译林版《牛津高中英语》模块二Unit 2 Reading: An Adventure in Africa
30 June
Dear Aihua,
How are you? Sorry I haven't written for so long. I've been quite busy arranging my holiday with my older brother, Colin. Colin and I plan to spend a few weeks traveling before he goes to university. We're going to visit so many exciting places and do lots of extraordinary things. We will go to Africa first. I can't wait! Have you ever been there? We leave London on 15 July, and we'll be taking a flight to Morocco, in northern Africa. We're going to ride camels through the Sahara Desert. It's the biggest desert in the world — about the size of the US! I expect it will be very hot, dry and dusty there. We'll be traveling by camel with local guides, camping in tents and sleeping on the ground. I've heard that, in the Sahara, there is no shade during the day, and the stars seem especially brilliant on clear nights. I'll bring a flashlight with me so that I'll be able to see in the dark. Altogether, the trip will take six days. That means I'll have to sit on a camel for almost a week — how uncomfortable! I hope my camel likes me!
After the trip by camel, we're going to travel down the River Nile. We'll start at Lake Victoria. A little way down the river from Lake Victoria, the water gets quite rough. So, we'll go white-water rafting. It's quite dangerous, but very exciting! You have to wear a helmet and a life jacket for protection, just in case you fall into the water.
Then, we're going on a trip to see wild animals in Kenya. We'll live with the local people in their villages. And drink whatever they do, including cow's blood! Do you think I should drink it?
Since we'll be walking for almost two weeks, I'll need to buy a large backpack in advance to carry my supplies of food and water. During the day, we'll walk across the land, following the tracks of wildlife such as elephants, even though they're dangerous, so that we can take some really good photographs. But don't worry about me. Our guides will have guns with them for defence — they can use the guns to scare the animals away if they come too near. I really want to see an elephant up close, and Colin wants to see a giraffe.
After that, we'll be moving on to Tanzania, where we're going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Mountain climbing can be very tiring, and many people feel sick as the atmosphere gets thinner, so Colin and I will make sure that we get plenty of rest. The African part of our trip will take about four weeks. Afterwards, we're going to the Himalayas.
I'll send you postcards from all the different places we visit!
Love
Toby