They wanted to build a new factory there. It was good because it would give work to many people in the area. But they wanted to build the factory at the river and that was bad for most of the people living there.
Their river was not the same as the rivers we have in Europe. The rivers in Europe are large and long and they flow through many countries. And yet, they look like small mountain streams compared to the river where they wanted to build the factory.
Their river was huge. To the people who lived there, the river was everything. It gave them the means of transport, it gave them water and most importantly it gave them food. There was not a family in the area which didn’t eat the fish or lobsters from that river.
And now some rich people from Europe came and wanted to build a factory right on the bank of the river. That meant that the river would get dirty and people would not have enough clean drinking water anymore. And the fish would die or move to other places and that meant that people would have less food. The poor would be hungry.
No, they couldn’t afford it. They decided to act. The rebellion was being organised and the man in charge was a simple fisherman. A poor man who spent his morning and afternoons casting his nets to that life-giving river which some rich people wanted to destroy.
drinking water /ˈdrɪŋkɪŋ wɔːtə(r)/ – (pitná voda) – water that is safe for drinking
in charge – (v čele, vo vedení) – a position of having control over somebody/something; responsibility for somebody/something
cast /kɑːst/ – (hodiť) – to throw one end of a fishing line into a river, etc.
Sparrow's English Reader 