Questão de Língua Inglesa

An ‘amazing feat’: how was a 13-year-old boy able to swim for four hours to save his family? By Donna Lu 01 An Australian 13-year-old who swam 4 km to shore and then ran 2 km to get help for his 02 stranded family has been described as “superhuman”. Experts say Austin’s feat of endurance 03 exceeded the limits of what is normally perceived as possible. So how was the teenager able to 04 save the day, and is there any precedent for it? 05 Austin and his family were holiday when strong winds pushed their inflatable 06 paddleboards and kayak offshore Friday afternoon. His mother told him to swim ashore to 07 seek help. Initially setting off a kayak, Austin had to abandon the vessel after it took on 08 too much water in the rough conditions. About two hours into his four-hour swim, he ditched the 09 lifejacket he was wearing. Once he had swum the 4 km to shore in fading light, the teenager ran 10 2 km to his family’s accommodation, using his mother’s phone to call emergency services 11 around 6 pm. After the call, he passed out exhaustion and was taken to the hospital. His 12 family was rescued floating about 14 km offshore. Austin was given crutches to help his sore legs 13 bear his weight. 14 Prof David Bishop, a muscle exercise physiologist, said fight-or-flight situations can enable 15 athletes – and ordinary people – “to go beyond what their perceived limits are”. There have been 16 other reports of preternatural strength. The phenomenon has sometimes been referred to as 17 “hysterical strength”, though the origin of the term is unclear. 18 In a 1961 study, researchers found that people were immediately stronger at a forearm 19 flexion task when frightened, after shooting a starting pistol next to participants’ ears without 20 warning. Anthony Blazevich, a professor of biomechanics, said the release of fight-or-flight 21 hormones had an impact. “If you get highly motivated, if you have some fear, you’re going to be 22 releasing adrenaline, noradrenaline, other stress hormones like cortisol, which dump a whole 23 bunch of sugar into your blood,” he said. But for activities lasting hours – in the case of Austin’s 24 swim – “eventually these systems do get depleted”, Blazevich said. The periods of recovery 25 afforded by survival backstroke – a swimming style aimed at conserving energy – may have been 26 critical, particularly in saltwater, where floating was relatively feasible. 27 Blazevich’s research has shown that children can perform as well as highly trained adult 28 endurance athletes. “What kids do is recover incredibly rapidly, as good as elite endurance 29 athletes,” he said. However, adults have larger hearts and lungs, and central nervous systems 30 that do “not seem to fatigue as fast”, he said. “This is probably why kids play on an intermittent 31 basis … They run, stop, run, stop, but they do it all day,” Blazevich said. 32 Austin told the ABC that he had started swimming lessons when he was four – but had 33 previously found it “quite tiring” to swim 350 metres without a break. (Fight-or-flight: used to describe the reaction that people have to a dangerous situation, that makes them either stay and deal with it, or run away) (Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/feb/05/austin-appelbee-13-year-old-boyswims-four-hours-rescue-save-family-western-australia – text specially adapted for this test).17 – PROFESSOR DE INGLÊS