Famous French People Jacques-Yves Cousteau © by Robert Shepherd Vocabulary & pronunciation study by Catherine Balter Kendall © Words are explained alongside the text Stressed syllables are underlined and in bold* Hello, you’re listening to EnglishWaves and this is Robert polymath (n.) a person who has Shepherd. Welcome to the latest instalment of Famous expertise in a variety of subjects French – an episode in which we explore the life of a true polymath . diving (n.) swimming under water The man in question was a researcher, photographer, scuba device (n.n.) breathing documentary host, filmmaker, military leader, scientist, apparatus for under water diving inventor and undersea explorer, who invented diving and scuba devices , including the aqua-lung . He is, of course, aquaaqua----lunglung (n.) a type of diving the late Jacques-Yves Cousteau. equipment th He was born on 11 June 1910, in the village of Saint- lifelong (adj.) lasting a lifetime André-de-Cubzac, south-western France. The younger of two sons born to Daniel and Elizabeth Cousteau, he to purchase (vb.) to buy learned to swim at the age of four and it was just the start of a lifelong fascination with the water. When to take sth. apart (exp.) to dismantle sth, to separate out the Cousteau en tered adolescence, he also demonstrated a different parts of an object strong curiosity for mechanical objects. He purchased a movie camera and took it apart to understand how it boarding school (n.) a school where operated. Although inquisitive at a young age, Cousteau the pupils both live and study didn’t do great at school. When he turned 13, his parents sent him to boarding school in Alsace. to take up a post (exp.) to start a job On completion of his preparatory studies, Cousteau attended CollègeStanislas in Paris. In 1930, he entered beloved (adj.) an object which a the ÉcoleNavale in Brest. Having graduated as a gunnery person loves officer, Cousteau took up a post at the French Navy's information service. He took his beloved camera along to shoot (irreg. vb. shot, shot) a film, to make a film and shot yards of film at exotic ports in the Indian and South Pacific oceans. to claim one’s life (exp.) to take However, in 1933 Cousteau’s life was forever al tered . He someone’s life was in a major automobile accident that nearly claimed his life . During his rehabilitation, he took up daily swimming in to take up (phrasal v b.) to the Mediterranean Sea in order to help strengthen his start doing an activity badly injured arms. His friend, Philippe Tailliez, gave Cousteau a pair of swimming goggles , which opened to strengthen (vb.) to make him to the mysteries of the sea and began his quest to stronger understand the underwater world. In 1937, Cousteau married Simone Melchior. They had two sons called injured (adj.) hurt, damaged Jean-Michel and Philippe who would later join their father in underwater expeditions goggles (n.) protective cover During World War II, when Paris fell to the for eyes when swimming under water Nazis, Cousteau and his family took refuge in the small town of Megève, near the Swiss border . For the first few years of the war, he quietly con ti nued his underwater quest (n.)a challenging search experiments and explorations. In 1943 he met Émile Gagnan, a French engineer who shared his passion for discovery. It was also around this time, compressed air border (n.) frontier cylinders were invented and Cousteau and Gagnan experimented with snorkel hoses , body suits and snorkel hose (n.) a tube to breathing apparatus. breathe through when swimming under water It wasn’t long until they developed the first aqua-lung device, which allows divers to stay underwater for long body suit (n.) a one piece periods of time. garment worn for sport Not content with creating the aqua-lung, Cousteau was also instrumental in the development of a waterproof waterproof (adj.) water- camera that could withstand the high pressure of deep resistant water. During this time, Cousteau made two documentaries on underwater exploration called Par to withstand (irreg. vb. dix-huit mètres de fond and Épaves . withstood, withstood) to Away from exploration and technology, Cousteau did resist his bit for the country as the war gathered momentum . He joined the French Resistance movement, spying on to do one’s bit (exp.) to do Italian armed forces and documenting troop one’s duty, to make a contribution movements. Cousteau was re cognized for his efforts and he was awarded the Légion d'honneur. Post-war, Cousteau was hired by the French navy to clear to gather momentum (exp.) to spread and become underwater mines. stronger In 1948, Cousteau, along with Philippe Tailliez, expert divers and academic scientists, undertook an to undertake an expedition underwater expedition in the Mediterranean Sea to find (exp.) to go on an expedition the Roman shipwreck Mahdia . It was the first underwater archaeology operation using self-contained diving apparatus and marked the beginning of underwater archaeology. Just two years later Cousteau leased a one-time British to lease (vb.) to hire minesweeper and converted it into an oceanographic research vessel he named Calypso . minesweeper (n.) a ship equipped However, Cousteau struggled to finance his voyages, so for detecting and removing in 1953, he published the book The Silent World, which explosive mines was later made into an award-winning film. This success al lowed him to finance another expedition to to struggle (vb.) to fight, to make the Red Sea and Indian Ocean spon sored by the French great efforts to do sth difficult government and the National Geographic Society. In 1966, Cousteau launched his first hour-long television awardaward----winningwinning (adj.) which won a special, “The World of Jacques-Yves Cousteau” on the prize ABC television network. In 1968, he produced the television series The Undersea World of Jacques to raise awareness (exp.) to Cousteau , which ran for nine seasons. educate people, to make people think about serious issues Cousteau also wrote several books and formed the Cousteau Society in 1973, in an effort to raise to strike (irreg. vb. struck, struck) awareness of the ecosystems of the underwater world. to hit However, in 1979 tragedy struck . Cousteau’s son, Philippe, was killed in a plane crash. bereavement (n.) loss due to a In 1990 he faced more bereavement . His wife Simone person’s death sadly died and a year later, Cousteau married Francine Triplet, with whom he had a daughter and son - born estate (n.) assets and liabilities while Cousteau was actually married to Simone. left by a person on their death Cousteau himself died unexpectedly in Paris on 25 th June 1997, at the age of 87. His estate and the to settle a dispute (exp.) to end or foundation fell into dispute among his survivors. resolve disagreements by coming However, most of the legal disputes were settled by to a decision 2000, when his son, Jean-Michel, disassociated himself from the Cousteau Society and formed his own achievement (n.) success due to organization the Oceans Futures Society. effort, skill or courage Jacques-Yves Cousteau was a pioneer whose achievements we take for granted to this very day. Stay tuned to EnglishWaves. Tip The past form of the following verbs all end with the sound /d/. They do not add a syllable to the base form of the verb. Hence “ learn ” and “ learned ” are both one-syllable words, “ en ter ” and “ en te(re)d” are both two-syllable words: learned , turned , claimed , shared , joined , formed , killed , died , en te(re)d, al te(re)d, opened, con ti nued, re cognized, al lowed , spon s(or)ed, se ttled .