UNIT 10

ADVENTURE TOURISM

 

Pre-reading

 

1. Read and translate the following international words:

 

mediterranean	military	group
adventure	morale	professional
ordinary	thriller	troglodyte
place	risk	commando
concrete	appetite	compass
instructor	option	airport
adrenalin	popularity
sport	boom

 

2. Read and translate the following groups of words derived from a common root:

 

1)      advent — adventure — adventurer — adventurous — adventurism — adventurist;

2)      manage — manager — manageress — managerial — management — manageable — managing director;

3)      work — worker — workable — workaholic — workday — worka­day — workforce — workbook — workfare — framework — teamwork;

4)      problem — problematic — problematical — problematically — problematist;

5)      operate — operator — operative — operation — operating;

6)      compare    comparable — incomparable — comparison;

7)      busy — business — businessman — businesswoman — business-person — businesslike;

8)      present — presenter — presentation — representation — repre­sentative — presentable.

 

Reading

 

3. Read the text and translate it. While reading the text try and find answers to these questions:

 

1.      What do many British vacationers hand over good money for?

2.      What holidays come in lots of different shapes and sizes?

3.      Where did Mick Tyler, a former commando, serve?

 

FANCY A BAD TIME?

Hardship holidays are booming

 

Every year, thousands of British vacationers hand over good money only to be left wet, cold, hungry and sore. Some have been ripped off by dpdgy package-tour operators selling holidays in concrete hell-holes on the Mediterranean. But for a select minority, being drenched, frozen, starved and bumped is the point of the whole thing.

Such adventure holidays come in lots of different shapes and sizes. The domestic market runs from school trips to slightly riskier 'adrenalin sports', such as whitewater rafting and cliff-jumping, and full-blast 'sur­vival schools', where pasty-faced desk-jockeys learn how to skin rabbits and live off the land, under the supervision of a grizzled instructor with a military background.. Thrill-seekers whose appetite for punishment out­-strips the options available at home risk their necks in more far-flung places, such as Peru and the Australian outback.

The business is booming. Stephen Home of Outward Bound, a long-established firm catering mostly for school groups, says that between 1995 and 2001 the number of young adventurers coming to their camps shinned up from 8,000 to 26,000. Enrolments on its 'professional-development' courses have risen fourfold. The problem-solving and team­work activities, Mr Home says, appeal to bosses keen to find new ways to raise morale among their worker bees and drones,

Simon Tobin, the managing director of Explore Worldwide, Britain's biggest operator of adventure holidays abroad, says the market has grown by 10—15% a year for th$ past five years or so. That compares with 4— 5% for the traditional sun, sea and sand package holiday. In 2001, his company arranged trips for 30,000 clients, up from around 20,000 in 1999. Travelling in small groups with a local guide, punters can follow in the footsteps of Lawrence of Arabia, or try life as a troglodyte in Matmata, an underground village in Tunisia.

Asked what accounts for the burgeoning popularity of adventure holidays, operators will often allude to 'the Ray Mears effect'. Mr Mears is the presenter of a string of hugely popular television programmes, and the author of several best-selling books on bush survival. Mr Mears's laidback style and intimate knowledge of outdoorsy arcana appeal widely, especially, it seems to women — who are signing up for adventure holidays in increasing numbers.

Mick Tyler, a former Commando who served in Kuwait, the Arctic and among the headhunters of Borneo, and who now runs the Breakaway Survival School in Wales, says the number of visitors to his outfit has doubted over the past three years. 'People are fed up with ordinary holidays,' Mr Tyler says. 'Most of them have no need to think for themselves in everyday life. They come out here and are surprised to find how unaware of the world around them they have become. They want to learn basic skills, like how to use a map and compass or build a shelter'.

Handy stuff, no doubt, and maybe even quite useful on a more traditional holiday — say when the tour operator's minibus breaks down somewhere between the airport and a miserable two-star hotel in Mallorca.

 

Vocabulary notes

 

vacationer	відпускник, відпочиваючий
good money	значі суми
to rip off	вимагати гроші.
dodgy	розм. хитрий; злочинний
hell-hole	брудне місце
point	головний зміст
adrenalin sports	види спорту, пов’язані з ризиком
whitewater rafting	спуск на плотах по річках з сильною течією і порогами
tiiff-jumping blast	стрибки з високої скали (зі страховкою)
survival	виживання
pasty	блідий; нездоровий (про колір обличчя)
desk-jockey	ірон.  людина, що веде сидячий образ життя (гра слів: disk-jockey (диск-жокей) та desk-jockey)
to skin	здирати шкуру
rabbit	кролик
to live off the land	ірон. жити на підножному кормі
grizzled	сивий
military background	досвід військової служби
thrill-seeker	шукач пригод
punishment	тут труднощі
to outstrip	превищувати
to risk one's neck	ризикувать життям
far-flung	розлогий
autback	австрал.  малоназаселена місцевість
to boom	процвітати
to shin up	зростати
enrolment	запис (на курси)
keen	той, що сильно бажає чогось
morale	робочий настрій; моральний стан
worker bee	працелюбна людина
drone	трутень; перен. лежень
package holiday	груповий туризм; комплексне турне, що включає в себе
(= package tour)	різні види обслуговування
punter	клієнт, що користується особливим набором послуг
Lawrence of Arabia	Лоренс Аравійський (1888—1935) — легендарний англійский розвідник в арабських країнах, що вів з метою конспірації життя кочівника
troglodyte	первісна печерна людина; троглодит
to burgeon	розквітнути
to allude (to smth.)	посилатись на (щось)
bush	необроблена земля
laid-back	розм.  спокійний
outdoorsy	розм.  той, хто любить подорожувати
arcanum (pi. arcana)	загадка, секрет, тайна (arcana of nature - тайни природи)
intimate	глибокий, детальний
headhunter	мисливець за головами,  збирач скальпів
Borneo	острів Борнео (Індонезія і Малайзія), Калімантан
outfit	разг. небольшая фирма, организация

