Episódio 5: Road Trips (Viagens de carro)

Nesse episódio, vamos ouvir dois relatos sobre viagens de carro, ou road trips. Essas são histórias de pessoas que exploraram novos lugares e, com isso, descobriram mais sobre si mesmas.

Você pode encontrar a transcrição desse episódio em podcast.duolingo.com. Clique aqui para baixar o Duolingo, o aplicativo Nº1 do mundo para aprender idiomas. É grátis, divertido e funciona!

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Transcrição

Helena: Em 2019, Sam Walker recebeu uma mensagem de vídeo da mãe. Sam tinha acabado de se mudar pros Estados Unidos e se instalar na sua nova casa no Arizona.

Sam: The subject of the video message was “Do not watch with the children.” I thought she was planning a surprise trip for one of my kids’ birthdays. Instead, she told me she had lung cancer. She needed to have a major operation to remove a tumor.

Helena: O tumor, ou tumor, era bem grande. Mas Susan, a mãe de Sam, disse que os médicos tinham esperança de que a cirurgia seria bem-sucedida.

Sam: I’m my mother’s only child. She raised me in England, but she moved to Australia when I was 22 years old. So, her operation was in Perth, which is in western Australia. That’s a 20-hour plane trip from where I live in the United States. But no one else could help her after the operation, only me. So, of course, I flew to be with her.

Helena: A cirurgia foi feita num hospital grande e supermovimentado.

Sam: I had to wait, alone, in the depressing hospital cafeteria for seven hours. Because I waited for so long, I became very worried. When the doctor finally came to talk to me, he explained that the tumor was very aggressive. My mum only had a few months to live. And I had to tell her this bad news. She didn't cry. I didn't cry. We were in shock.

Helena: Os médicos liberaram Sam e Susan e disseram que entrariam em contato pra falar sobre cuidados paliativos.

Sam: I don't remember a lot about the days after my mother's operation. We stayed in her apartment, watching movies, eating, and drinking. Then I realized she only had a few months left to live, so we needed to enjoy the little time she had. I had an idea. I wanted to take a road trip with my mother. I wanted us to travel and create memories — and we couldn't do that while sitting in her apartment.

Helena: Welcome, bem-vindas e bem-vindos ao podcast “Histórias em Inglês com Duolingo”. Eu sou Helena Fruet. Em cada episódio, você vai poder praticar inglês no seu ritmo, ouvindo histórias reais e emocionantes.

Os personagens falam um inglês simples e fácil de entender — perfeito pra quem tá aprendendo. Eu vou te acompanhar em cada episódio pra ter certeza que você tá entendendo tudo.

Siga nosso podcast no Spotify ou na sua plataforma preferida! Hoje vamos ouvir dois relatos sobre viagens de carro, ou road trips. Sam, nossa primeira protagonista, é do Reino Unido, e por isso seus “Rs” são mais suaves. Por exemplo, ao dizer “câncer”, a pronúncia dela é:

Sam: “Cancer”.

Helena: E ao falar “aniversário”, ela diz:

Sam: “Birthday”.

Helena: Depois que o médico autorizou, Sam e a mãe se prepararam para uma viagem de 9 dias. Na Austrália, é muito comum viajar em trailers, ou campervan, pois as estradas são bem amplas e vazias.

Sam: I rented a campervan, and I filled it with games and food and beer and wine. On our first night in the campervan, we drove to a town called Geraldton. It rained the whole way there, but the next morning was beautiful. We woke up early and drank hot tea while we watched the sun rise over the ocean.

Helena: Sam e a mãe passavam cada noite num acampamento diferente. A maioria tinha água, energia elétrica e até mesmo chuveiro e lojinha de conveniência!

Sam: While we drove, we talked and sang songs. Other times, we just sat in silence with our thoughts. Often, we were the only vehicle on the road, and the vast Australian bush was all around us.

Helena: Tem pouca gente morando na região do bush, como é chamado o interior da Austrália.

Sam: Sometimes we felt so sad, Mum asked, “Why are we doing this? I can’t take these memories with me when I die.” But other times — actually, most of the time — we enjoyed all the beauty of the world around us. We were amazed when we saw the pink lake at Hutt Lagoon. We shouted into the wind while we stood on the dramatic rocks at Kalbarri. We laughed when we saw a family of emus, the giant birds, running near the road.

