4 STORIES OF LUCKY PEOPLE!
Have you ever had a lucky escape? Here are four stories of extremely lucky people.
1. Beer 🍺
Two men who fell into the freezing cold sea survived because they’d been drinking. The unidentified swimmers jumped into the sea off Herne Bay, Kent (England), but soon got into trouble. A police officer used a **life ring** to pull one man to safety, and a **coastguard** deputy station manager dragged in the other, who had lost consciousness. Paramedics said that the alcohol slowed down the men’s reaction to the cold, and possibly saved their lives.
2. Money 💰
Back in 2009, Norwegian Kristoffer Koch invested 150 kroner (about $27) in 5,000 **bitcoins**. He forgot about them until an article in the newspaper in April 2013 **jogged his memory**. After eventually working out his password for the **encrypted wallet**, Koch got a pleasant surprise: his bitcoins were now worth five million kroner (about $90,000). He exchanged one fifth of his bitcoins, which was enough money to buy an apartment in one of the Norwegian capital’s wealthiest areas.
3. Snow ❄️
Russian Valery Malkov was on a train in Siberia when he fell out. He had left his compartment to go for a cigarette, but on opening a door that should have been locked, he was thrown into the **hostile** Siberian **wilderness**. Temperatures were a freezing -40°C, and he was only wearing a T-shirt, shorts and **slippers**. Undeterred, he began to run after the train, eventually arriving at a small station after a 7-kilometre run. He stayed at the station overnight and got on another train the following morning. “I don’t know how I didn’t freeze,” he said later.
4. Crockery 🏺
The owner of a Chinese vase got a pleasant surprise when it was **put up for auction**. He’d inherited the object from a relative and thought it was of little value because the top part was damaged, so he’d kept it in a **battered** cardboard box. However, at a recent auction, the piece was sold for a **staggering** £119,500. It’s been estimated that it would have fetched £1m if it hadn’t been for the huge **crack** on its neck. All the same, the owner, who is **of modest means**, was said to be **over the moon** with the final price.
GLOSSARY
A life ring: A circular object you throw to someone in the water who needs help.
A coastguard: A person whose job is to help ships and rescue people from the water.
A bitcoin: A type of digital currency.
To jog your memory: To help you remember something you had forgotten.
An encrypted wallet: A protected online area where you can keep digital currency.
Hostile: Describing an area that is very cold or very hot and has no shelter.
A wilderness: A large area of natural land where people cannot live.
Slippers: Soft, comfortable shoes you wear inside the house.
To put up for auction: To sell an object at a public sale where it goes to the person who offers the most money.
Battered: Old and broken from a lot of use.
Staggering: Very surprising and impressive.
A crack: A line on the surface of an object where it is broken.
Of modest means: Not rich; having little money.
Over the moon: Very pleased or happy.
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