[00:01.040]--- lesson 39 Nothing to worry about
[00:06.400]--- Listen to the tape then answer the question below.
[00:11.720]--- What was the difference between Bruce's behaviour and that of other people?
[00:19.280]The rough road across the plain soon became so bad that we tried to get Bruce to drive back to the village we had come from.
[00:28.000]Even though the road was littered with boulders and pitted with holes, Bruce was not in the least perturbed.
[00:36.200]Glancing at his map, he informed us that the next village was a mere twenty miles away.
[00:43.240]It was not that Bruce always underestimated difficulties.
[00:47.400]He simply had no sense of danger at all.
[00:50.640]No matter what the conditions were, he believed that a car should be driven as fast as it could possibly go.
[00:58.880]As we bumped over the dusty track, we swerved to avoid large boulders.
[01:04.520]The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car.
[01:09.320]We felt sure that sooner or later a stone would rip a hole in our petrol tank or damage the engine.
[01:16.680]Because of this, we kept looking back, wondering if we were leaving a trail of oil and petrol behind us.
[01:25.320]What a relief it was when the boulders suddenly disappeared,giving way to a stretch of plain where the only obstacles were clumps of bushes.
[01:35.560]But there was worse to come.
[01:38.040]Just ahead of us there was a huge fissure.
[01:41.400]In response to renewed pleadings, Bruce stopped.
[01:45.400]Though we all got out to examine the fissure, he remained in the car.
[01:49.920]We informed him that the fissure extended for fifty yards and was tow feet wide and four feet deep.
[01:57.440]Even this had no effect.
[01:59.560]Bruce went into a low gear and drove at a terrifying speed, keeping the front wheels astride the crack as he followed its zigzag course.
[02:09.240]Before we had time to worry about what might happen, we were back on the plain again.
[02:15.080]Bruce consulted the map once more and told us that the village was now only fifteen miles away.
[02:21.720]Our next obstacle was a shallow pool of water about half a mile across.
[02:27.800]Bruce charged at it, but in the middle, the car came to a grinding half.
[02:33.240]A yellow light on the dashboard flashed angrily and Bruce cheerfully announced that there was no oil in the engine!