An ‘amazing feat’: how was a 13-year-old boy able to swim for four hours to save his family? By Donna Lu An Australian 13-year-old who swam 4 km to shore and then ran 2 km to get help for hisstranded family has been described as “superhuman”. Experts say Austin’s feat of enduranceexceeded the limits of what is normally perceived as possible. So how was the teenager able tosave the day, and is there any precedent for it? Austin and his family were ____ holiday when strong winds pushed their inflatablepaddleboards and kayak offshore ____ Friday afternoon. His mother told him to swim ashore toseek help. Initially setting off ____ a kayak, Austin had to abandon the vessel after it took ontoo much water in the rough conditions. About two hours into his four-hour swim, he ditched thelifejacket he was wearing. Once he had swum the 4 km to shore in fading light, the teenager ran2 km to his family’s accommodation, using his mother’s phone to call emergency services ____around 6 pm. After the call, he passed out ____ exhaustion and was taken to the hospital. Hisfamily was rescued floating about 14 km offshore. Austin was given crutches to help his sore legsbear his weight. Prof David Bishop, a muscle exercise physiologist, said fight-or-flight situations can enableathletes – and ordinary people – “to go beyond what their perceived limits are”. There have beenother reports of preternatural strength. The phenomenon has sometimes been referred to as“hysterical strength”, though the origin of the term is unclear. In a 1961 study, researchers found that people were immediately stronger at a forearmflexion task when frightened, after shooting a starting pistol next to participants’ ears withoutwarning. Anthony Blazevich, a professor of biomechanics, said the release of fight-or-flighthormones had an impact. “If you get highly motivated, if you have some fear, you’re going to bereleasing adrenaline, noradrenaline, other stress hormones like cortisol, which dump a wholebunch of sugar into your blood,” he said. But for activities lasting hours – in the case of Austin’sswim – “eventually these systems do get depleted”, Blazevich said. The periods of recoveryafforded by survival backstroke – a swimming style aimed at conserving energy – may have beencritical, particularly in saltwater, where floating was relatively feasible. Blazevich’s research has shown that children can perform as well as highly trained adultendurance athletes. “What kids do is recover incredibly rapidly, as good as elite enduranceathletes,” he said. However, adults have larger hearts and lungs, and central nervous systemsthat do “not seem to fatigue as fast”, he said. “This is probably why kids play on an intermittentbasis … They run, stop, run, stop, but they do it all day,” Blazevich said. Austin told the ABC that he had started swimming lessons when he was four – but hadpreviously 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). Analyze the statements below about the text and mark T, if true, or F, if false. ( ) In the sentence “An Australian 13-year-old who swam 4 km to shore” (l. 01), the relative pronoun “who” could be replaced by “that” without changing the meaning. ( ) The sentence “In a 1961 study, researchers found that people were immediately stronger” (l. 18) could be rewritten using the present perfect tense without any change in meaning. ( ) In the sentence “Once he had swum the 4 km to shore in fading light” (l. 09), the verb tense used expresses an action completed before another action in the past. ( ) In the sentence “His family was rescued floating about 14 km offshore” (l. 11-12), the verb form indicates an action performed by the subject “his family”. The correct order of filling in the parentheses, from top to bottom, is:

Analyze the statements below about the text and mark T, if...

Q4390387

Língua Inglesa Língua Inglesa - Compreensão e Interpretação de Texto

Ano: 2026

Banca: Fundação Universidade Empresa de Tecnologia e Ciências - FUNDATEC

Prova: FUNDATEC - Prefeitura - Professor de Inglês - 2026

An ‘amazing feat’: how was a 13-year-old boy able to swim for four hours to save his family?

By Donna Lu

An Australian 13-year-old who swam 4 km to shore and then ran 2 km to get help for his
stranded family has been described as “superhuman”. Experts say Austin’s feat of endurance
exceeded the limits of what is normally perceived as possible. So how was the teenager able to
save the day, and is there any precedent for it?
Austin and his family were ____ holiday when strong winds pushed their inflatable
paddleboards and kayak offshore ____ Friday afternoon. His mother told him to swim ashore to
seek help. Initially setting off ____ a kayak, Austin had to abandon the vessel after it took on
too much water in the rough conditions. About two hours into his four-hour swim, he ditched the
lifejacket he was wearing. Once he had swum the 4 km to shore in fading light, the teenager ran
2 km to his family’s accommodation, using his mother’s phone to call emergency services ____
around 6 pm. After the call, he passed out ____ exhaustion and was taken to the hospital. His
family was rescued floating about 14 km offshore. Austin was given crutches to help his sore legs
bear his weight.
Prof David Bishop, a muscle exercise physiologist, said fight-or-flight situations can enable
athletes – and ordinary people – “to go beyond what their perceived limits are”. There have been
other reports of preternatural strength. The phenomenon has sometimes been referred to as
“hysterical strength”, though the origin of the term is unclear.
In a 1961 study, researchers found that people were immediately stronger at a forearm
flexion task when frightened, after shooting a starting pistol next to participants’ ears without
warning. Anthony Blazevich, a professor of biomechanics, said the release of fight-or-flight
hormones had an impact. “If you get highly motivated, if you have some fear, you’re going to be
releasing adrenaline, noradrenaline, other stress hormones like cortisol, which dump a whole
bunch of sugar into your blood,” he said. But for activities lasting hours – in the case of Austin’s
swim – “eventually these systems do get depleted”, Blazevich said. The periods of recovery
afforded by survival backstroke – a swimming style aimed at conserving energy – may have been
critical, particularly in saltwater, where floating was relatively feasible.
Blazevich’s research has shown that children can perform as well as highly trained adult
endurance athletes. “What kids do is recover incredibly rapidly, as good as elite endurance
athletes,” he said. However, adults have larger hearts and lungs, and central nervous systems
that do “not seem to fatigue as fast”, he said. “This is probably why kids play on an intermittent
basis … They run, stop, run, stop, but they do it all day,” Blazevich said.
Austin told the ABC that he had started swimming lessons when he was four – but had
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).

Analyze the statements below about the text and mark T, if true, or F, if false.

( ) In the sentence “An Australian 13-year-old who swam 4 km to shore” (l. 01), the relative pronoun “who” could be replaced by “that” without changing the meaning.

( ) The sentence “In a 1961 study, researchers found that people were immediately stronger” (l. 18) could be rewritten using the present perfect tense without any change in meaning.

( ) In the sentence “Once he had swum the 4 km to shore in fading light” (l. 09), the verb tense used expresses an action completed before another action in the past.

( ) In the sentence “His family was rescued floating about 14 km offshore” (l. 11-12), the verb form indicates an action performed by the subject “his family”.

The correct order of filling in the parentheses, from top to bottom, is:

T – F – T – F.

T – T – F – F.

F – T – T – F.

T – F – F – T.

F – F – T – T.

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