Hello and welcome back to Practicing English.
Today I'm going to read to you Part 2 of my story, Tsunami.
And I'm going to bring out some interesting language to talk about frightening things.
So, here we go. Hello and welcome to Practicing English.
My name is Mike Bilbre and these are podcasts. for students of English at B1 or B2 levels and if you are a B1 level student trying to reach B2 level then I recommend my book The Tudor Conspiracy Come over to practicingenglish.com and you'll see a picture of the front cover.
Click on that and it will take you to the page where you can buy the book.
The language I'm going to tell you about then are words which are B1 words, which appear in this story, and you can listen for them while you are listening to the podcast.
These are strange words, well, words which are to do with being strange, unusual, not normal.
Frightening, meaning something which makes us afraid.
Perhaps some Dracula film or a horror film is frightening and the noun is fear, F-E-A-R, and I have an expression here, to strike fear. into human hearts to strike fear.
Now I'm taking some poetic license a little bit here for the use of strike fear.
But it is a B1 word, to strike, meaning to hit.
So using this word in this context, I think is correct. to strike fear.
It is a collocation as well, to strike fear into human hearts.
And when we are excited or nervous, worried, frightened, Our heart beats faster to beat, B-E-A-T, which is another B1 word.
I have the word mysterious from mystery.
So this is something again which is strange, unusual.
Mysterious You'll hear the reference to a mysterious giant horse.
Now the word scream, S-C-R-E-A-M, you may have heard meaning a sort of high-pitched sound that we make When we are frightened, something frightens us, and we scream.
Interestingly, we can use it in other contexts too.
Children can scream with happiness. So it's really just the sound which we are referring to.
To scream with happiness. So happiness, another B1 word, meaning very happy.
Children, scream with happiness. And my question is, in the story, I mentioned something else, screams, not a person.
What is it that screams?
Okay, another expression, to be in shock.
So shock, S-H-O-C-K, a verb, shock. and to be in shock happens when we see something or experience something which is very, very frightening and we don't know what to do.
For a moment, perhaps we just are unable to take any action because you are in shock.
I have the collocation, hopeless situation.
A totally hopeless situation. so the word hope which is a positive word meaning something we look forward to something which is good and will happen in the future.
We have hope for the future. We are optimistic, positive.
But if it is hopeless, so with the suffix "-less", be one word that means the opposite there is no hope No hope.
Hopeless. A totally hopeless situation. Listen out for it. now as you know this story is set on a greek island and there are some references to greek gods I think the names of Greek gods are the same in many different languages, perhaps with a different pronunciation.
Can you hear the names of the two Greek gods which are mentioned in the story?
And also... Which animals do I mention?
I've already said a horse, haven't I? So there are three more animals.
What are they? So those three questions then, what else screamed?
Which two Greek gods do I mention? This is part two of Tsunami, a story by M. A. Bilbrough for B1 students.
This recording is copyrighted. Melville drove his jeep too fast along the beach road.
This part of the island was dry, with just a few short wild olive trees here and there the road hadn't been repaired for years and there were holes everywhere.
Dust and sand got onto the windscreen, which made it difficult to see.
He had told Daphne it would take him five minutes to get to the beach, but that was hardly accurate.
He looked briefly at his watch. Five minutes to Tsunami.
He hoped this would be quick and easy. Find the tourists, shout tsunami, get them all into the jeep and get out of there.
The best plans of mice and men. Melville reached the final hundred meters of road.
It was quite steep here, which, thought Melville, was good news.
It meant that he wouldn't have to drive far on the way back to get above the height of the tsunami wave.
On both sides of the beach, the cliffs rose almost straight up. with large rocks at the bottom.
The road was the only escape route. Melville arrived at the beach.
He jumped out of the car, but it didn't take him long to see there was nobody there.
The beach was empty. Damn, he thought to himself.
Where were the French tourists? Melville tried to think.
If they'd started to walk back, he would have seen them on the road, unless they'd set off earlier and were almost back into the town. then he wouldn't have passed them on the road from the laboratory.
