An Extreme Case of
Fight or Flight
Vocabulary
| own | somehow | in your own word |
| flame | figure (2) | tell/told/told |
| play | seat-belt | drive/drove/driven (2) |
| belt | as usual | see/saw/seen |
| seat | get out | kilometer per hour |
| mile | weight | think/thought/thought (2) |
| per | pin (2) | blow/blew/blown |
| frantic | wheel (2) | tear/tore/torn |
| across | come off | come/came/come |
| road | swerve | dig/dug/dug |
| dirt | try/tried | go/went/gone |
| roll | side (2) | passenger |
| burn | bottom | remember |
| traffic | exactly | know/knew/known |
| glance | pin down | go over (2) |
| pull | tire (2) | blow out (2) |
| lift | strength | sit/sat/sat |
| move |
Video, Part 1
Video, Part 2
Video, Part 3
Video, Part 4
Video, Part 5
Video, Part 6
Transcript
Dr. David Banner, Scientist: Now Mrs Maier, if you just tell us your story, in your own words.
Mrs. Maier, Mother: Well I was driving to Columbus, Ohio to see my sister Katie. And BJ was sitting on the passenger side, playing with this car as usual.
But he did have his seatbelt on.
There wasn’t much traffic. I was going about 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour) I think.
I had just glanced over at BJ just before it happened . . .
The tire had blown out. It was the left-front tire. It tore the wheel so hard, it came right out of my hand.
And the car swerved across the road, and they said the front wheel dug into the dirt, and started to roll.
Well, then I went over to the car. And there were flames all over the top — I’m sorry, I mean the bottom of the car. And that’s when they figured my face got burned. At that time. I don’t remember.
All I knew was that I had to get him out of there.
But you see the door of the car was pinned down by the weight of the car. And I tried and I tried to pull that that door open.
Okay I was just really frantic. But I just couldn’t do it.
BJ, Son: Yes you did mom. Tell them.
Mrs. Maier, Mother: Well, yeah. I don’t know. I don’t know exactly how it happened.
And then it happened.
Somehow, I was lifting up the car!
I . . . was . . . lifting . . . up . . . the . . . car!
It started to move . . . really slowly . . . but I kept lifting . . . and lifting.
I don’t know where I got the strength. I don’t know where it came from. But there it was!
That’s all. Then I got him out.
Questions
Car, Automobile. In the video, a woman talked about an incident with her friends in a cafe. A women told her friends about her experience in a cafe. True or false?
Roller Skates, Roller Blades. Was Mrs. Maier in a car race? Was she driving very fast?
Skateboard. Was Mrs. Maier alone in her car? Where were they going?
Bicycle, Bike. Another car hit Mrs. Maier’s car. Is this right or wrong? Did she have a car problem?
Scooter, Moped. Did her car have a scratch or a dent? What had happened to her car?
Motorcycle. Mrs. Maier and her son BJ escaped from the car. Is this correct or incorrect?
Truck. Was there an emergency? What was happening? What did Mrs. Maier do or try to do?
Bus, City Bus. Did something normal or incredible happen? What happened?
Train, Subway, Metro. I have heard of incidents or phenomena like this before. Yes or no?
Boat, Canoe, Kayak. How was Mrs. Maier able to lift her car up? How could she lift her car up?
Yacht, Ship. Have you heard of “adrenaline rush” or “fight or flight”? Why does this happen?
Helicopter. Have you or your friends been in a similar situation?
Airplane, Passenger Plane. What might happen in the future?
Rocket, Spaceship. What could or should people or scientists do?
