英闻天下——285 UK Backpacker Survives 3 Days Alone in Australia

 　　A British mother said her teenage backpacker son had been found alive after surviving three nights alone in the Australian outback.

 

　　Eighteen-year-old Sam Derry-Woodhead got lost while jogging on a remote property in the central Queensland state near the town of Longreach on Tuesday. He survived by drinking contact lens fluid and his own urine.

 

　　His mother, Claire Derry, visited him at Longreach Hospital after arriving in the town. She said her son looked well.

 

　　"He looks fantastic. He's suntanned. His mouth isn't blistered¹. He looks great. He's thinner and questionably² a lot thinner than when I last saw him. The only concern is that his kidneys are not quite functioning normally, and his blood's not normal. But that, the doctor says, is completely typical of somebody who's been completely dehydrated."

 

　　Derry described how her son managed to survive the ordeal³.

 

　　"He said that by the time he started drinking his own, he tried to drink his own urine he said he'd run out of the contact lens fluid and the contact lens capsules said they were 69 percent water, but they'd all gone. So the urine had become very, very concentrated and so he said he couldn't stomach it. So he had nothing to keep him going by the time the helicopter crew got to him."

 

　　Inspector⁴ Mike Curtin from Queensland State Police has warned other young people not to put their lives at risk while looking for an adventure.

 

　　"It's one of those things. and I think there's a lesson to be learned here from any of these young fellows. ..Never take the harshest Australian environment and our climatic conditions here for granted."

 

　　Curtin said in order to find Sam, a group of 50 people had searched an area of about 500 square kilometers of ''extremely harsh terrain⁵'' in temperatures that reached 39 degrees Celsius⁶.

1 blistered   

adj.水疮状的，泡状的v.（使）起水泡( blister的过去式和过去分词 )；（使表皮等）涨破，爆裂

参考例句：

• He had a blistered heel. 他的脚后跟起了泡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Their hands blistered, but no one complained. 他们手起了泡，可是没有一个人有怨言。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 questionably   

adv.可疑地；不真实地；有问题地

参考例句：

• These were estates his father questionably acquired. 这些财产不一定是他父亲努力获得的。 来自互联网

3 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

4 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

5 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

6 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。