11-R.4.1

Unit 4. What a life.

Page 50. Reading.

Bethany Hamilton. A surfer with only one arm.

Surfing with one hand. Seems impossible, doesn't it? You should look at the inspiring

story of Bethany Hamilton then. Hamilton was born in 1990. She had an unusual talent

for surfing. After she had learned how to surf at the age of three, she began surfing

competitively. She was eight years old when she participated in her first surf

competition. After the sixth grade, she didn't continue her formal education at

school. Instead, she was homeschooled by her mother, a housewife. Her father was a

waiter at a town cafe. On October 31, 2003, Hamilton went for a morning surf

with her best friend, Alana, and her family along Tunnels Beach, Kauai, one of the

oldest Hawaiian islands. While she was lying on her surfboard and talking with

her friend, a 4 .3 meter long tiger shark attacked her. The shark bit off her left

arm just below the shoulder. As soon as Alana's family realized it, they helped

paddle her back to the shore and took her to hospital. By the time she arrived

there, she had lost over 60 % of her blood and she was in a state of shock. When a

group of fishermen heard about the incident from the news on TV, they presented to

the investigators' photos of a 4 .3 meter long tiger shark. They had caught and

killed it about one kilometer from the attack site. They said they saw surfboard

debris in its mouth when they caught it. When the police compared the size of its

mouth and teeth with Hamilton's injury, they confirmed that it was the same shark.

At the age of 13, as a rising surf star, Bethany lost her left arm. It seemed like

the end of her career dreams. However, one month after the attack, after she had

taught herself how to surf with one arm, Bethany returned to surfing. Within two

years, she had already won her first national surfing title. She had reached

for the stars, and in the end, she could get what she wanted. In short, Bethany found

success in surfing competitions and became a great surfer, although she had lost

her left arm. In 2016 alone, she beat a six -time world champion and the top -ranked

surfer in the world at a major competition. She was strong enough to realize all her

dreams.