One of the greatest heartbreaks for firefighters occurs when they fail to rescue a child from a burning building because the child, frightened by the smoke and noise, hides under a bed over a closet, and is later found dead。
Saddest of all is when children catch the gleams of the masked firefighter but hide, because they think they have seen a monster。
To prevent such tragedies, firefighter Eric Voles gives talks to children in his community, explaining that they should never hide during a fire。
He displays firefighter’s equipment including the oxygen mask which he encourages his listeners to play with and put on。
“If you see us”, Voles tells them, “don’t hide, we are not monsters。 We’ve come to rescue you。” Voles gives his presentations in English and Spanish, growing up in San Francisco, he learnt Spanish from his immigrant parents。
Vulres and other firefighters throughout the North America who give similar presentations will never know how many lives they’ve saved through their talks。
But it’s a fact that informative speaking saves lives。 For example, several months after listening to an informative speech, Pea Gangatre in North Carolina rescued his brother who was chocking on food by using the method taught by student speaker Julie Perris。
In addition to saving lives, informative speakers help people learn new skills, solve problems and acquire fascinating facts about the exciting world in which they live。
Questions 26 to 29 are based on the passage you have just heard。
Question 26: Why did some children trapped in the burning building hide from masked firefighters?
Question 27: What does this passage tell us about firefighter Eric Voles?
Question 28: What do we learn about Pea Ganatre?
Question 29: What message is the speaker trying to convey?。