Desert, Mountain, Sea

TALKING ABOUT THE COVER

What kinds of activity do these three pictures

suggest to you? (Travelling by camel across a
desert, mountaineering, sailing)
Do you think these activities are dangerous? In
what ways? Which do you think is the most
dangerous? Why?
Why do people do these activities?

BEFORE READING ACTIVITIES (PAGE 74)

ACTIVITY 1 BEFORE READING

1N 2R 3A 4A 5N 6R
ACTIVITY 2 BEFORE READING

Open discussion. Encourage students to explain why

they think some qualities are more important than
others.

While Reading

were special to the Aborigines. (Said by someone in

the town of Docker)
4 Talking about the Aborigines, who thought that the
idea of owning land was strange; land could not
belong to anybody. (Said by Glendle, an official in
Pipalyatjara)
5 Talking about the distance to Warburton, meaning
(roughly) that it was quite a long way, maybe about
two days journey on foot or by camel. (Said by
some Aborigines in a car)
CLIMBING ANNAPURNA (1) WHILE READING

Expeditions to the Himalayas need careful planning.

Only a few climbers can hope to reach the summit,
and everybody has to work as a team, carrying
equipment up to the camps. Some climbers use
Sherpas, who make excellent porters and who can
carry very heavy loads.
At high altitudes people often have headaches and
sleep badly because there is not much oxygen in the
air. Weather conditions can change very quickly, and
there is also great danger from avalanches, which are
impossible to avoid.
CLIMBING ANNAPURNA (2) WHILE READING

ACROSS THE AUSTRALIAN DESERT (1) WHILE READING

1 F When Robyn arrived in Alice Springs, she had six

dollars and had never worked with camels before.
2 T
3 F Kurt made Robyn leave his farm because he
didnt want to give her the camels he had promised.
4 F Robyn had to shoot Alcoota Kate because she
was old, sick, and in pain.
5 T
6 T
7 F Old Mr Eddie could easily walk eighty
kilometres a day.
8 F In the desert it was hot in the daytime, but quite
cool at night.
9 T
10 F After Diggity died, Robyn wanted to finish the
journey as quickly as possible.
11 T

1 Why . . .? Because they would be the first Americans

and the first women to do it.
2 How . . .? One out of every ten.
3 What . . .? They would stop eating.
4 Why . . .? Because it was safer to climb the higher
part of the mountain after the monsoon rains had
finished.
5 What . . .? The most dangerous and difficult part of
the climb up the mountain.
6 Why . . .? Because when he went on an expedition to
Mount Everest in 1974, six of his friends had died in
an avalanche.
7 How . . .? Two teams of three women.
8 Who . . .? Irene Miller and Vera Karmakova.
9 Why . . .? Because the first finger on her right hand
had frozen, and she could lose the use of her fingers
if she continued climbing.
10 What . . .? They fell down the side of the mountain
between Camp 4 and Camp 5 and died there.

ACROSS THE AUSTRALIAN DESERT (2) WHILE READING

ALONE AROUND THE WORLD WHILE READING

1 Talking about the time Robyn had to spend working

before she could begin her journey. (Said by Gladdy,
wife of Kurt Posel)
2 Talking about wild bull camels, which could be very
dangerous. (Said by Sallay Mahomet, an Afghan
who had a camel farm)
3 Talking about the places in the countryside that

1 Naomi grew up on a farm in the country of New

Zealand.
2 After a few years travelling around Europe, Naomi
decided to go to England to find work in a zoo.
3 She was about to catch a boat at St Malo, when she
met Rob James, the captain of British Steel.
4 A famous British yachtsman, Chay Blyth, offered her
his boat for the voyage.