Melville's eyes then turned to that line far away between the sea and the sky.
Oh no, he breathed heavily. For the first time in his life, that line was different now, thicker. darker strange frightening nature that we know so well and its familiar changes such as a blue sky to clouds flowers to fruit water over a waterfall down to a clear pool Bring us peace and happiness.
But strange nature, the unusual in the world, like the sea rising suddenly into the air like some mysterious giant horse. strikes fear into the human heart, like lightning sent from the god Zeus himself.
Melville's heart began to beat faster. Four minutes to tsunami.
What should he do? If there was nobody here, get out fast!
Just as he was getting back into the jeep, he heard something.
Voices. Melville got back out. The rocks.
Voices from the rocks. Hello? Hello? shouted Melville in English.
Is anyone there? A face appeared from behind a huge rock.
A man in shorts and t-shirt. Bonjour, Monsieur, said the man, and he smiled and waved his hand shyly.
Then a woman dressed only in a swimming costume came out from behind another rock. followed by two boys in shorts about four or five years old. holding colourful plastic buckets and fishing nets.
They'd been fishing in the rock pools. ''Do you speak English?'' asked Melville nervously, although he didn't know why he was asking this.
"'English?' the man answered. "'Well, I speak a little.'
He know very good. I learn at school. Mais vous savez...
The next word Melville spoke was not even in English.
But Japanese, or rather, that international word everybody knows.
Or do they? Tsunami! Ah, you are Tsunami.
Pleased to meet you, Mr. Tsunami. My name is Yannick Lafayette.
This is my wife, Martine, and the two boys are... No!
No! shouted Melville suddenly, which made Yannick Lafayette stop and look very surprised.
But Melville was interrupted. Maman, papa, regarde la mer.
Ça sent vin ? shouted one of the little boys, pointing with his finger.
Melville didn't understand French, but he could see what was happening.
The sea was moving mysteriously away from the beach at the speed of a galloping horse.
It was what at university they used to call the Bath Effect.
Not really an accurate description, but one that made the idea easier to understand.
If you half fill a bath with water, then with your hand you push the water hard to one end For a moment, it will be deeper at one end than the other.
But then what happens? The water quickly moves back to the shallow end, making it deeper than before.
Tsunami. The beach here was at the end of the island, where the water was quite shallow.
In fact, the reason why the island was called Bota was owing to its shape.
Like a boot. Boota was boot in Greek. The high part of the boot was the dry land out of the water.
That's why the island had steep cliffs on three sides.
However, the toe part of the boot where the beach was, was just under the water.
The shallow water here, Melville believed, would mean the tsunami would rise high, 25 metres at least, into the air.
The children ran after the sea, screaming with happiness as the water began to disappear.
No! No! shouted Melville. Then he looked anxiously at Yannick Lafayette.
Tsunami! Tsunami! Look! Look! He was pointing now in the direction of the sea, an enormous wall of water rising up as though the world itself was turning on its side at ninety degrees.
Yannick Lafayette's face was suddenly very serious.
Saying nothing, he ran after his two children, picked them up, one under each arm and ran back with them.
Come on, shouted Melville. Get in my jeep.
He and the married couple ran, the two boys still being carried, now screaming in fear, unable to understand what was going on.
The jeep doors were opened. Yannick threw his children inside, pushed his wife in after them, then jumped into the front with Melville. who turned the key and started the engine.
Go, Mr. Su... shouted Yannick. We go! Now!
Now! The Jeep didn't move. The wheels turned fast, but the Jeep didn't move.
Melville and Yannick looked at each other, both their faces in shock.
Martine's face appeared. "'Qu'est-ce qui se passe?' she said above the noise of the crying children.
Melville knew the answer. Everybody, get out and push, he shouted. the three adults got out Melville looked at the wheels they were deep in the sand A Jeep.
Four-wheel drive. A car built for driving on beaches.
Well, everybody else's Jeep, it seemed, except for Melville's. which would not move one centimetre.
Nobody wanted to look at the tsunami wave.
Melville didn't bother to look at his watch.
