to show visitors their styles of dr ess and different customs. For example, you can see different skills of th e villagers. You can learn how they make clothes from bark and how they climb very tall trees with their bare feet or see what kind of wedding ceremonies they have. They also t ell you about their social cust oms and show you th eir cooking meth ods and their dances. Their most important skill is boat-building, which allowed the islanders to explore all th e islands in the Polynesian Triangle. W e know that in their history t hey wer e sea travell ers moving from island to island. They were able t o find th eir way us ing the smell of the win, the movements of the fish and seaweed, and th e height and dir ection of the waves. They wer e very clever sailors. Now they us e those boat-build ing skills t o make long boats and show th e races and the batt les that they took part in long ago. All this helps keep the skills and the t echnology of the island peopl e alive. 必 修五 Unit 1 JOHN SN OW DEFEATS “KING CHOLERA John Snow was a famous doctor in London—so expert, indeed, that he att ended Queen Victoria as her per sonal physician. But h e b ecame inspired when h e thought ab out h el ping ordinar y people exposed to cholera. Th is was the d eadly diseas e of its day. Neither its caus e nor its cur e was und erstood. So many thousands of terrified people died ever y time ther e was an outbreak. John S now wanted t o face the chal lenge and solve this prob lem. He knew that cholera would never be controlled unt il its cause was found. He b ecame interest ed in two theories that possibly explained how chol era killed people. The first suggested that choler a multiplied in th e air. A cl oud of danger ous gas floated around until it found its victims. The s econd suggested that peopl e absorbed th is diseas e into their bodies with their meals. From th e stomach the d isease quickly attacked th e b ody and s oon the affected person died. Joh n Snow suspect ed that the second th eory was corr ect but he need ed evidence. So when another outbreak hit Lond on in 1845, h e was read y to begin his enquiry. A s the dis ease spr ead quickly thr ough poor neighborhoods, h e b egan to gather information. In two particular streets , the cholera outbreak was so severe that more than 500 people died in ten d ays. He was d eter mined to find out why. First he marked on a map th e exact pl aces where all th e dead peopl e had lived. This gave h im a valuab le cl ue about the cause of the d isease. Many of th e d eaths wer e near the water pump in Br oad Str eet (especially numbers 16,37, 38 and 40) . He als o noticed that some h ouses (such as 20 and 21 Broad Street and 8 and 9 Cambridge Street) had had no deaths. He had not for eseen this, s o h e made furth er investigations. He dis covered that thes e people worked in the pub at 7 Cambridge Street. They had been given free b eer and so h ad not drunk the wat er from th e pump. It seemed that the water was to blame. Next, John Snow l ooked into the source of the water for these two streets. He found that it came from the river polluted by th e dirty water from Lond on. He immediately told the astonished people in Broad Street to remove the handl e from the pump so that it could not b e used. Soon afterwards th e dis ease s lowed d own. He had shown that ch olera was spread by germs and not in a cloud of gas. In another part of London, h e found supporting evidence from two other deaths that wer e linked to th e Br oad Street outbreak. A woman, who had moved away from Broad Street, liked the water from the pump so much that sh e had it d elivered to h er house every day. Both she and her daughter died of ch olera after drinking the water. With this extra evid ence Joh n Snow was abl e to announce with certaint y that pollut ed water carried th e virus. To prevent this from happening again, John Snow suggested that th e source of all the wat er supplies b e examined. The wat er companies were instructed not to expose peopl e to polluted water any more. Finall y “King Cholera” was d efeated. COPERN ICUS’ REVOLUTIONARY THEORY Nicolaus Copernicus was frightened and h is mind was confused. Although he had tried to ignore th em, all his math emat ical calculations led to the same conclusion: that the earth was not the centre of the solar syst em. Only if you put th e sun th ere did the movements of the oth er planets in th e sky make sense. Yet he could not tel l anyone about his theory as the powerful Christian Ch urch would have punished h im for even suggesting such an id ea. Th ey b elieved God had made the wor ld and for that reason the earth was special and must be the centre of the sol ar system. The prob lem ar ose becaus e astronomers had noticed that some planets in the sky seemed to st op, move backward and then go forward in th e loop. Others appeared bright er at times and less bright at others. Th is was very strange if the earth was th e centr e