國軍轉任◆英文題庫下載題庫

        When 35-year-old Australian Ricky McGee set out in his car to drive the 4,800 kilometers from Brisbane to Port Hedland to start a new job, he knew the trip would not be short. However, he did not expect to spend three months of his life alone in one of the harshest areas of Western Australia before he encountered civilization again. 

        According to Mr. McGee, he stopped when he saw three men on the side of the road and gave them a lift. The last thing he remembers of the trip was driving up the road, feeling a little dizzy and confused. His next memory is waking up facedown in a hole covered with rocks and earth. What woke him was the noise of four wild dogs scratching at the rocks to try to get him. 

        McGee believes that he was drugged and dumped by his passengers, and one fact that supports his claim is that his car has never been found. After losing his vehicle, Mr. McGee says he walked for ten days, regularly fainting from heat exhaustion through a region virtually uninhabited, where temperatures rose daily to over 40°C. Eventually he found a small stream and built a shelter of branches there. He says he would go out just before dark and catch snakes,lizards, and frogs to eat. 

        When he finally did emerge from the bush after 90 days surviving under these conditions, it is hardly surprising that his appearance scared the life out of the first person who saw him, cattle-station manager Mark Clifford. Clifford says Mr. McGee looked like a “walking skeleton” when he saw him, a description that is not far from the truth considering that the 1.9-meter man weighed in at 45 kilograms, having lost 59 kilograms. 

        At first, police and hospital staff refused to believe Mr. McGee’s story, but Les Notarus, medical director of the Royal Darwin Hospital, says that his condition fit perfectly that of a man who had spent weeks in the outback. Dr. Les Notarus said that Mr. McGee was very severely sunburned, and his body weight was extremely low for such a tall man.His story that he had been driving to Port Hedland to assume a new position has been verified, and when he recovers,Mr. McGee may be interested to hear that the position remains vacant.