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A Long Life of Adventure (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Ah, Hello, I'm Andrew Davis.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: And I'm Alice Irrazari. Welcome to Spotlight Advance. This program
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier
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  Speaker 2: for people to understand no matter where in the world
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  Speaker 2: they live.
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  Speaker 3: I looked out of the tent at about four thirty
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  Speaker 3: in the morning. There were clouds around, but the sky
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  Speaker 3: was much clearer. I was completely sure that the other climber, Tensing,
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  Speaker 3: and I could do this. We knew that the conditions
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  Speaker 3: were good enough, so we just made our preparations and
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  Speaker 3: pushed ourselves on. I would not say the final effort
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  Speaker 3: to reach the top was fun. It was very hard work.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, as I have said many times, this
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  Speaker 3: was Mount Everest, so we felt we had to push
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  Speaker 3: ourselves a bit harder each the top of the mountain.
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  Speaker 3: But I did not really have a huge feeling of
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  Speaker 3: great happiness or joy. I did not jump around or
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  Speaker 3: throw my hands in the air or something. Tensing and
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  Speaker 3: I were tired. We expected that, and I could not forget.
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  Speaker 3: We had to climb safely back down the mountain again.
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  Speaker 3: I think my major feeling was one of being satisfied.
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  Speaker 3: I really did have a feeling of well, we have
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  Speaker 3: finally made it.
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  Speaker 1: These are the words of Sir Edmund Hillary. He is
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  Speaker 1: describing an amazing time, the moment when he and another climber,
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  Speaker 1: Tensing Norgay, were on top of the world. They had
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  Speaker 1: climbed the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest.
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  Speaker 2: This event took place on the twenty ninth of May
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  Speaker 2: nineteen fifty three. Ten teams of climbers had tried to
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  Speaker 2: reach the top or summit of Everest before, but all
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  Speaker 2: of them failed, and sixteen climbers had even died in
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  Speaker 2: the attempt. This fact made Hillary and Tensing's success even greater.
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  Speaker 1: But Hillary did not think of himself as a great hero.
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  Speaker 1: His early life was simple. He came from New Zealand,
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  Speaker 1: an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean. He described
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  Speaker 1: his first visit to the mountains of New Zealand.
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  Speaker 3: I was very much a country boy. My friendship with
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  Speaker 3: the mountains started when I was sixteen. Every year my
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  Speaker 3: school took a group down to Tongareiro National Park for
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  Speaker 3: a skiing holiday. I was able to persuade my father
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  Speaker 3: to let me go on this trip. There was snow everywhere.
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  Speaker 3: That was really the start of my love for snow.
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  Speaker 3: And ice, and mountains in general.
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  Speaker 2: Hillary described his growing interest in the mountains. I did
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  Speaker 2: a lot of walking in the hills outside Auckland. It
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  Speaker 2: was the nearest town to my home. Then I started
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  Speaker 2: to climb some smaller mountains. Then I was able to
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  Speaker 2: do harder climbs. Finally I became a reasonably skilled mountain
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  Speaker 2: climber in the New Zealand Alps, and I did many
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  Speaker 2: long mountain climbs. I think that happens to a lot
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  Speaker 2: of people. Very few suddenly decide that they are going
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  Speaker 2: to be a world champion at something.
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  Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty one, a British team of climbers was
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  Speaker 1: planning a trip to Tibet. They were going to climb
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  Speaker 1: in the Himalayas, the highest mountain range in the world.
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  Speaker 1: They wanted to try and find a different path up
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  Speaker 1: to the top of Mount Everest. They believed that climbing
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  Speaker 1: the southwest mountain face was the key to reaching the top.
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  Speaker 2: The team invited Edmund Hillary to be part of this trip.
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  Speaker 2: It was a great success. The team found a different path,
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  Speaker 2: but they did not reach the summit on that trip.
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  Speaker 2: In nineteen fifty three, the same team asked Hillary to
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  Speaker 2: join them again. They wanted to try once more. They
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  Speaker 2: wanted to reach the summit of Everest.
