「故事·听力」I Saved My Father's Life (Or Not)
I Saved My Father's Life (Or Not)
This is Jane, and her story is pretty crazy, because of one peculiar thing about her dad…
It’s hard to explain, but basically Jane’s dad really wanted her to be a fully independent person. He always thought that the world was a scary place, so he felt obligated to prepare her for anything that could happen in her adult life.
It all started when her mom died when Jane was very young. At first, he taught her very useful things, like cooking for example. By the age of 10, she was already very good at it; she was even able to make a few fancy dishes.
By the age of 15 she knew how to chop wood, what the best course of action was in case she had to be a defendant in court, and which medicine was required for almost any type of emergency. She doesn’t know if you could justifiably call her dad’s behavior in this respect “overprotective” because in her view it's kind of the opposite.
Anyway, one thing Jane really didn’t want to learn was driving. She knew that she would of course need it at some point in her life, but it was seriously stressful for her. She was horrible at driving because she got way too nervous, and her lack of skill made her even more nervous. And then she had to learn all those rules – ugh...but of course her dad insisted on it, saying that it was very important that she learn to drive in case of an emergency.
Sometimes her dad took her on camping trips. She had always loved them when she was a kid. Going to the forest and learning all about it was always cool and exciting, but with school and driving lessons she just wanted to relax a little at the weekends. But her dad still periodically insisted on taking her to the forest to learn something about mushrooms or berries or snakes.
So one time, he announced that they were going to the forest again, and they were going to go there in their car. This time her dad took away her phone, saying that she probably wouldn’t have her phone if she got lost in the forest, so she shouldn’t rely on it. Besides being incredibly annoying, sometimes Jane thought her dad was actually crazy.
They finally arrived at the forest, and parked somewhere pretty far in. Jane’s dad started his usual lectures about surviving in nature, about how to remember the names of trees and stuff like that. She still enjoyed it, but she also wanted to sleep so badly, so she mostly ignored what he was saying and just nodded a lot, pretending that she was listening attentively.
Then suddenly, her dad put a hand over his chest. “Ooof,” he said “Jane, I don’t feel so good…” She became confused, but then her dad started walking toward their car. “Let’s go home, Jane.” Now she was starting to worry. Her dad worked out regularly, so he was in tip-top shape. What was happening?
Her dad sat in the passenger seat and said, “Jane, quick, I need an ambulance…”
Jane was panicking. She reached for her phone, and then remembered: her dad had taken it away. So she was like “what do I do, dad? What do I do?” His eyes were closed by this point, and he simply said “drive…”
She was like “oh no…” She hated driving. And she wasn’t any good at it. And her dad’s car was much bigger than the one her driving instructor used. But...she realized that she didn’t have any choice at that moment.
So she sat in the driver’s seat, tried all the pedals and checked everything, and, in a very nervous state, tried to start the car. Once, twice, and then it finally started at the third attempt. But she always did badly at getting the car moving, so she let go of the clutch pedal very softly, beginning to press the gas pedal at the same time, and then the car stalled, so she started everything again. Her whole body was trembling, and she kept failing again and again. Her heart was racing, and she knew if she didn’t get a grip and get going, her dad might actually...die! He was already unconscious, so she HAD to do this.
And she finally did do it – they started moving. But it was very hard to move correctly on a dirt road, it was bumpy and narrow, so she couldn’t gain a lot of speed, and her father was groaning with pain more and more, so she had to keep going despite her panicked thoughts.
She also had to remember the way to the city, because of course, the forest was huge and had very few roads. She kept going despite wanting to just stop and cry.
And FINALLY, Jane did it!