Speed Reading — Lost at Sea - Level 6 — 500 wpm

Now do this put-the-text-back-together activity.


This is the text (if you need help).

Many of us spend hours dreaming of getting away from it all – of getting far from the madding crowd. Two men from the Solomon Islands inadvertently did just that and spent 29 days escaping the rat race. They got lost at sea for over four weeks. Livae Nanjikana and Junior Qoloni set off from Mono Island on September the 3rd in a small motorboat to travel 200km to New Georgia Island. It was a trip they had embarked on several times before. Soon after they set out, they were hit by a storm which played havoc with their navigation system. They lost their ability to detect their location or find their bearings at sea. The storm blew them off course and they ended up off the coast of Papua New Guinea.

The two men were upbeat about their unplanned adventure. Rather than be distressed about their once-precarious plight, they enjoyed the potentially life-threatening escapade at sea. Mr Nanjikana said: "We didn't know where we were but did not expect to be in another country." They survived by eating oranges they had bought for their journey and coconuts they scooped out of the sea. A Papua New Guinean fisherman spotted their boat and authorities rescued them. Nanjikana said: "I look forward to going back home, but I guess it was a nice break from everything." However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, they will not be able to travel from Papua New Guinea to the Solomon Islands for a little while yet.

Comprehension questions
  1. What does the article say we dream of getting far from?
  2. When did the two men set off on their journey?
  3. How many times had the men made the journey before?
  4. What did a storm do to the men's navigation system?
  5. Where did the two men end up?
  6. How did the men feel about their unplanned adventure?
  7. What did the two men scoop out from the sea?
  8. Who spotted the two men?
  9. Where did one of the men say he looked forward to going?
  10. What is stopping the men from returning home immediately?

Back to the lost at sea lesson.

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