The Mystery of the Franklin Expedition
Task. Scan the text and get ready to discuss its main points.
1. Many years ago, explorers wanted to find a way by sea from Europe to China, via Alaska. In 1845, John Franklin left England with 134 men to look for a route through the Arctic.
2. Franklin’s ships had everything they needed. They had enough food in tins for three years and thousands of litres of lemon juice to stop disease. They also had two libraries with 3000 books, excellent maps, scientific instruments, musical instruments and a new invention: a camera.
3. Franklin and his men left England on May 19th, 1845 and they sailed without problems across the Atlantic towards Canada. When Franklin arrived at Baffin Bay in July 1845, things were going very well for the expedition. On July 26th, some sailors saw Franklin’s ships when they were entering the bay. That was the last time that anyone saw Franklin and his men alive.
4. The British government became very worried when they heard nothing from Franklin. They sent expeditions to look for him, but the expeditions all returned without any news. The government offered ₤20000 to anybody who could help Franklin or anybody who had information about Franklin. Nobody came with information. By 1850 there were 14 ships in the Arctic looking for him.
5. Lady Franklin sent several expeditions to search for her husband. Francis McClintock led one such expedition in the Fox (a small steam yacht that belonged to Lady Franklin). In 1859 a party of his men solved the mystery. On King William Island they found a tin cylinder buried in a mound of stones. Inside was the document that explained what had happened. The note, signed by two of Franklin’s officers, recorded Franklin’s death in 1847. It also reported that, after the expedition’s two ships had been stuck in the ice for a year and half, the crews tried to reach safety by travelling south overland. Not one men survived.
Ex. 1. Look at the list of supplies on Franklin’s ships. Which things are the most important, do you think? Why?
Supplies on Franklin’s ships:
| 8000 tins of meat, soup and vegetables 900 litres of wine for the sick 4250 kilograms of chocolate 1000 kilograms of tea | 62000 kilograms of flour 17000 litres of rum 3200 kilograms of tobacco 4200 litres of lemon juice |
Ex. 2. Write the correct number of the paragraph in the following statements.
Paragraph … says what the British government did to search Franklin expedition.
Paragraph … says why Franklin went to the Arctic.
Paragraph … reveals the mystery of Franklin expedition.
Paragraph … says what Franklin took with him.
Paragraph … says who saw Franklin for the last time.
Ex. 3. Imagine you are going to make a trip by ship from Europe to Alaska. Work with a partner and look at the maps. Make some notes about the things that might be useful (a possible route, the things you should take, possible problems that may arise), using the suggested phrases.
| We can go from ……to …… We should take lots of food. We should take …… We might hit an iceberg. We might …… |
Text D
Task. Scan the text and get ready to do the exercises after it.
The History of Maps
Men have been using maps for thousands of years. In ancient times little was known about the shape of the Earth. Men did not even know that the Earth is round. They never traveled far, so they did not know how large is the Earth. The earliest maps were not accurate, but still they were useful.
The first known maps were made by the Egyptians as long ago as 1300 B. C., to show the boundary lines of each man’s land. But the first world maps were made by the Greeks. It is supposed that Anaximander had designed the first ones. He was a Greek scientist who lived from 611 to 547 B. C. According to Anaximander’s maps, the Earth was a flat circle surrounded by one large river.
Most European maps in the Middle Ages showed the world as a flat disc. Only three continents were shown – Europe, Asia and Africa, as the existence of the Americas had been unknown. The top of the map was East, and at the exact centre of the world was Jerusalem, the Holy city. Jerusalem was placed at the centre of the Earth because that is where the Bible says it is. Maps such as those were usually published in religious books, and we should really think of them not as maps, but as religious pictures. The Christian Church taught that the Earth is flat. Although the Ancient Greeks knew better, and this knowledge never quite died out, most people believed without question that the earth was flat.
