补充阅读 An Unusual Journey

An Unusual JourneyRead this interview between Karen Lu and Chris Evans. Karen is the presenter (主持人) of a daffy television talk show called “Our World”. Chris has recently travelled around India on an elephant. Karen: Welcome to the programme. First of all, Chris, what gave you the idea to travel around India on an elephant? Chris: Well, it all started when I went to a photographic exhibition of elephants. Then, a few days later, I started reading a book about India. It was about an Englishman who had travelled all the way to India on foot. I suddenly had the idea to travel India on an elephant. Karen: What did you do next?Chris: I rang a friend in India and told him that I wanted to buy an elephant. He thought I was crazy, but he said that he would help me. Two weeks later, I flew to New Delhi. I didnt know very much about buying an elephant. so I asked an expert to help me. Karen: And what kind of advice did the expert give you?Chris: He told me about the prices of elephants and about their eating habits. He also taught me the commands (要求, 指挥) necessary to ride an elephant. He said that I would need up to two people to help me: one person to cut the animals food, because elephants can eat up to 200 kg of food each day, and another person to drive the elephant. Karen: How long did it take to find a suitable elephant and is it expensive to buy one? Chris: Not too long. We met some men who wanted to sell one of their female elephants called Tara. However, she cost about US$6, 000. Karen: Well, Chris, youd found your elephant. What did you do next？ Chris: Next, we had to plan our route. We decided to travel to Sonepur, an area in northern India. This is where the worlds oldest elephant market is located. Karen: And you chose Sonepur so that you could sell Tara at the market?Chris: Yes, thats right. The market lasts for two weeks every year and elephants can never be sold there before the special date of 23rd November. The whole journey was about 1,200 km long and we thought it would take about 64 days to complete. Elephants can travel at around six km an hour, so even if we only travelled for four hours each day, we would still arrive there in time. Karen: I see. And do you have any problems on your journey?Chris: Yes, a few. But nothing too serious. At the beginning, Tara hurt her foot. But that got better after a week of treatment. The weather was very bad to begin with as well. There were a lot of heavy rainstorms. We also frequently found uninvited guests in our tentssnakewhich made sleeping rather difficult!Karen: That sounds awful! And what finally happened when you reached the end of your journey?Chris: Well, we had to try and sell Tara. I had grown very fond of her. and I didnt want to sell her, even though I knew I had to. By chance, however. I met some old friends at the market. They were looking for an elephant for their national park in southern India. I knew that Tara would be safe with them, so I gave her to them. I was very sad to say goodbye. Exercises: 1. Complete these sentences. Circle the letters. 1. Chris got the idea to travel around India on an elephant from . A. an elephant expert B. an Englishmen who had walked to India C. some photographs he saw and a book he readD. an old friend of whose lived in India2. The elephant expert told Chris . A. the price of an elephant B. how to cut food for an elephant C. the various commands D. how to catch an elephant3. Chris decided to travel to Sonepur because . A. the worlds oldest elephant market was situated there B. elephants cant be sold anywhere else in India C. he would be able to sell Tara there easily D. it would only take 64 days to travel there4. The minimum distance that Chris wanted to travel each day was . A. 6 km B. 12 km C. 24 km D. 50km 5. Chris didnt sell Tara at the market because he . A. couldnt find anyone to buy her B. decided to give her to some old friends instead C. decided to keep her and take her home D. sold her to a national park instead. Here are some words and phrases from the passage. Choose the best meaning for each word. Circle the letters. 1. expert A. person who has a special knowledge of something B. person who has a special knowledge of elephants 2. up to A. including B. not more than3. route A. timetableB. planned direction of travel 4. lasts for A. goes on or takes place for a period of time B. happens；occurs5. uninvited A. unpleasant；horrible B. not welcome or wanted. Answer these questions. Find the correct words and phrases in the passage. 1. Which two words tell us how long it took for Taras injured foot to get better? 2. Which two words tell us that they would get to Sonepur early enough? 3. Which three-word phrase tells us that the weather was bad at the start of the journey? 4. Which word tells us how Karen felt about the