VOA常速英语2007-Veteran Stuntwoman Still Jumps, Falls, Crashes

（单词翻译）

By Mike O'Sullivan
Los Angeles
30 October 2007
 
Stuntmen and stuntwomen may have the most demanding jobs in Hollywood -- performing falls, tumbles and dives considered too dangerous for regular actors to perform.  But veteran stuntwoman Sandy Gimpel is still going strong at an age when most people are retired².  And as she tells VOA's Mike O'Sullivan, she has no plans to quit the risky³ business.

Sandy Gimpel got her start in television on the 1960s series "Lost in Space."  She was offered a job standing⁴ in for a young star on scenes that were physically⁵ demanding.

"And I thought that was pretty cool.  I was in my early 20s and I thought, I can do this.  This sounds like fun," she recalls.

Gimpel's falls progressed to more dangerous stunts⁶ in films that included The Poseidon Adventure in 1972. Gimpel was a passenger on a sinking ocean liner.

"Well, when the water came in, it literally⁷ picked us up off of the ground and literally blew us, like this, out off the platform.  It just came in with such force, and it was just unbelievable," she said.  

Gimpel says high falls and fire can be dangerous, and she has suffered sprained⁸ ankles and broken ribs⁹ on stunts.

She relies on safety crews.  In this year's comedy Norbit, actor Eddie Murphy, made up as an overweight woman, picks Gimpel up and hurls¹⁰ her into some flower pots.

She says cuts and bruises¹¹ are part of the stunt¹ business.

Gimpel says performing stunts has provided a good income and helped her raise her daughter.  But she says that as a mother, she always puts safety first. "Safety is really important to me, but I don't think I could ask for a better job if my life depended on it.  I love what I do."

Gimpel has made a video called Stuntblasters Workout for those less-daring people who still want to stay active.

She says, at 67, she is still living life in the fast lane.