「故事·听力」My Australian Nightmare (Spider And Shark Alert!)

My Australian Nightmare (Spider And Shark Alert!)

This is Trixie, and she’s going to tell you why she’d like to move to the other side of the world.

You know, she’s not really a fan of winter and snow, so she’s always wanted to move from her northern state to some place warmer when she grows up. But she hadn’t even finished school when she first traveled to the country where you could celebrate Christmas on the beach, wearing a bikini!

This all happened because her dad got a temporary job assignment in…Australia! She did her best to convince her parents to take her along. The only bad thing that was that her mom was so busy with her business project that she couldn't travel with them.

So Trixie and her father made their way across half the planet, and she was so looking forward to her new life. The school year in Australia starts several months later than in the US, so she was planning to spend all her extra leisure time at the beach.

Her dad worked hard, and she was left on her own most of the time, but she wasn't afraid – she was already fifteen, basically all grown up!

Also, her dad told her that if she had any problems she could ask for their neighbor Courtney’s help.

Well, her adventures in Australia began! And the first problems came from where she least expected them to: the SUPERMARKET. She went shopping for some food, got everything she needed, and went to the counter with cash in her pocket. A nice cashier talked to her amicably. And she…didn’t understand a WORD! She seemed to speak English, but she swallowed some sounds and shortened others so Trixie couldn’t comprehend anything. She got used to Australian English later on, but not right away.

Her beach plans didn’t work out either. When they got to Australia, the weather was much warmer than at home, but the ocean was still cold. So she had nothing to do but watch the surfers in their tight wetsuits. And all this was very entertaining until she noticed a FIN sticking up from the water near them. And nobody seemed to be paying attention to it! She rushed to the life guard, pointing it out with her outstretched hand and yelling: “There’s a SHARK out there!!!” but he only smiled and said that she had a real sharp eye if she could see such a small and not very dangerous shark. She was so embarrassed that she returned to her beach chair and just buried herself in a book. And you know what? She got sunburned! If you're ever planning to go to Australia, you should remember that the sun is very strong over there.

Even when she was at home in Australia, there was never a dull moment. One morning she woke up to this deafening and horrible laughing sound coming from outside of her window. She looked at her watch – it was 5 AM! She was so mad that she didn’t even think about whether it could be dangerous, all she wanted to do was to tell this joker what she thought about his stupid prank!

She opened the curtains and what did she see? Nobody! Just a pretty bird with a big head and a long beak sitting on her window sill. But when it opened its beak she heard that INFERNAL sound again! She tried to chase the bird away, but it was useless – it just went on roaring with this terrible laughter. She moaned and went to make some coffee.

It seemed that a kookaburra had come scouting and then gave a signal to its friends, and these UNUSUAL guests began to drop by at her house regularly.

Another day, Trixie was on her way home on her bike, and entered their yard though a gate that she’d left open. Before that day, she struggled to get used to seeing fences around houses, and she couldn't figure out what they were needed for. But at that moment she understood why. There was an enormous scaly creature sitting on the terrace! She took a couple of steps toward this “dragon” that was obstructing her entrance into the house…and he opened his maw wide!

Then she tried to chase it away, waving her arms and yelling: “Shoo, shoo”, but then beast moved towards her!

She jumped back in a panic, and then remembered that she could ask for help! She yelled “COURTNEY!” hoping that her neighbor would come and rescue her. But her rescue did not happen the way she expected it to.

A guy who looked to be about 23 years old jumped over the fence. Quickly judging the situation, he brusquely grabbed the beast’s tail. Within one second, he lifted it into the air, getting a grip of the beast’s neck with his other hand. And as he tightly held the wiggling “dragon,” he turned to her and smiled pleasantly. “Oh my gosh!” she thought. You see, when her dad told her about someone named Courtney, she had imagined a middle-aged woman in an Australian digger hat, not a sun tanned handsome guy with bright blue eyes...