Audio and transcript

• Lyndon: So, have you visited America’s southwest national parks?
• Liz: Went to the Grand Canyon with my parents when I was 17.
• Lyndon: Hmm, hmm.
• Liz: We, am, flew into Las Vegas, then we got a little tiny¹ plane to the top of the Grand Canyon, and we went on a …white-water rafting² all the way down it and then we flew out³ by helicopter. It’s pretty cool!
• Lyndon: And was it as big as it… as it sounds⁴?

• Liz: Oh, it’s amazing. At the end, it’s a mile wide and a mile high. So how is that? A kilometre point two, something like that.
• Lyndon: I forget what a mile is.
• Liz: I forget, one point two kilometres?
• Cheryl: One point six, yeah.
• Liz: One point six. Okay. It’s very… It’s enormous. It’s very impressive, and it’s gorgeous⁵, it’s beautiful.
• Lyndon: So would you recommend it?
• Liz: Oh yes. It’s amazing. What about you, have you been?
• Cheryl: I have! We, am, were in a bus and we stopped at the Nor…, at the South Rim⁶, which is, am, lower than the North Rim and when we looked out at the Grand Canyon, it looked like a picture, like a painting. It looked like a backdrop⁷, or a background. And it was… It did not literally looked real. It just looked like it does in the movies. So…
• Liz: Do you know the most amazing thing is when you’re in the canyon… They told us about what happened, and apparently, the Native Indians used to climb down⁸, halfway down one cliff⁹, and then somehow set up a pulley system¹⁰ with the other side to cross the river. So, I don’t know if they shot arrows¹¹ across to then get the ropes¹² over, but they used to, am, cross low, below the rim, they managed to cross.
• Lyndon: So that’ll be the next new thing for the Grand Canyon, then won’t it?
• Liz: Probably! Yeah!
• Lyndon: A zipper.
• Liz: I don’t think you’ll be allowed to zipline¹³ across yet, with your family and all your food and everything you need. Pretty amazing. Pretty amazing stuff!

¹tiny: minuscule
²to go white-water rafting: faire de la descente en eaux vives
³to fly out: s’envoler
⁴to sound: paraître, avoir l’air
⁵gorgeous: superbe, magnifique
⁶the South Rim: le bord sud
⁷a backdrop, a background: un décor, une toile de fond
⁸to climb down: descender, redescendre
⁹a cliff: une falaise
¹⁰a pulley system: un système de poulie
¹¹an arrow: une flêche
¹²a rope: une corde
¹³to zipline: descendre, traverser à l’aide d’une tyrolienne

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