Debra Vealis is a very brave woman. She arrived in Barbados on 26 January 2002 after rowing across the Atlantic for three-and-a-half months. Debra was in one of 36 small plywood rowing boats that set off on 7 Octorber, 2001 from Tenerife in the Canary Islands on the Ward-Evans Atlantic Rowing Challenge race. Each small boat was exactly the same design and each one contained food for the journey. There were two people in each boat and their challenge was to row across the Atlantic Ocean, a journey of about 3,360 kilometres.
Debra began the journey with her husband in a small in a small boat called Troika Transatlantic. However, after 14 days he became very afraid of the huge ocean and was unable to continue, so he was taken off the small rowing boat by a rescue boat. This did not make Debra give up. Instead, she decided that she would continue by herself. So, for the next hundred days, she rowed her small boat and battled against the waves and the wind, and her own fears.
When she finally arrived at the end of her long journey, she was reluctant to leave her boat although her husband and family were there to greet her. She could not stand steadily and her husband had to carry her off the boat. The first thing she did was to drink a toast to her small boat. It had carried her safely to the end of the journey and she loved it. She said, “I just want to toast this lady, this very special lady. I am full of sadness that I will have to leave her. She has protected me through many storms.”
Choose the best answer.
1. When Debra’s husband gave up …
A. she had to carry on.
B. she decided to go on alone.
C. she was afraid about going on alone.
D. she didn’t want to carry on alone.
2. When she arrived in Barbados …
A. she couldn’t get out of the boat as her legs were not strong enough.
B. she asked her husband to carry her.
C. she was unhappy about leaving her small boat.
D. everyone drank a toast to her.
Key
1. B 2. C
