Lesson 86
Out of control
失控
First listen and then answer the question.
听录音，然后回答以下问题。
What was the danger?
As the man tried to swing the speedboat round, the steering wheel came away in his hands. He waved desperately to his companion, who had been water skiing for the last fifteen minutes. Both men had hardly had time to realize what was happening when they were thrown violently into the sea. The speedboat had struck a buoy, but it continued to move very quickly across the water. Both men had just begun to swim towards the shore, when they noticed with dismay that the speedboat was moving in a circle. It now came straight towards them at tremendous speed. In less than a minute, it roared past them only a few feet away. After it had passed, they swam on as quickly as they could because they knew that the boat would soon return. They had just had enough time to swim out of danger when the boat again completed a circle. On this occasion, however, it had slowed down considerably. The petrol had nearly all been used up. Before long, the noise dropped completely and the boat began to drift gently across the water.
New words and expressions 生词和短语
swing v. 转向
speedboat n. 快艇
desperately adv. 绝望地
companion n. 同伙，伙伴
water ski （由快艇牵引水橇）滑水
buoy n. 浮标
dismay n. 沮丧
tremendous adj. 巨大的
petrol n. 汽油
drift v. 漂动，漂流
gently adv. 缓慢地，轻轻地