of th e s olar system and all planets went round it. Copernicus had thought long and hard about these probl ems and tried to find an answer. He had col lected observations of th e stars and used all his mathematical knowledge t o explain them. But onl y his new theory could do that. So between 1510 and 1514 he worked on it, gradually improving h is theory unt il h e felt it was complet e. In 1514 h e show ed it privatel y to his friends. Th e changes h e made to the old theor y were r evolutionary. He placed a fixed sun at the centre of th e solar system w ith the pl anets going r ound it and only th e moon still going round the earth. He also s uggest ed that the earth was spinning as it went round the sun and this explained changes in th e movement of the planets and in the bright ness of the stars. His friends were enthusiastic and encouraged him to publish his ideas, b ut Copernicus was cautious. He did not want to b e att acked b y the Christian Ch urch, so h e onl y published it as he lay dying in 1543. Certainly h e was right to b e car eful. The Christian Church rejected h is theory, saying it was against God’s idea and people who supported it would b e attacked. Yet Copernicus’ th eory is now the b asis on which all our id eas of th e universe ar e b uilt. His theory replaced th e Christian id ea of gravity, which said things tell to earth b ecause God created th e earth as the centre of the universe. Coper nicus ities come to sh ow visitors th eir st yles of dress and different customs. For example, you can see d ifferent skills of the villagers. You can learn how they make clothes from b ark and h ow they cl imb very tall trees with th eir b are feet or s ee what kind of wedd ing ceremonies they have. They also tell you about their social customs and sh ow you their cooking methods and their dances. Th eir most important skill is boat-building, which allowed th e island ers to explore all the islands in the Polynesian Triangle. We know that in their history they were sea travell ers moving fr om island to island. They were able to find their way using the smell of the win, the movements of the fish and seaweed, and the height and dir ection of th e waves. They wer e very clever sailors. Now they us e thos e boat-building skills to make long boats and show the races and the battl es that they took part in long ago. All this helps keep the skills and the t echnology of the island peopl e alive. 必 修五 Unit 1 JOHN SN OW DEFEATS “KING CHOLERA John Snow was a famous doct or in Lond on—s o expert, ind eed, that h e att ended Queen Vict oria as h er per sonal physician. But he became inspired when he thought about helping ordinary people exposed to chol era. This was th e d eadly dis ease of its day. Neith er its cause nor its cur e was und erstood. So many th ousands of terrified peopl e d ied every t ime th ere was an outbreak. Joh n Snow wanted to face th e chall enge and s olve this prob lem. He knew that cholera would never be controll ed until its cause was found. He b ecame interested in two theories that possibly explained how ch oler a kill ed peopl e. Th e first suggested that cholera multipl ied in the air. A cloud of dangerous gas fl oated around until it found its victims. The second suggested that peopl e abs orbed th is dis ease into th eir b odies with their meals. From th e stomach the d isease quickly att acked the body and soon the affect ed person d ied. John Snow sus pected that th e s econd theory was corr ect but he need ed evidence. So when anoth er outbreak hit London in 1845, he was ready to begin his enquir y. As the disease s pread quickly through poor neighborhoods, h e b egan to gath er infor mation. In two particular streets, th e ch oler a outbreak was so severe that more than 500 peopl e died in ten d ays. He was d eter mined to find out why. First h e marked on a map th e exact places where all the dead people had l ived. This gave h im a valuabl e clue ab out th e caus e of the disease. Many of th e d eaths were near the water pump in Broad Street (especially numbers 16,37, 38 and 40) . He als o noticed that some houses (such as 2 0 and 21 Br oad Street and 8 and 9 Cambridge Street) had had no d eaths. He h ad not fores een this, s o he made further investigations. He dis covered that thes e people worked in th e pub at 7 Cambridge Street. They had b een given free b eer and so had not dr unk the water from th e pump. It seemed that the water was to blame. Next, John Snow looked int o the source of the water for these two streets. He found that it came from th e river polluted by the dirty water from Lond on. He immediately told the astonished people in Br oad Str eet to r emove the handle fr om the pump so that it could not b e us ed. S oon aft erwards th e diseas e slowed down. He had sh own that chol era was s pread by germs and not in a cloud of gas. In another part of London, he found supporting evid ence from two other deaths that were linked to ...
