Summary
15 July 2009
A British backpacker who has been missing for almost two weeks in remote mountains in Australia has been found alive. 19-year-old Jamie Neale disappeared during a hike in early July.
Reporter:
Phil Mercer
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In a remarkable story of resilience, Jamie Neale has been found safe and well after spending almost a fortnight lost in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. The search for him had been hampered by bad winter weather, including thick fog, rain and freezing temperatures.
The young British backpacker went missing after leaving a youth hostel in the town of Katoomba for a day's hiking. For 12 days, rescue teams searched for him across hostile, mountainous terrain and the police admitted that as each hour passed, his chances of survival grew slimmer. His extraordinary ordeal over, Jamie Neale has been taken to hospital for treatment.
Phil Mercer, 大象传媒 News, Sydney
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Vocabulary
- resilience
ability to cope with difficult circumstances
- a fortnight
two weeks
- hampered
made difficult or stopped or prevented something (here, the search) from happening easily
- backpacker
a person who goes on holiday (usually a long one) not with a suitcase, but with a rucksack (with all the clothes and things they need) carried on their back
- a youth hostel
a place where people (usually young people) can stay. A youth hostel is cheaper than a hotel. Hotels have rooms for one or two people, youth hostels have large bedrooms where 10 or 12 men or women sleep
- hiking
walking for a number of hours or days in mountains, hills or other places in the countryside
- hostile
(used to describe land, mountains, environment etc) difficult or dangerous to live in
- terrain
an area of land or earth
- his chances of survival grew slimmer
it became less and less likely he would stay alive
- ordeal
difficult or painful situation or experience
