World News for Students of English

04-07-2016 07:00

Catching a wave and catching a break. Twelve surfers advance to the semi-finals after successfully taking on the giant waves of the Big Wave Tour Puerto Escondido Challenge in Mexico.

Competing against each other and nature, the surfers grappled with the huge waves and it was Americans Will Skudin, Makuakai Rothman, Greg Long, and Australian Jamie Mitchell who topped the score sheets of the six-man heats. Mitchell recorded the highest single wave score of the day with a perfect 10 after surviving a barrel ride through one of the mighty waves.

The Puerto Escondido Challenge is the first event of the World’s Surf League Big Wave Tour, which consists of 6 events that will take place through February of next year. And riding those surfs is no mean feat – waves must reach at least 20 feet (6 metres) in height for an event to take place. That’s got to take some guts.

Difficult words: grapple (struggle, “fight”, deal with), huge (very big), heat (preliminary/preparatory round in a race or contest), barrel (when the wave makes a tube), mighty (very powerful), to be no mean feat (to be a great achievement), guts (courage).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com