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A Life-Changing Decesion Summary

John Treagood decided to retire from teaching and live a solitary life traveling with his horse and caravan. He collects water from streams to drink and for his horse, and finds food along the way like berries, vegetables, apples, and carrots. While he faces sub-zero temperatures and occasional injuries like breaking his arm, he maintains his lifestyle through odd jobs and does not claim a government pension.

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Dhriti Gupta
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595 views1 page

A Life-Changing Decesion Summary

John Treagood decided to retire from teaching and live a solitary life traveling with his horse and caravan. He collects water from streams to drink and for his horse, and finds food along the way like berries, vegetables, apples, and carrots. While he faces sub-zero temperatures and occasional injuries like breaking his arm, he maintains his lifestyle through odd jobs and does not claim a government pension.

Uploaded by

Dhriti Gupta
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Passage B: A life-changing decision

In this passage the writer describes the solitary life of John Treagood, a former teacher who decided
to change his lifestyle.

John Treagood used to work as a teacher. One day he made a life-changing decision. He decided to
go for a walk and hasn’t stopped traveling since. He trekked all the way from the north to the south
west of England, bought a horse and then built a caravan, based on a traditional design. That was 40
years ago. Nowadays, John can regularly be seen traveling around roads and lanes, in that same
hand-built caravan, pulled by his even-tempered horse, Misty. For him, home is now his one-room
caravan, parked on a piece of wasteland, and his chief companion is his horse.

Despite often facing sub-zero temperatures, John, 76, believes that life gets better every year. He
says he doesn’t feel the cold, adding that winters in the south west of England are mild, one of the
reasons why he chose it as his destination all those years ago.

John does not claim a government pension, even though he is entitled to receive it. He makes money
from odd jobs such as pruning hedges; he collects water from streams and food from the land. In
total, John collects about 70 liters of water each day. He drinks approximately 2 liters of water a day
while his horse drinks about 50 liters.

Although he occasionally supplements his diet with fish from the nearby river, he generally eats any
berries and vegetables he might discover along the way, always taking care to cut up carrots and
apples for his horse. John is rarely ill. One particularly frosty morning, however, he slipped and fell,
breaking his arm. He didn’t seek help until three days later, having walked nearly 7 kilometers to a
friend’s house.

His only items from modern life are a radio to listen to music and a mobile phone. He explains, ‘A
friend said I’d need one for emergencies, but I haven’t switched it on for six months.’

What are John Treagood’s essential daily needs and the difficulties he faces in maintaining his lifestyle,
according to Passage B?

Ever since, John Treagood decided to retire as a teacher and be a peripatetic, he hasn’t stopped
walking. His life is no longer with students but just a placid horse and a one-room caravan parked in a
wasteland. His finance is earned by odd jobs. When thirsty, he collects approximately 70 liters of
water, out of which 2 liters is for himself and 50 liters for his horse. He eats any berries or vegetables
he come across and apples, carrots for his horse. He has friends to contact for any emergencies. He
also has a radio to entertain himself with music and a mobile phone in case. During his journey, the
weather might be freezing cold and since he doesn’t receive pensions, his livelihood depends on
himself. He might be injured from frost; broke his arm. He had to walk 7km to his friend’s house and
his injury wasn’t treated for 3 days. His phone was switched off and couldn’t help him.

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