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Transcript

Seeing Clearly: The Erik Weihenmayer Story (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Alice Irrazari.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: And I'm Andrew Davis. Spotlight uses a special English method
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: matter where in the world they live.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Imagine walking almost nine kilometers through ice and snow. Imagine
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: carrying a fifty later backpack weighing twenty one kilograms for
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: your whole trip. Imagine wind so cold it burns your face.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Imagine your fingers and toes turning white. Imagine you are
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: not walking straight ahead, but straight up. Imagine struggling to
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: breathe because the air is so thin. Imagine your body aching.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Imagine fighting to take one more step. Imagine you are
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: climbing the tallest mountain in the world. Now imagine doing
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: it all blind. You cannot see anything around you, but
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: now you are standing on top of the world.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Today's Spotlight looks at the life of Eric Wyan Mayor.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Eric is blind, but he has climbed many impressive mountains.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: He has inspired people around the world. He has done
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: things no one thought he could do without sight. He
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: has become a leader.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: To many wayan mayor has retinascusis with retinascuss the back
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: of the eye splits into two layers. Usually this affects
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: adult men and women, but sometimes it happens to children.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: This is called juvenile RETINOSCUSIS. The National Organization of Rare
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Disorders says.
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  Speaker 2: The disorder is a slow loss of parts of the
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  Speaker 2: field of vision.
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  Speaker 3: Often the final result is complete blindness.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Eric Wyenmeyer was only four years old when he was
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  Speaker 2: diagnosed with this disorder. By the time he was fourteen,
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  Speaker 2: he was completely blind.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: Eric said, I was afraid that I was not going
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: to be able to do much in life.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: But Eric's parents encouraged him to get involved in wrestling
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: at school. The sport of wrestling involves physically grabbing your
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: opponents and holding them down. Eric became very good at wrestling.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: He was even the leader of his high school team.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Then he discovered rock climbing.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: He said, shortly after going going blind, I heard about
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: a group taking blind kids rock climbing. I thought to myself,
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: who would take a blind kid rock climbing? So I
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: signed up.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Eric immediately loved climbing. He learned to use his hands
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: while climbing the way others used their eyes. His hands
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: searched the rocks for cracks in the mountain. This helped
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: him know where to place his hands and feet. He
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: did not plan his way up the mountain as other
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: climbers did. He could not see anything above him. He
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: learned to focus on what he could feel and touch
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: in front of him.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: After graduating from college, Eric moved to Arizona to be
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: a teacher. He went rock climbing every weekend with a
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: group of friends. They decided to climb Denali, the tallest
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: mountain in North America.
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: Afterward, Eric said, I thought, how am to make your
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: life this great adventure? Just go to every continent and
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: climb the tallest mountain.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: Over the next few years, Eric managed to climb the
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: tallest mountains on three different continents, Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa,
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Aconcagoa in South America, and Mount Vincent in Antarctica. Then
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: he took on the challenge of climbing the tallest mountain
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: in the world, Mount Everest. It is in the rugged
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Himalayan Mountains of Asia. Many experts did not think Eric
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: could make it to the top of Everest. Many climbers
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: call the area above eight thousand meters the death zone.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: That high altitude has less oxygen a person's brain and
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: lungs do not work well. Everest's summit is eight thousand,
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: eight hundred and forty eight meters high. Experts thought the
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: death zone, combined with his blindness, would prove too much
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: for him, but Eric was determined to succeed. He found
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: a good team of experienced climbers to guide him. He
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: got financial support from the National Federation of the Blind.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: In two thousand and one, he and his team made
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: it all the way to the top of Mount Everest.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Eric became the first blind person to reach the highest
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: summit in the world.
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  Speaker 1: The Seventh Summits are the tallest mountains on each of
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  Speaker 1: the seven continents. Only a few hundred people have climbed
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  Speaker 1: all seven. After Eric climbed Mount Everest, he climbed the
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: remaining highest mountains in Europe and Australia to complete his
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Seven Summits record. He is the only blind person to
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  Speaker 1: have done what seemed impossible.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: Eric then learned to kayak. A kayak is a small
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  Speaker 2: boat with an oar that has a blade on each end,
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  Speaker 2: but did not want to relax on a calm lake.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: He wanted to kayak four hundred and forty two kilometers
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  Speaker 2: on the Colorado River. That part of the Colorado River
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: runs through Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. That part
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  Speaker 2: of the river has many dangerous sections of rapids and
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: sharp rocks. He trained for six years to prepare for
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  Speaker 2: this adventure. He and the nine other people on his
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  Speaker 2: team successfully kayaked the entire Grand Canyon in twenty one days.
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  Speaker 3: Eric said, I do not care whether people climb mountains
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: or kayak, but we are hoping people look within themselves.
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  Speaker 3: I want others to ask themselves what are we capable
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  Speaker 3: of doing.
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  Speaker 1: Eric has written three books. Several documentary films have been
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: made about his life. Time magazine featured him on the cover.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Eric started a non profit organization called No Barriers. No
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Barriers helps people overcome problems and obstacles in their lives.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: He constantly looks for new challenges. He searches for new
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  Speaker 1: ways to grow as a person. He refuses to accept
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  Speaker 1: any limits, including his own blindness. Fellow mountain climber Chris
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Morris said, Eric is mentally one of the strongest guys
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: you will ever meet.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: Whether on a mountain, on a river, or in a classroom.
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  Speaker 2: Eric Wyan Mayer clearly sees life as a great adventure.
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  Speaker 1: What is the toughest challenge you are facing today? What
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: are some ways you have tried to overcome it? How
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  Speaker 1: could others help you to succeed? You can leave a
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: comment on our website at www dot Spotlight English dot com.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: x You can also get our programs delivered directly to
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: English app.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: The writer of this program was Peter Anderson. The producer
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: was Dan Chrisman. The voices you heard were from the
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: for this program and voiced by Spotlight. This program is
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: called Seeing Clearly the Eric Wyronmeyer Story.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: We hope you can join us again for the next
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Spotlight program. Goodbye.