them with your tutor. The following discussion questions should be answered in your own words and with your own arguments.
- Briefly summarize the content of the article in your own words.
- The beaches in North Carolina are still open to swimmers. Should the beaches have been closed?
- Do you enjoy ocean swimming, or does it make you nervous?
- How would you describe Hunter Treschl’s attitude towards ADVERSITY? Do you admire it?
- Both these teenagers survived their attacks. A hundred years ago, they probably would have died. What has changed about emergency medicine?
EXPRESSIONS TO PRACTICE:
What do the following expressions mean? Practice using each expression in a sentence; extra points if you can use it in conversation.
- Open up
- Take the high road
- The cards I’ve been dealt
- Good Samaritan
- Emergency responder
- Clear head
- Take place
