Page 24 - Viva Real English 2 : Ebook
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3 Brave Babli
Babli is one of the nine children of a poor man. She saved six children from
drowning in the river Ganga. She got the Bapu Gayadhani National Bravery
Award on 25 January 2005 from the prime minister of India.
This is her story.
Babli lives with her family in a small
mud house on the banks of the Ganga.
Babli dreams of going to school but
she cannot because her family has no
money for the school fee. However,
she has faith in hard work and in God.
She is always smiling and helpful.
She always helps her mother with work
in the house. In the evening, she goes
to watch the sunset over the Ganga.
She loves to see the twinkling stars
and the changing shape of the moon.
30 June 2004. This date changed Babli’s life forever. She was trying to finish
her work quickly before sunset. From time to time she would laugh at the funny
actions of the six young children playing nearby. Sometimes they chased
each other shouting and screaming. Sometimes they ran around a wooden
vegetable cart with wheels. When they got tired of chasing each other, they
climbed onto the cart and started jumping and dancing on it.
The cart was standing on a sandy slope. The jumping and dancing of the
children on the cart rocked it dangerously. Suddenly, the wheels of the cart
drowning : dying under water chased : ran after somebody
because you cannot breathe rocked : made it shake with great
banks : the side of a river and the force
land near it
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