 

to be fed up	бути ситим по горло
basic skills	основні (базові) навички
handy stuff	корисна справа
to appeal (to smb.)	імпонувати, подобатись
miserable	дешевий, жалюгідний
Mallorca	острів Мальорка / Майорка (Іспанія)

 

Vocabulary focus

 

4. Match the synonyms:

 

1) group	a)	dangerous
2) vacationer	b)	frozen
3) cold	c)	ordinary
4)  hungry	d)	holiday-maker
5) director	e)	boss
6) punter	f)	team
7) usual	g)	main
8) basic	h)	organization
9)  outfit	i)	starving
10) risky	J)	customer

 

5. Match the antonyms:

 

1)	domestic	a)	least
2)	unaware	b)	majority
3)	present	c)	death
4)	less	d)	foreign
5)	instructor	e)	live
6)	most	f)	more
7)	survival	g)	aware
8)	minority	h)	past
9)	die	i)	punter

 

6. Match the words with their definitions:

 

1)	Whitewater rafting	1) very hungry because of systematic lack of food
2)	available	2) things you do together with other people
3)	starved	3) the activity of floating on several pieces of
		wood secured together along rivers where the
		current is very fast and rough
4)	thrill	4) involving the possibility of danger, harm, or failure
5)	risky	5) a sudden very strong feeling, of excitement,
		pleasure, or fear
6)	teamwork	6) people who like doing exciting and dangerous things
7)	thrill-seekers	7) able to be obtained, taken, or used

 

Comprehension

 

7. Answer the questions on the text:

 

1. What kind of holidays are referred to as hardship holidays?

2. Why do some vacationers pay good money only to be left wet cold, hungry and sore?

3. Why are such sports as whitewater rafting and cliff-jumping are called 'adrenalin sports'?

 

2.      Are these sports really risky?

3.      What tourists are called thrill-seekers?

4.      What people are called desk-jockeys?

5.      Why do bosses want to raise morale among their drones, too?

6.      Why are desk-jockeys fed up with ordinary holidays?

7.      Why are 'survival schools' so popular with pasty-faced desk-jockeys?

10. Why do thrill-seekers prefer to risk their necks in far-flung places, such as Peru and the Australian outback?

11.  Why do teamwork activities and problem-solving appeal to bosses?

12.  What is the main difference between worker bees and drones? 

13.  Why are bosses interested in raising morale among their workeral

14.  What accounts for the buigeoning popularity of adventure holidays?

15. Why do you think women are signing up for adventure holidays in increasing numbers?

16.  What does 'the Ray Mears effect' mean?

17.  What skills do most punters want to learn? Why?

 

8. Complete the sentences using proper words and phrasesin the box.

 

 

1.      'Adrenalin sports' account for the burgeoning _____ of adven­ture holidays.

2.      The point of_______ is being drenched, frozen, starved and bumped.

3.      Adventure holidays may be of____ shapes and sizes.

4.      A typical adventure tourist would like very much to try life as ______.

5.      Adventure holiday-makers need to learn how.

6.      The number of _____ coming to far-off places has greatly in­creased recently.

7.      Cliff-jumping and   ____ are fairly risky 'adrenalin sports'.

 

9. State whether the following statements are true or false.Comment on the true statements and correct the false ones.

 

1.   Most city dwellers have no need to think for themselves in everyday life.

2.      Thrill-seekers risk their necks in far-off places, such as London.

3.      Desk-jockeys know how to live off the land.

4.   British holiday-makers pay good money only to be left wet, cold, and hungry.

5.      Adventure holidays always come in one and the same shape.

6.      Punters usually travel in small groups with a local guide.

7. Women keep signing up for adventure holidays in increasing numbers.

8.   Every city dweller knows quite well how to use a map and compass or build a shelter.

 

Discussion

 

8.       Evaluate an adventure-holiday itinerary using the following words and phrases:

 

•        to be fed up with ordinary holidays;

•        book on bush survival;

•        concrete hell-holes;

•        the east coast of Kamchatka;

•        a far-flung place;

•        Whitewater rafting and cliff-jumping

•        both dormant and active volcanoes;

•        instructors with a military background;

•        to live off the land;

•        to skin;

•        rabbit;

•        deer;

•        to fish;

•        salmon;

•        to live as a troglodyte;

•        to use a map and compass;

•        to build a shelter.

 

After having done the task describe this travel agency in detail.

 

11. Work in pairs:

 

a) Look at the following words and phrases and think of a story that might combine them all. You may reorder them in any way you like using any form of the verb:

 

•        a new travel office opened;

•        were ripped off by a dodgy package-tour operator;

•        the exotic environment;

•        sold us a holiday in the Caucasus;

•        bought a package-tour;

•        the headhunters of Chechnya;

•        a minibus broke down somewhere near Groznyi;

•        a terrorist attack;

•        failed;

•        could use neither a map nor a compass;

•        built a shelter of tree branches;

•        were rescued by the natives;

•        returned home;

•        safe and sound.

 

b) When you have decided upon the story, tell it to your partner. Then listen to that of your partner. Ask each other as many questions as you can to learn further details or clarify some points.

 

12. Entitle the paragraphs beginning with the words:

 

The business is...

Mick Tyler, a former...

 

13. Divide the text into other logical parts and entitle each of them.

 

14. Give a summary of the text.