ENGLISH
LISTENING MATERIALS
RIVER
By: Chris Rose
My name is Kate Connor. I am a river guide. I live in Colorado. Colorado is a state in America which takes its name from
the long, wide, green river that runs through it. I live by the river. My job
is to take groups of people along the river. Usually we use small boats or
rafts. The people who I guide along the river come from the city. They are
usually groups of businessmen who come from New York
or Chicago or Los Angeles, places where they work all the
time and never see mountains or rivers.
This year, the river has dried up. There is no water. I
look out of my window every day and walk down to the river, or rather, I walk
down to where the river used to be. There wasn’t enough rain this spring, and
it has been a hot summer. The river is now just one thin, green trickle of
water. You couldn’t sail a raft in this. You couldn’t even sail a child’s paper
boat down this river.
The river is never what it seems. The river changes. Every
day there is less water. Today I went down to the river and there wasn’t even
the thin green trickle. There were just stones and dust at the bottom of where
the river used to be.
I have always wanted to be by rivers. I grew up next to the
river, where my father worked. When I was a child and other children wanted to
be astronauts or football stars or supermodels, all I wanted to do was work on
the river. I wanted to work on a tugboat on the Hudson
or the Mersey or the Thames. I wanted to catch
fish in the Loire or the Volga or the Rhine. I
wanted to swim in the Ganges or the Amazon or the Mississippi. I wanted to take rafts across
the wild white waters of the long, strong Colorado river.
Today, a man came to my house. I didn’t recognize him at
first, until he reminded me who he was.
“I’m Joel,” he said. “Don’t you remember me?” I didn’t
remember his face, though I remembered his name. He had changed a lot. I guess
he changed because of what happened last summer.
Last summer Joel was one of a group of people who came to Colorado from Pennsylvania.
The people were all colleagues from work. They came to the river to go rafting
because they thought it would be a good idea. A week rafting on the white water
of the river, they thought, would build up their interpersonal skills. It would
make them work as a team. On the river they would get to know each other
better. Then they could go back to their office in the city and work better
together.
“It’s good to see you again!” said Joel.
“You look different” I said to Joel. He smiled.
“Better or worse?”
“Not better or worse. Just different.”
Last summer I took Joel and his colleagues down to the
river for five days of whitewater rafting. Whitewater rafting is the most
difficult thing you can do on the river. Usually people who have no experience
of rivers just want to go camping, or perhaps fishing, or perhaps just swim in
one of the places where the water is wide, tranquil and calm. These people
wanted to do something dangerous, something that they thought would test them,
and make them better people. Something which would make them work together
better.
“What have you come back for?” I said to Joel.
“I came back to see the river” he said. I pointed to where
the river used to be and smiled.
“It’s gone” I said. “There’s nothing to see.”
He shrugged.
“The river wasn’t the only thing I wanted to see again” he
said.
There is no sound at night anymore. For all my life I have
gone to sleep and woken up with the rushing sound of the water in my ears. Now
I just hear silence, and the tiny sounds of the trees in the wind. I hope that
the wind will bring clouds which will bring rain which will bring the river
back to me.
The first day with Joel and his colleagues was good. The
weather was clear and warm, the river gentle. I told the people all about the
safety precautions they had to take. I made sure they could all swim well. I
made sure they all had life jackets. I made sure they all knew what to do if
there was an accident or an emergency. We spent a day learning how to use the
rafts. We sailed them on slow, gentle water.
That night there was a big storm. We were all asleep in our
tents, though, and there was no problem.
The next morning, on the second day, the sun was shining again, and
everything looked fine. They all wanted to go out on the river again. I told
them that this was not a good idea. I told them that even though the weather looked
fine, a storm in the night meant that the water in the river would be stronger
and faster. People who were not experts should not go out on the river on the
day after a storm. Even if the weather looks fine, the river is still angry.
They insisted.
“We’re paying you!” said one woman. “You have to do what we
tell you!”
We went out again on the dangerous, angry river. I made
sure that everyone had their life jackets on. I made sure again that they knew
what to do if there was an accident. At first it was exciting – everyone was
laughing and shouting because the water was much louder and faster than the day
before. There was so much noise, I couldn’t tell when the laughter became
screaming.
“He’s gone under!” shouted one woman. “He’s under the water
and he hasn’t come up again!” Joel had fallen off the raft. Usually, people
come back up immediately, but not Joel. It was possible to see his body being
pushed about by the wild angry river. His body moved from one side of the river
to the other.
There was only one thing to do. I jumped into the water and
pulled Joel onto the raft, then moved the raft to the solid bank of the river.
I pulled him off the raft and on to the solid land. Joel was not breathing. I
thought he was dead. I opened his mouth and gave him artificial respiration. He
still did not breathe. I pushed on his heart and he breathed in and opened his
eyes. He looked surprised to be alive.
Last night I lay awake listening to the silence where the
river used to be. I listened to the trees in the wind. I didn’t know what to
say to Joel. I didn’t know if I should tell him to go back to the city and his
office, or ask him to stay here with me.
The wind grew louder. I heard the sound of rain falling.
The sound grew louder.
This morning Joel came into my room.
“I came back here to see you” he said. “I came back here
because you saved my life. I was dead, and then I was alive again.”
Outside the rain was pouring down. I could already hear the
river. The river was alive again.
Joel didn’t know why I told him to go back to his job and
his office in Pennsylvania.
I didn’t need to tell him.
I live by the river, and just like the river, I can change
too.
Thank
you for downloading from
education for all; education for a better life