While Christians still believed that the Earth was flat, Muslim scholars knew it is round. The famous Arab geographer Al Idrisi was born in North Africa in about 1100. He traveled through much of Europe and the Near East and worked for many years for Roger II, King of Sicily. He produced a map of the world, a globe of the Earth and a huge guide for travelers. The map even showed a possible source of the Nile, which wasn’t far from the true source.
World maps in the 15th century were based on the work of Claudius Ptolemaeus, known as Ptolemy, an ancient geographer who had been dead for more than 1200 years! Ptolemy map showed Europe and the Mediterranean region quite accurately, but it showed only the top half of Africa because Ptolemy had no idea how far south the continent stretched, nor if it even ended at all. The Portuguese sailors who first rounded the tip1 of Africa kept the reports of their voyages secret from other European nations who also wanted to find a sea route to the trade goods of the Far East.
As years passed and men learned more and more about the geography of the world, maps became better and better. During the 18th and the 19th centuries, France and England sent many explorers to new parts of the world. French and English settlers went to these new places to live. Then, as information got back to France and England, new maps were made.
During the 19th century another kind of map was developed. It was called a topographic map. A topographic map is often very detailed. It may cover as little as five square miles, but it shows just about everything there is to show about the geography of that area.
Until the end of the 19th century there were no international agreements about making world maps. The maps made in one country did not agree with the maps made in another country. But in 1913 a meeting of 34 countries was held in Paris. At the meeting a set of rules for making world maps was agreed upon. And today these rules are even more important than ever. They are important because the boundaries of countries are often changed. And changes make new maps necessary.
Notes:
1. tip – тонкий конец, кончик
Ex. 1. Choose the one best alternative to each question. Answer all the questions on the basis of what is stated or implied in the text.
1. Which of the following does the text mainly discuss?
a) the story of exploration
b) modern space voyages
c) full details of important discoveries
d) map-making
e) the history of maps
2. When did the first maps appear?
a) in the Middle Ages
b) in the 19th century
c) as long ago as 1300 B.C.
d) in1745
e) in the 20th century
3. Who was Anaximander?
a) a Greek scientist
b) a famous explorer
c) an ancient geographer
d) the greatest scientist
e) a famous writer
4. How did the Earth look like according to Anaximander’s maps?
a) round
b) a flat circle surrounded by one large river
c) a flat disc
d) oval
e) square
5. What did the famous Arab geographer Al Idrisi produce?
a) a great atlas of discovery
b) a well-drawn map of the world
c) a religious book
d) a globe of the world
e) a guide for travelers
6. The word “accurate” is closest in meaning to
a) important
b) exact
c) modern
d) detailed
e) right
7. According to the text what is a topographic map?
a) It is very detailed
b) It gives full details of important discoveries
c) It may cover as little as ten square miles
d) It shows about the oceanography of that area
e) It shows endangered animal species
8. Which of the following isn’t true about maps? Maps give information about:
a) vegetation
b) countries and their boundaries
c) economic resources
d) children
e) navigation
Dialogue
Ex. 1. Read the dialogue and say who the people talking to each other might be. Answer the question: What is the topic of their conversation?
Nick: Hello, George. How are you?
George: Hi, Nick. Frankly speaking, so-so.
Nick: Why? Has anything happened? You look rather tired.
George:Well, you see Nick. The thing is that I have to write a report about famous geographical discoveries. Yesterday I was sitting in the library all day long looking for necessary sources of information.
Nick: What are the results? Did you find anything useful?
George:Oh yes, quite a lot. You see the topic of my report is “The discovery of America”.
Nick: What was so difficult about that? Every child knows that America was discovered by Christopher Columbus.
George:Earlier I thought so too, Nick. But the true discovery of America belongs to the Vikings.
Nick: Vikings, you say? By the way where does this word come from?
George:It’s very interesting to know that the Vikings, meaning “men of the creek”, is the name given to the people of Scandinavia who raided the coasts of Great Britain and north-west Europe from AD 800 to 1100.
Nick: Did they? It can’t be very nice.
