Learning to swim, learning to drown 学游泳，学溺水-如何描述你学游泳的经历

Learning to swim, learning to drown – I learned to swim comparatively
late, I suppose, I was maybe nine years old, but my brother had a
traumatic experience which nearly put him off for life. We lived in
the USA for a while and had access to a university pool where the
coaches had trained the American Olympic team. In those days, though,
their idea of teaching kids how to swim was to tie a tin can to their
ankles with a bit of string, throw them in the deep end and shout
'Swim!'. I'm surprised my brother survived at all. He could only have
been about six at the time.

drown
D.J.[draun]
K.K.[draʊn]
vt. & vi.
(使)淹没, (使)溺死

comparatively
D.J.[kəm'pærətɪvlɪ]
K.K.[kəm'pærətɪvlɪ]
adv.
1 对比地；相对地
2 比较地;有点,稍微

traumatic
D.J.[trɔ:'mætɪk]
adj.
1 <医>外伤的;外伤用的
2 (经历)痛苦难忘的,造成精神创伤的
n.
外伤药

put off
1 延期
2 阻碍做某事
3 (停车)让某人下
4 使分心
5 关掉
6 敷衍, 推诿
7 脱去(衣、帽等)
8 丢弃, 摆脱

tie
D.J.[tai]
K.K.[taɪ]
n.
1 领带, 领结
2 关系; 联系
3 束缚, 牵连, 累赘
vt.
系, 拴, 绑
vt. & vi.
打结; 系上

ankle
D.J.['æŋkl]
K.K.['æŋkəl]
n.
踝, 踝关节

string
D.J.[striŋ]
K.K.[strɪŋ]
n.
1 线, 细绳
2 (乐器上的)弦
3 一串, 一行
4 一连串, 一系列
vt.
1 装弦于, 上弦
2 用线串

tin can
n.
锡杯