Simplify the following text for a Grade 10 native English-speaking person.
Original: Punts were originally built as cargo boats or platforms , for shooting at birds and fishing , but in modern times they are mostly used for pleasure trips on the rivers in the university towns of Oxford and Cambridge in England , and are raced at summer regattas on the Thames .
Simplified: Punts were originally built as cargo boats or platforms for fowling and angling , but in modern times their use is almost exclusively confined to pleasure trips .