Most animals can swim right off the first time they
go into the water. Dogs, horses, deer, and buffaloes do not have to be taught
to swim. But a man cannot swim until he learns how to swim. Someone who knows
has to show him how it is done.
Everybody should know how to swim. And it is best
to learn when we are young. A boy or a girl can learn much more quickly than a
grown-up person. Yet many people cannot swim at all. They say that even some
sailors, who pass all their lives on the sea, do not know how to swim.
Why should we learn swimming? First, because it is
a very good form of exercise. Indeed doctors say it is the best exercise. Because
in swimming all the muscles of the body are used.
Secondly, swimming gives great pleasure. How nice
it is, on hot dusty day in summer, to take off one’s clothes and plunge into
the cool water of a river or the sea, and to dive and swim and float until one
is tired!
Thirdly swimming may sometimes mean all the
difference ‘between life and death. We never know when we may be in danger from
water. We go on a voyage, and the ship is wrecked; for a Die sure sail on a lake
and the boat upsets; we slip as we are .walking along the bank of a river, and
fall into the water. If we can vim, we have a chance of saving our life; but-if
we cannot swim, we are pretty certain to be drowned. So for our safety, we
should am to swim.
Lastly if we can swim, we may be able to save other
people; from drowning. How fine it is to be able to save another’s life! Now to
see a friend drowning before our eyes, when we cannot help me, because we
cannot swim.