Survival for Hikers

If you plan to go hiking n the wilderness or national park, make sure you are prepared. A compass, a knife and maps are essential items to take with you. You should also take wooden matches in a waterproof case; some concentrated food, such as nuts and dried fruit; and water in a canteen. Plan for emergencies as well. Take along first-aid equipment, shelter for the rain, and extra clothes. In order to stay warm, your head, hands, and feet must be warm, so include gloves, extra socks and a wool hat.

If you get lost in the woods, first try to backtrack and find the trail you were on. Look for trail signs other people may have left, such as piles of rocks, tied bunches of grass, or broken branches. Sit down and try to figure out which direction you came from. Then go back that way.

If you can’t find the trail, try to explore the area, marking your pass as you go. Climb a tree and look for landmarks. During the day, look for roads or rooftops in the distance. At night, look for lights and sniff the air. You may be able to smell smoke from a campfire. If you detect any of these signs, start to walk in their direction, but if is dark, find shelter for the night and wait until morning. Even a full moon won’t give you enough light, and it can throw shadows that hide dangers.

If you are lost, don’t expect to be rescued. Even if someone knows you are lost and sends out a search party, it may not find you. Therefore, if you can get out on your own, do so. However, if you cannot move far for some reason, build a bright fire at night and a smoky one during the day. Try to clear an area that can be seen from the air and use rocks to write a message. You can also use bright colours, shiny metal, or mirrors to signal aircraft. Above all, do not panic.

Task 27. Read the following extract. Choose the correct forms of the words in brackets. Comment on your own experience in travelling with children.

The actual physical discomfort of travelling with children is not so great, although you do emerge from it (to look) as if you had just moved the piano upstairs single-handed. It is the mental wear-and-tear that tells and for a sensitive man there is only one thing worse, and that is a church wedding in which he is playing the leading comedy role.

There are several branches of the ordeal of travelling with children, and it is difficult to tell which is the roughest. (To take) a very small baby on a train one maintains that this ranks as pleasure along with having a nerve (to kill). On the other hand, those whose wee companions are in the romping stage, simply laugh at the claims of the first group.

There is much to be said for those who maintain that rather should the race be allowed to die out than that babies should be taken from place to place along our national arteries of traffic. On the other hand, there are moment when babies are asleep. After the baby is asleep, your troubles are over except for (to wonder) how you can shift your (to ossify) arm to a new position without disturbing its precious burden.

If the child is of an age which denies the existence of sleep, however, (to prefer) to run up and down the aisle of the car rather than sit in its chair, then every minute of the trip is full of fun.

Task 28. Role Play