Please read the vocabulary lesson at your natural speed, though it should not be too fast so that I could hear what you speak naturally and imitate yours. Part 1 can be found at https://rhinospike.com/audio_requests/sunflower/56450/ Thank you!
Examiner: We have been talking about an adventurous person and now I would like to ask you some more general questions relating to this topic.
DESCRIBE some of the risky activities which people do
Student: The first thing that springs to mind is climbing mountains such as Everest which is something I would absolutely never do. I can see why people would want to do that – there is the satisfaction of getting to the top, however it is fraught with danger and there are so many things that could go wrong. Other risky things that people enjoy doing are things like caving or potholing which involves going underground. I suffer from claustrophobia so this is something I would not consider doing. I didn’t use to be but I am such a coward now that even skiing seems like a dangerous thing to do. A British actress died recently after she fell on the ski slopes so this proves that it is indeed dangerous.
EXPLAIN why people are willing to risk their life mountain climbing, parachuting etc Student: When you do activities such as these your body releases adrenalin, which can be addictive. People who do lots of these things are often referred to as adrenalin junkies. This means they are addicted to the feeling that you get when you do such activities. You get on a high when you have finished the activity and it is similar to the feeling you get when you take drugs I imagine. Personally, I wouldn’t want to risk my life mountain climbing or jumping out of an aeroplane, however I can appreciate the reason why people want to do it.
ASSESS whether taxpayers should be responsible for paying for rescuing people who have got into trouble doing risky activities like mountain climbing
Student: This is a tricky question for me to answer because on the one hand it could be argued that it is irresponsible for people to do these kinds of activities and get into danger and then expect the taxpayer to rescue them if they encounter a problem. However, my sister enjoys doing such things therefore if she were to get into trouble and needed mountain rescue then I would want her to get whatever help possible. Maybe policies should be introduced which mean that people could not do such things without having insurance which would cover them in the event of any accidents, however this would be extremely difficult to monitor.
CONSIDER whether life now is more or less risky than in the past
Student: Personally, I believe that life is significantly riskier now than in the past. Firstly, because of the increasing number of vehicles on the roads this has made travelling by car much more dangerous. Secondly there are a lot more opportunities for people to travel to foreign countries, for example many students now take a gap year before they go to university and this involves travelling to dangerous countries on their own and there have been many instances of young people being killed whilst on gap years. Thirdly, I think life is riskier because it has become more competitive. This means that people are doing more and more dangerous things to try and compete with each other. People are not satisfied with doing something simple like going for a walk nowadays, they have to be hot air ballooning or trekking through Peru in their spare time.
Thank you so much, Ms. nomadicvegan!