World News for Students of English

09-05-2016 15:00

Going, going, gone, or not quite in this case!

Ten brave drivers took to West Sussex to compete in the 2016 car jumping contest, revving up their engines and taking flight, the objective is to glide over 8 old cars and land safely on the opposite side, which sometimes doesn’t quite go to plan.

Paramedics waited on standby, ready to treat the daring drivers for injuries. Because of the dangerous nature of this sport, competitors often incur skeletal and soft tissue damage as well as whiplash.

And how do you assess such a sport? Judges looked for elevation, distance, and crowd response.

In the end, it was Stuart Pateman, a window cleaner from Surrey, who was crowned car-jumping king. Driving an old Ford Mondeo, first time competitor Pateman was thrilled with his win.

“How did it feel?”

“Brilliant.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. It was awesome.”

At a mere 50 pounds, the prize money may not quite be Grand Prix level yet, but the winner will likely earn the respect of his peers, and probably a round or two of beers from his friends.

Difficult words: rev up (to increase the running speed of an engine), daring (brave), incur (to suffer, to sustain), whiplash (head injury from moving forward or backward quickly), assess (to say how good/bad something is), elevation (a height), mere (only), peer (a person who is taking part in the same activity as you; a person of the same status).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com