George:Don’t say so. They also travelled far from their homeland in search of new lands to trade with or settle. Their voyaging carried them half way around the world: west across the stormy Atlantic, south into the warm Mediterranean, and north into the freezing Arctic.
Nick: It sounds interesting!
George:Yes, no one knows for sure that the Vikings visited North America nearly 500 years before Columbus’ famous voyage in the 1490s. One of their expeditions reported an area of fertile land where there were vines of wild grapes growing. And because of this they named this land Vinland or Wine-land.
Nick: I see, probably, all of this suggests that the Vikings sailed a long way south, to the north-east states of America.
George: Thus, I’ve got some information about the true discovery of America.
Nick:Oh, George. I’m sure you will make a good report on this topic.
George: I am really pleased I’m doing it.
Ex. 2. Reproduce the dialogue: a) abridged; b) in the form of the monologue.
Listening Comprehension
Text “Christopher Columbus”
Part A. Pre-listening activities
Task 1. Make sure that you know the following words and word phrases.
to weigh anchor – сниматься с якоря
provisions – провизия, запасы провианта
an oar – гребец
to give the order – давать приказ
fabulous gold – сказочное богатство
to persuade – уговорить, убедить
an astrolabe – астролябия
latitude – широта
longitude – долгота
Task 2. Before listening answer the following questions.
1. How much do you know about Christopher Columbus?
2. What instruments of navigation are used?
Part B. Listening activities.
Task 1. Look at these sentences and questions. Find the right answers.
1. Christopher Columbus sailed from Spain to the New World
a) on Sunday 2 August 1492
b) on Friday 2 August 1482
c) on Friday 2 August 1492
d) on Friday 2 May 1482
2. He persuaded Isabella, the Queen of Spain, to finance his voyage by promising
a) slaves and gold
b) spices and gold
c) great riches
d) to find a new route to China
3. The sailors are less enthusiastic than their captain because
a) they still believe that the Earth is square
b) they fear that the heat at the Equator will cause fire
c) they don’t trust their captain
d) they believe that if they sail too far they will fall into space
4. Which of the following will they not use?
a) maps
b) compass
c) astrolabe
d) hourglass
5. Astrolabe allows them to calculate
a) the speed of the boats
b) longitude
c) latitude
d) distance
Task 2. Listen to the tape recording once more. Complete the microtext using what you remember from the recording.
The harbour was full of ... . Three sailing ships were preparing to ... . There were only ... in all on the three boats. ... were being brought on board. Christopher Columbus ... to sail. He hoped to find ... by sailing west. Columbus persuaded Isabella, the Queen of Spain to ... . He promised to bring back ... . There were no ... to show them where they were going. They were going to use ... .
Part C. After listening activities
Task 1. Work in pairs and discuss the following questions.
1. What did Christopher Columbus hope to find?
2. Why did the Queen of Spain agree to finance his voyage?
3. Why were the sailors less enthusiastic then their captain?
4. What navigation tools were used by Christopher Columbus?
Task 2. Summarize the information about Christopher Columbus’s voyage.
Revision
Ex. 1. Fill in the text with the appropriate word from the box.
| stretched, direction, route, find, set out, exploration, sail, reach, voyage, approaching, globe, sailor, discoveries |
While the Portuguese were trying to find a sea (1) _____ to Asia by sailing around Africa, a Genoese (2) _____ named Christopher Columbus thought of a different way of getting there. He decided to (3) _____ west, convinced that, as the world is round, sooner or later he must (4) _____ Asia from the opposite (5) _____. He (6) _____ in 1492, Having persuaded the Spanish king and queen to pay for his (7) _____. In those days, people thought that the (8) _____ was much smaller than it really is. They imagined that one huge piece of land – made up of Europe, Asia, and Africa – (9) _____ most of the way around the world, and had no idea that the Americas existed. As a result, Columbus made one of the biggest mistakes, yet greatest (10) _____, in the history of (11) _____. He came to some islands roughly where he expected to (12) _____ Asia and thought that he was (13) _____ the East Indies near mainland Asia. He made four voyages across the Atlantic without realizing that instead of finding Asia, he had found a “New World”.
