The day of the first 100 meters dive – level 2

23-11-1976

Frenchman Jacques Mayol was born in 1927 in Shanghai, China. He loved the sea and was fascinated by dolphins. He spent a lot of time with them and learned from them how to live under water. He learned how to control his body very well. He could spend up to 4 minutes under water without breathing.

In the 60s, he met Enzo Maiorca from Italy. Maiorca was the first person who dived 50 meters deep. He did it without an oxygen device.

Mayol and Maiorca became friends, but they were also great rivals. They were constantly competing with each other. They competed for ten years. They dived deeper and deeper, but the 100-meter limit wasn’t possible to break.

Then November 23, 1976 came. Jacques Mayol, who was 49 years old at that time, tried to dive to a magical depth of 100 meters. He was successful and became the first person in history who went so deep without using any oxygen device. He used only his breath.

Difficult words: oxygen (a gas which is important for breathing), device (a machine), rival (a person who tries to be better than another person), break (to go behind some limit), depth (the distance from the top to the bottom).

What was the significance of Jacques Mayol's dive to 100 meters without an oxygen device in 1976?

LEARN 3000 WORDS with DAYS IN LEVELS

Days in Levels is designed to teach you 3000 words in English. Please follow the instructions
below.

How to improve your English with Days in Levels: 

Test

  1. Do the test at Test Languages.
  2. Go to your level. Go to Level 1 if you know 1-1000 words. Go to Level 2 if you know 1000-2000 words. Go to Level 3 if you know 2000-3000 words.

Reading

  1. Read two new articles article at Days in Levels every day.
  2. Read one previous article too and check if you remember all new words.

Listening

  1. Listen to the new article and read the text at the same time.
  2. Listen to the new article without reading the text.

Writing

  1. Answer the question under the new article and write your answer in the comments.

Speaking

  1. Choose one person from the Skype section.
  2. Talk with this person. You can answer questions from Speak in Levels.