What for? It was here, almost on top of them.
They could hear it. Poseidon himself like an angry, fighting bull, with a wish to kill, looking for blood.
Melville sat in the driving seat and pushed his foot down hard.
The French couple pushed the jeep from the front.
The children screamed. The engines screamed.
The tsunami screamed. Bang! The jeep shot backwards out of the sand hole.
Free! Get in, shouted Melville, but the French couple didn't need to be told.
Two seconds later, they were back in the car.
Melville turned the jeep around towards the road and put his foot down hard.
He drove at top speed across the sand, but that jeep... was going nowhere that day.
It hit a rock hidden under the sand which made it jump to one side and turn over completely.
Everybody with it. The one good thing about Jeeps is that they are strong vehicles, so when it landed on its roof, with its wheels in the air, it stayed in one piece, and the passengers inside held against their seats with safety belts, were not seriously hurt.
Hanging head down, Melville, after a few moments, managed to speak.
Everybody okay? Feeling great, said Yannick.
Best holiday of my life. Despite the situation, Melville smiled.
This man had a sense of humor. I okay, said Maxine.
Surprisingly, one of the children then said, Moi, good.
They had stopped crying. Get out, quick, said Melville.
When they pushed the doors, fortunately they opened easily.
Melville stood up and faced the tsunami.
The French family followed and stood behind him.
There it was, rising up like a terrible cobra, slower now in the shallow water, waiting to strike.
Melville didn't run. Nobody ran. Too late for that now.
Melville raised his arms and fell to his knees.
He thought of Daphne. He thought of his happy life on Botha.
He thought of the French family standing behind him. whom he had met only minutes ago and had tried to save he thought of his ancestors who had lived on this island for hundreds of years something made melville cry out like one of his ancestors might have done when faced with a totally hopeless situation long ago in ancient times.
Stop and let us live, he cried out to the tsunami.
Then he added, In the name of Zeus! Then it happened.
And it happened fast. The huge wave— divided in two, like a pair of curtains at a window.
Each half dropped in height to just a few metres and moved down to the sides of the island and disappeared. a little water flowed towards them, over the beach, in tiny waves hardly covering Melville's legs.
Melville understood now what had happened.
Water always takes the easiest way. When the tsunami reached the shallow area of Bota, it began to rise, but the toe-shaped part of the island Let the water fall off into the deep sea on both sides.
Melville hadn't been able to forecast this.
It had been outside his experience, not part of his knowledge of seismic activity.
A once-only event. Melville stood up and turned to the French family.
They were all looking at Melville, their mouths open in surprise.
Melville stood there in front of them, dark-skinned, handsome, long black curly hair and beard, looking larger than life, like a Greek god.
C'est un miracle! breathed Yannick. Melville laughed.
He laughed long and loud. Then Yannick joined in.
Soon everybody was laughing. Melville's mobile phone rang and he pulled it out of his wet trousers pocket.
Daphne. "'Yes?' said Melville. "'Mel, are you all right?'
Yes, I am. I'm fine. And the French family too.
We're all fine. The harbour was covered.
Daphne continued. But nobody was hurt. Everything is fine.
The boats and stuff. Where are you, Mel?
We're all on Palomini Beach.' "'On the beach?' said Daphne, sounding worried.
But you said... Yes, I did, didn't I? said Melville.
I made a mistake, Daphne. I made a big mistake and I'm so, so happy about it.
That is the end of the story. I hope you enjoyed it.
Did you hear the references to the words which I used to talk about strange things?
And did you also hear the answers to the three questions?
What else screamed? Well... The engine screamed, the car screamed, as Melvin was trying to get the car out of the sand hole.
And the tsunami screamed as well. So scream is a word we use for a high pitched noise.
And then which animals are named? The horse?
Cobra? A bull? which is a female cow. And mice.
That quotation is a famous quotation in English literature, the best plans of mice and men.
And the last question, who were the Greek gods mentioned?
They were the king of all the Greek gods, Zeus, and the god of the sea, Poseidon.
Thanks for listening. Until next time, goodbye for now.
