1.39 In February 2007, about two hundred paragliders were in Australia for a few days to prepare for the World Championship. They included Ewa Wiśnierska, a German s paragliding champion. One morning, as the competitors, they noticed that al thunderstorm was approaching. However, they decided to carry on. After all, these were the best paragliders in the world; they so were certainly skilful enough. Or so they thought. Unfortunately, as the competitors took off, the weather quickly! That was the start of the most terrifying and dangerous 1 experience of her life. Ewa tried to get away from the storm, but two enormous clouds The clouds pulled Ewa up inside the storm like a leaf in the wind. She with 20 lightning and hail all around her. "I was shaking, she told reporters afterwards. "The last thing I remember, it was dark. I could hear lightning all around me. She rose to an altitude of nearly 10,000 m- as that's higher than the top of Mount Everest- and then*. At that height, the temperature was about -40°C and there was very little oxygen. Death" For forty minutes, Ewa was unconscious. 30 When she woke up, she was still inside the storm. It was dark and hailstones were flying past. They were as big as tennis balls. But fortunately her glider, was still in one piece. Eventually, Ewa came out of the storm cloud and saw a small farm on the ground. She headed towards it and landed safely. She fell to the ground and rolled over, too weak and confused to call for help. When 40 her team reached her, she was 60 km away from the place. She was covered in ice - but alive! Godfrey Wenness, the organiser of the championships, described Ewa as the 45 luckiest woman in the world. This is like winning the lottery ten times in a row. That's how lucky this woman is. There's no logical reason why he said. Sadly, a Chinese competitor was not as lucky as so Ewa. He flew into the same storm and died. Ewa had frostbite on her ears and legs and went to hospital for treatment, but a few days later, she competed in the World Championship. 'Flying is too fantastic to 35 stop because of an accident, she said. Match the phrases (A-K) with gaps 1-10 in the text. Use your answers to exercise 3 to help you. There is one extr phrase which you will not need. A flew higher and higher B to keep away from some dark clouds C which was spinning above her head D seemed certain E came together and trapped her F where she took off G to spend more time on the ground H were getting ready to take off I she got away with it J lost consciousness K became worse