Helena: Depois de três dias de estrada, elas chegaram à Baía do Coral, ou Coral Bay, uma pequena vila de pescadores.

Sam: It was paradise. There was turquoise water filled with coral and fish in every color you can imagine. And the white sand was so soft that it felt like walking on sugar.

Helena: Era um lugar especial pra Sam. Ela esteve ali muitos anos antes.

Sam: I was in Coral Bay 30 years earlier, when I was traveling in Australia by myself. It was before my mum moved there. I thought a lot about how quickly time passes. My mum was thinking a lot about time too. My heart broke when she told me about all the things she still wanted to do. She said, “Don't wait. Don’t be afraid to take risks. If you wait until tomorrow to do what you love, it may be too late.”

Helena: “Não espere muito. Não tenha medo de correr riscos” — Sam levou esse conselho muito a sério.

Sam: I know that might sound sad, but really, most of our days in Coral Bay were wonderful. We stayed for four amazing days. We imagined we were just on a vacation, like any other regular family. Then, although it was difficult, we started the long drive home.

Helena: No caminho de volta para Perth, elas viram cangurus e visitaram um misterioso campo de pedras.

Sam: As we got closer to Perth, I just wanted to turn the van around. I didn’t want to go to the hospital and talk to doctors. I didn’t want to hear more bad news about my mum’s cancer. I wanted to go back to our adventure. But I am a mother too, and I knew my young children needed me. It broke my heart to say goodbye to my mum. But it was time for me to go home to the United States.

Helena: Se despedir da mãe foi muito difícil pra Sam. Mas, depois de voltar aos Estados Unidos, ela recebeu uma boa notícia sobre o tratamento, ou treatment.

Sam: After I left Australia, something amazing happened. One of the doctors noticed something strange about my mum’s cancer. They discovered that she actually could get treatment. Now, many months later, she's still alive. I really want to see her again, but I can’t at the moment because of the global pandemic. I can only wait and hope. But I will always be thankful for the gift of that road trip, and the gift of our time together.

Helena: Viagens de carro nos permitem conhecer melhor outras pessoas, mas também podem ser uma forma de autoconhecimento. Em 2016, Greg Cayea estabeleceu uma meta pessoal: bater o recorde mundial da viagem de carro mais longa dentro de um único país. Ele teve a ideia quando ouvia o audiolivro de um palestrante motivacional.

Greg: The book is about creating ambitious goals. At that time, I didn't have a lot of those. I lived in Los Angeles and I worked as a publicist for an interior design agency. I wanted to have a big goal, so I Googled world records for traveling. I found one for the longest road trip in one country. It was only 19,000 miles. I thought, “Are you joking? I can do better than that!”

Helena: No começo, Greg achou que seria fácil bater o recorde de 19 mil milhas, ou 30 mil quilômetros. Principalmente se sua noiva, Heather, fosse junto.

Greg: Heather and I were together for maybe four years before then. When I told her my idea, she said she wanted to come, although it was her first road trip. We didn't think about how this trip could change our relationship.

Helena: Pra serem avaliados pelo comitê do Guinness, o livro dos recordes, eles precisavam documentar a viagem em detalhes.

Greg: We had to record a 10-minute video every 24 hours, which we decided to do with our phones. We also needed to use a GPS to show all of the miles we traveled. We weren't allowed to stop anywhere for more than 13 days. And we had to drive in one direction — without going back.

Helena: A viagem de Greg e Heather começou no dia 11 de julho de 2016. O caminho mais rápido pra cruzar os Estados Unidos geralmente leva cinco ou seis dias. Mas, pra entrar pro Guinness, eles teriam que demorar muito mais.

Greg: In the first three days, we only drove 200 miles. That usually takes about three hours, but Heather and I stopped at lakes often. We loved jumping in! We did that a lot on the trip. It took us a full two weeks to get to Las Vegas.

Helena: Em Las Vegas, Greg e Heather dirigiram pela Strip, a famosa avenida cheia de hotéis e cassinos em que dá pra apostar, ou gamble.

Greg: We did what everyone does in Vegas — we went to the Strip. We gambled in different casinos all night, which probably wasn't a good idea. But it was fun! And the next morning, we went to the Grand Canyon.

Helena: O Grand Canyon é o desfiladeiro do Rio Colorado, considerado uma das sete maravilhas do mundo.