OXFORD BOOKWORMS LIBRARY STAGE 4

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

DESERT, MOUNTAIN, SEA

ACTIVITIES ANSWERS

Before Reading

STAGE 4

ACTIVITIES ANSWERS

5 Naomi set off in his yacht, with its new name of

Express Crusader, in September 1977.
6 After two weeks, she reached the Canary Islands and
a boat brought her supplies.
7 On day 38 Naomi crossed the Equator and had a
celebration dinner and a bottle of champagne.
8 When Naomi was 3,500 kilometres from Cape
Town, Boris fell into the sea and was lost.
9 In January, she passed the coast of Tasmania.
10 She hoped to break the record set by Sir Francis
Chichester.
11 Three weeks before she reached Cape Horn, at the
tip of South America, Naomis boat capsized.
12 She spent three days in the Falkland Islands while
her mast was repaired.
13 On 24th May she met Rob near the Azores.
14 When she sailed into Dartmouth on 8th June 1978,
Naomi became the first woman to sail alone around
the world.

After Reading
ACTIVITY 1 AFTER READING

1 Naomi, just after Boris the kitten fell into the sea
and was drowned.
2 Robyn, after she had just lost her job at Kurt Posels
farm.
3 Arlene, on the night of September 25th after she was
woken by the sound of an avalanche.
4 Robyn, after Zeleika began to bleed badly just
before the end of the journey.
5 Arlene, after discovering that Annie had fallen in
love with Yeshi the cook.
6 Naomi, after she passed Cape Horn.
ACTIVITY 2 AFTER READING

1+8 2+10 3+12 4+7 5+11 6+9

After walking 2,800 kilometres across the Australian
desert, Robyn Davidson arrived today at Hamelin
Pool. Crowds of people came to watch as this brave
young woman brought her four camels onto the beach.
Robyn spent eighteen months in Alice Springs
preparing for the journey, which took her six months
to complete. Although she travelled with a guide for
part of the journey, she crossed the Gibson Desert
alone. Robyn feels proud and happy that her four
camels all survived the journey. She plans to stay by
the sea for a while, in order to rest and make plans for
the future.

mountaineering. They began climbing the most

difficult part of the mountain after the monsoon rains
stopped, and established Camp 5, their highest camp,
at 7,500 metres. On October 15th two American
women and two Sherpas reached the summit, which is
over 8,000 metres high. Sadly, two other climbers died
in an accident while trying to reach the summit. A
memorial stone with their names has been put up at
Base Camp.
ACTIVITY 4 AFTER READING

Suggested answer:
Today Naomi James became the first woman to sail
alone around the world when she sailed into
Dartmouth harbour in the yacht Express Crusader.
She was at the end of a 55,000-kilometre journey that
lasted nine months and took her east past the Cape of
Good Hope, Australia, New Zealand, and Cape Horn.
The worst moment of her voyage came in February
when her boat capsized and a lot of equipment was
broken. She was only able to sleep for an hour or two
at a time, but she decided to go on with her voyage.
Naomi was met at Dartmouth by her parents, her
sister Juliet, and her husband Rob, whom she had seen
a month before, near the Azores. She had spoken to
him often by radio telephone since she left Britain last
September.
As the Express Crusader, surrounded by many other
boats, big and small, sailed into harbour, hundreds of
people and reporters were waiting to welcome Naomi
home.
ACTIVITY 5 AFTER READING

Desert: bush, camel, rifle, saddle

Mountain: altitude, avalanche, crevasse, glacier,
leader, monsoon, oxygen, porter, Sherpa, summit
Sea: capsize, deck, harbour, iceberg, log book, mast,
navigate, rudder, steer, wave, wheel, yacht
Two or three stories: camp, compass, equipment,
expedition, guide, horizon, load, map, radio, repair,
rope, supplies, tent
ACTIVITY 6 AFTER READING

Open answers. Encourage students to compare and

discuss their lists.
ACTIVITY 7 AFTER READING

Open answers. Encourage discussion.

ACTIVITY 3 AFTER READING

There are 13 mistakes:

CLIMBER ARLENE BLUM returned today from Nepal,
where she led an expedition to climb Annapurna, one
of the highest mountains in the world. Her group of
eleven women were aged between twenty and fifty,
and all of them were used to high-altitude

OXFORD BOOKWORMS LIBRARY STAGE 4

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

DESERT, MOUNTAIN, SEA