castaway
The Castaway, 1
Vocabulary
| claim | infinite | authorities |
| detail | remote | wash ashore |
| set off | survive | drink/drank/drunk |
| turtle | blood | catch/caught |
| bare | doubt | account (2) |
| hail | miracle | grateful |
| hope | rescue | get your hopes up |
| prove | ashore | speechless |
| God | enough | overwhelming |
| lost | used to | expedition |
| feel | gesture | according to |
| ordeal |
Video
Transcript
A fisherman who claims to have been lost after a storm at sea for more than a year, has been giving more details about his experience.
Jose Salvador Albarenga, who’s 37 and thought to be from El Salvador washed ashore last week on the remote Marshal Islands in the Pacific. Having set off from Mexico, he says he survived for fourteen months by drinking turtle blood and catching fish and birds with his bare hands.
While some doubt his account about what happened, his family are hailing his return as a miracle.
“My mother always used to say, ‘daughter, he’s not dead. “And even then I’d say to her, ‘don’t get your hopes up,” said Yanira Bonilla, sister of Jose Salvador. “And then she told me ‘No. I feel he’s alive.’ Now I can see and prove that a mother is never wrong.”
“It was overwhelming,” said Carlos Albarenga, brother of Jose Salvador. “I’m left speechless. I’m very happy and very grateful to God and the people who rescued my brother. I’m infinitely grateful to these people. I don’t have enough words or gestures to thank them enough for everything they’re doing for him.”
According to authorities, Albarenga set sail on a shark expedition with a younger fisherman. But the teenager died a month into their ordeal.
Questions
1. Jose Salvador Albarenga is a farmer. True or false? Who is Jose Salvador Albarenga
2. What happened to him one day? Had he planned to sail and visit the Marshall Islands?
3. How long was he adrift on his boat?
4. He survived by eating canned (tinned) and jars of food. Yes or no?
5. Was his mother optimistic or pessimistic about Jose?
6. Jose’s brother is angry and sad that Jose’s boat failed and got caught in a storm. Is this right or wrong?
7. Does everyone believe Jose?
A. What is going to happen to Jose?
B. Have you seen cartoons, movies or read books about castaways?
C. Would you like to be cast adrift? Would you like to be a castaway on a remote island?
D. I would like to live in a tropical island with people, villages, towns and cities. Yes or no?
E. What might happen in the future?