Greg: Years before the road trip, I hiked the Grand Canyon. And I almost died… So, with Heather, I only hiked down a short distance. We were amazed by the enormous size of the canyon. We took some pictures, and then we started driving again.

Helena: Greg e Heather estavam visitando lugares incríveis, daqueles que muita gente espera a vida toda pra conhecer. Mas, eles estavam passando o tempo todo juntos, e ficava difícil não brigar.

Greg: We were basically in the car together all day, every day. And usually, it was fine. But because we spent so much time together, we started arguing about stupid, insignificant things.

Helena: Como muitas pessoas que dirigem longas distâncias pelos Estados Unidos, Greg e Heather dormiam dentro do carro.

Greg: Most nights, to save money, we slept in the back of the car. Our car wasn’t tiny…but it wasn't big! If we wanted to sleep, we had to put the seats down and put all of our bags in the front of the car. But that was hard to do because Heather brought too much stuff. So, we fought about that. And other small things.

Helena: Greg começou a acordar bem cedo e meditar, pra ver se parava de implicar com essas pequenas coisas.

Greg: But after traveling for two months, we were tired of using public bathrooms and sleeping in our car. Sometimes we were also tired of each other. Then we got to Yellowstone.

Helena: Yellowstone foi o primeiro parque nacional dos Estados Unidos. Ele é famoso por seus gêiseres, ou geysers, que lançam no ar fortíssimos jatos de água fervente. Os visitantes só podem chegar perto pelas passarelas, ou walkways.

Greg: Heather was standing on one of these walkways, taking a picture of a geyser. And then suddenly, she dropped the phone. All the videos of our trip from the past two months were on that phone.

Helena: Todos os vídeos e fotos da viagem estavam naquele celular! Sem ele, seria impossível bater o recorde mundial!

Greg: I didn’t really think about the danger. I immediately just turned around and stepped off of the walkway. I picked up the phone. It was hot and wet. I was pretty upset because I didn’t know if the phone was going to work.

Helena: Greg e Heather correram de volta pro carro e colocaram o celular dentro de um saco de arroz pra secar.

Greg: After a while, we turned the phone back on. Nothing happened at first. But after a few seconds, the screen turned on. The phone worked! Our videos were safe! We both felt so, so happy. After this experience, we realized that finishing the trip was really important to us.

Helena: Depois do que aconteceu, Greg e Heather resolveram garantir um plano B pra tudo. Por exemplo, ter sempre uma cópia de segurança do celular no HD do computador.

Greg: From Yellowstone, we went south, to the state of Colorado. And then we traveled east. We learned a lot about each other during those couple of months. For example, we recognized the little things that annoyed each other. And we knew what time of day the other person was in a bad mood. By the time we got to New York, on November 9, 2016, we actually enjoyed being together.

Helena: Depois de 122 dias e um número incontável de brigas, Greg e Heather finalmente conquistaram seu objetivo: entraram pro Guinness!

Greg: Heather and I were really happy that we achieved our goal! And we still have the Guinness World record for the longest road trip in one country. We drove more than 36,000 miles. That’s like driving almost one and a half times around the Earth! And I think we both learned a lot about living with another person.

Helena: Durante aquelas longas 36 mil milhas, Greg aprendeu a conviver bem de perto com outra pessoa… Embora eles tenham se separado depois.

Greg: We didn’t actually stay together. Three months after the trip, we broke up. But now I know that the road trip was a transformative experience. And I learned that the goal isn't as important as the journey.

Helena: Greg Cayea é escritor e ilustrador. Ele mora em Beacon, no estado de Nova York, e já publicou dois livros sobre viagens. Você pode conhecer o trabalho dele em scrambledgregs.com. O relato de Greg foi produzido por Ado, ou Antonio Díaz Oliva, escritor chileno que mora no leste de Nashville. Sam Walker, que contou e produziu a primeira história, é escritora e locutora. Ela mora em Phoenix, no Arizona. Você pode ouvir mais sobre as aventuras dela no podcast Sam Walker’s Desert Diaries.

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“Histórias em inglês” é uma produção de Duolingo e Adonde Media. Assine nosso feed no Spotify ou na sua plataforma preferida. No YouTube você também encontra uma versão em vídeo desse podcast. Eu sou Helena Fruet. Thank you for listening!

Créditos

Esse episódio foi produzido por Duolingo e Adonde Media.