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  Speaker 1: Hillary proved to be a strong and skillful member of
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  Speaker 1: the team, so the team leader chose Hillary to make
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  Speaker 1: the final attempt to reach the summit. Tensing Norgay went
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  Speaker 1: with Hillary at eleven thirty on the morning of the
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  Speaker 1: twenty ninth of May. The two men reached the summit,
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  Speaker 1: and their names went straight into the history books.
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  Speaker 2: Edmund Hillary did many other exciting and dangerous activities during
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  Speaker 2: his life. He continued to climb the Himalaya Mountains. He
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  Speaker 2: traveled over ice and snow to the South Pole, but
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  Speaker 2: he made this trip in a farm vehicle a tractor.
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  Speaker 2: He explored the rivers of Eastern in a speedboat. He
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  Speaker 2: experienced all the wonders and beauty of the natural world,
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  Speaker 2: and it caused him to think about deeper matters.
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  Speaker 3: He said, I have a feeling the world is so
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  Speaker 3: complex and so amazing in many ways, so there must
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  Speaker 3: be some sort of intelligence behind it all. But I'm
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  Speaker 3: not sure at all if that intelligence is interested in
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  Speaker 3: a little person away down on Earth.
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  Speaker 1: Hillary was not the only person to wonder such a thing.
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  Speaker 1: Another person to think like that was a king of
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  Speaker 1: ancient Israel, David. He wrote these words in a poem
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  Speaker 1: to God.
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  Speaker 4: I think about the heavens. I think about what your
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  Speaker 4: fingers have created. What is a human being that you
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  Speaker 4: think about him?
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  Speaker 2: But King David believed that God cared about all his creation.
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  Speaker 2: He wrote in another poem, if I rise with the
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  Speaker 2: sun in the east, then cross over to the west,
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  Speaker 2: where the sun sinks into the ocean, your hand would
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  Speaker 2: be there to guide me. Your right hand would still
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  Speaker 2: be holding me close.
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  Speaker 1: Edmund Hillary may not have understood how much God cared
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  Speaker 1: for him, but he understood one thing. As a famous person,
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  Speaker 1: he had many chances to help others, and he did
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  Speaker 1: much to care for the people who lived near Mount Everest,
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  Speaker 1: the Sherpas. He started an aid group to serve them,
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  Speaker 1: the Himalayan Trust, and through this group he continued to
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  Speaker 1: provide schools and hospitals for the Sherpa people. He even
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  Speaker 1: organized the building of an airfield, a place where planes land,
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  Speaker 1: and a bridge for them. Hillary said, here.
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  Speaker 3: Was the perfect way to repay the Sherpas for the
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  Speaker 3: help and joy they had given.
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  Speaker 2: Edmund Hillary died on the eleventh of January two thousand
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  Speaker 2: and eight. His life was an example of courage and
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  Speaker 2: strength of character to many people, and they will miss him.
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  Speaker 2: The man who for fifteen minutes was on the top
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  Speaker 2: of the world.
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  Speaker 1: What is the tallest hill or mountain that you have climbed?
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  Speaker 1: What is the tallest mountain you have ever seen, even
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  Speaker 1: if you didn't climb it? What makes people want to
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  Speaker 1: climb mountains?
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  Speaker 2: You can leave a comment on our website at www
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  Speaker 2: dot Spotlight English dot com. You can also find us
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and x You can also
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: get Spotlight episodes delivered directly to your Android or Apple
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: device through our free official Spotlight English app.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Letter of this episode was from the Spotlight team. The
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  Speaker 1: producer was mit Yoazaki. The voices you heard were from
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  Speaker 1: the United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were
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  Speaker 1: adapted for this episode and voiced by Spotlight. No AI
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: or artificial intelligence was used in this episode. Spotlight episodes
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  Speaker 1: are written, voiced, and produced by real people for real people,
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  Speaker 1: no matter where in the world they live. This episode
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  Speaker 1: is called a Long Life of Adventure.
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  Speaker 2: We hope you can join us again for the next
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  Speaker 2: Spotlight episode. Goodbye