Ex. 2. Read the text and answer the questions following it.
Atlas
The name Atlas has, with reason, been a popular one for the professional strongmen of the circus and stage, inasmuch as the first Atlas was powerful Greek demigod who tended the pillars that were believed to hold the heavens and earth apart. We moderns think of Atlas as a strong man who holds the globe on his back. This was the conventional picture printed on the covers of our gradeschool geographies but it represents a much later idea, for in Ancient Greece the earth was not thought of as a sphere. The picture of Atlas supporting the world was first used by the 16th-century geographer Mercator as a frontispiece in a collection of his own remarkable maps, and this use caused the figure of Atlas to appear in our later geographies and the name atlas to be applied to a collection of maps.
Questions:
1. Of what origin is the word Atlas?
2. What was it used for?
3. Who was Atlas according to the Greek mythology?
4. What do the modern people think of Atlas?
5. What idea does the picture of Atlas on the covers of geography textbooks represent?
6. Who used the picture of Atlas for the first time?
7. Why is the name atlas applied to a collection of maps?
Ex. 3. Translate the text into Russian (in writing). Give the title of the text.
Early European explorers found their way in unknown seas by sailing along the coast from one land mark to the next. Once ships began sailing out of sight of land, however, they needed more reliable methods of navigation. Navigation is the art of sailing a ship by the best course, from one place on Earth to another.
Nature provided the first navigators with some help. Before navigation instruments were invented, early explorers sailed by dead reckoning, which really means intelligent guesswork. They used their knowledge of winds and currents to estimate distance and direction. In unknown waters, clues such as floating driftwood and certain types of seabird suggested that land was not far away. For example, the frigate bird was a welcome sight in tropical waters. This bird cannot land on water, so sailors knew that when they saw one, they must be nearing land.
European sailors started to calculate their position in terms of latitude in the Middle Ages. By measuring the height of the Sun at noon or of the Polar Star at night, a sailor could work out his latitude. By the 15th century – the great age of European sea exploration – navigators had developed a few instruments to guide them. For example, the compass, allowed ships to follow a set course, and the astrolabe or quadrant helped calculate position. Many of these tools were rough and inaccurate but, as ocean voyaging became more common, navigational instruments gradually started to improve.
Today navigators can pinpoint the position of any place on Earth by referring to a set of imaginary lines round the globe, called lines of latitude and longitude. Lines of latitude circle the Earth from east to west and are measured in degrees north or south of the Equator. Lines of longitude circle the Earth from north to south and are measured in degrees east or west of a line, called the prime meridian, which runs through Greenwich in England.
Ex. 4. Translate into English.
I.
1. Особенно много важнейших географических открытий было сделано европейскими путешественниками в середине XV – середине XVII века.
2. Стремление найти новые рынки сбыта товаров и бесценные сокровища вынуждало людей отправляться в опасные путешествия.
3. Экспедиция под руководством Колумба в 1492 году отплыла от Пиренейского полуострова искать морской путь в богатую пряностями Индию.
4. Колумб был уверен, что достиг Индии, и поэтому острова, открытые им, известны как Вест-Индийские.
5. С 1519 по 1522 год, испанская экспедиция под руководством Фернана Магеллана совершила первое кругосветное плавание.
6. В 1821 году русскими моряками под командованием Ф.Ф. Беллинсгаузена и М.П.Лазарева открыт южный материк Антарктида.
7. Благодаря решительности путешественников на Земле практически не осталось неизвестных и малоизученных мест.
8. Ф.Нансен внес большой вклад в открытие и исследование Арктики.
9. Новый этап развития географии начался с конца XX века.
10. Целью географических исследований в современный период является изучение влияния деятельности человека на природную среду.