GLOSSARY
| a terrible or painful experience that continues for a period of time | ordeal |
| the land at the bottom of the sea | sea bed |
| food and other ordinary goods needed by people every day | supplies |
Collocations from the text with their definitions
| Definition | Collocation |
| Believed something without even thinking about it | took it for grunted |
| Communicate effectively | make himself understood |
| Was forced to do something | had no choice but to |
| Had the necessary or wanted result | done the trick |
| Caused harm or suffering | took its toll (on) |
| Be unable to guess, something | not have a clue |
| Experienced less harm than might be expected. He was lucky | got off (relatively) lightly |
| Stop him from worrying or thinking about something | take his mind off |
| Had a very difficult or painful experience | gone through the ordeal |
| Thought carefully about what to do | considered his options |
| Helped him to continue, despite the difficult situation | kept him going |
A. Indonesian teenager, Aldi Adilang, is only nineteen; but he has already gone through the ordeal of being lost at sea not just once, but an incredible three times! The first two times he got off relatively lightly; he was drifting for a week, and the second time for two days. Thoa experiences sound terrifying enough. but on the third occasion he was floating - alone in the ocean - for forty-nine 49 long days, not knowing if he would ever see his friends and family again
F. From when he was 16 years old, Aldi had spent weeks at a time working on a fishing trap, known as a rompong, a kind of hut which floats in the middle of the sea, but is attached to the sea bed with a rope. Every night he would light lamps to attract the fish to his nets. It was a lonely kind of life.
E. This day had started just like any other, until the rope attaching his rompong to the bottom of the sea broke and, already far from the coast, he started to drift even farther away. At first, he wasn't loo worried. He took it for granted that sooner or later his boss would come and rescue hero as he had done before. Aldi had a week's supply of food. He was sure it would all be fine.
B. But after a week his supplies ran out. He caught fish and used parts of his wooden hut to make a fire and cook the fish. Not having any more fresh drinking water, he had no choice but to drink sea water. However, he filtered the sea water through his clothes to at least reduce the amount of salt. This must have done the trick because he survived in this way for four days until, thankfully. it rained and he was able to collect some rainwater.
G, His survival skills were keeping him alive, but he was starting lo wonder if he would ever be rescued. He saw more than less ships sail past him, but none of them seemed to have a clue that he was there. After a few weeks, he thought ho had at last got his lucky break when he managed to talk to the captain of an Indonesian ship by walkie-talkie. The captain promised he would return and pick him up once they had finished work for the day.
Heartbreakingly. Aldi never saw the ship again.
C. After this setback, he really started to worry. To try and take his mind off his situation he sang and read. However, the isolation took its toll on him. He admitted that he almost gave up hope, but the thought of seeing his parents again kept him going.
H. In the end, after 49 days, he saw a ship, the Arpeggio. Desperate to make himself. understood he used the few words of English he knew over the radio, Help! Help!' The ship turned around to pick him up. The boat was heading for Japan, so they took him with them. Finally, the Indonesian embassy collected him and flew im home; almost two months after his ordeal had begun.
D. Safely back home with his family, Aldi considered his options. His family lived in some hardship and his job was, from his perspective, relatively lucrative at $134 a month. However, having found himself drifting three times since he started the job aged sixteen, he and his family decided it simply wasn't worth the risk. From now on, he'll be staying firmly on dry land
