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200
Water
From the beginning, water has furnished man with a source of food and a highway to travel upon. The first civilizations arose where water was a dominant element in the environment, a challenge to man’s ingenuity. The Egyptians invented the 365-day calendar in response to the Nile’s annual flooding. The Babylonians, who were among the most famous law-makers in ancient times, invented laws regulating water usage. Water inspired the Chinese to build a 1,000-mile canal, a complex system which, after neatly 2,500 years, remains still practically in use and still commands the astonishment of engineers. But the ancients never found complete solutions to their water problems. The Yellow River is also known as “China’s Sorrow”; it is so unpredictable and dangerous that in a single flood it has caused a million deaths. Floods slowed the great civilization of the Indus River Valley, and inadequate drainage ruined much of its land. Today water dominates man as it always has done. Its presence continues to govern the location of his homes and cities; its violent variability can kill man or his crops; its routes links him to his fellows; its immense value may add to already dangerous political conflicts. There are many examples of this in our own time.
300
New Foods and the New World
In the last 500 years, nothing about people -- not their clothes, ideas, or languages -- has changed as much as what they eat. The original chocolate drink was made from the seeds of the cocoa tree by South American Indians. The Spanish introduced it to the rest of the world during the 1500’s. And although it was very expensive, it quickly became fashionable. In London shops where chocolate drinks were served became important meeting places. Some still exist today.
The photo is also from the New World. Around 1600, the Spanish brought it from Peru to Europe, where it soon was widely grown. Ireland became so dependent on it that thousands of Irish people starved when the crop failed during the “Potato Famine” of 1845-6, and thousands more were forced to emigrate to America.
There are many other foods that have traveled from South America to the Old World. But some other went in the opposite direction. Brazil is now the world’s largest grower of coffee, and coffee is an important crop in Colombia and other South American countries. But it is native to Ethiopia. It was first made into a drink by Arabs during the 1400’s.
According to an Arabic legend, coffee was discovered when a goatherd named Kaldi noticed that his goats were attracted to the red berries on a coffee bush. He tried one and experienced the “wide-awake” feeling that one-third of the world’s population now starts the day with.
400
TV Shows and Long Bus Trips
Long bus rides are like television shows. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end – with commercials thrown in every three or four minutes. The commercials are unavoidable. They happen whether you want them or not. Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window. “Buy Super Clean Toothpaste.” “Drink Good’n Wet Root Beer.” “Fill up with Pacific Gas.” Only if you sleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, are you spared the unending cry of “You Need It! Buy It Now!”
The beginning of the ride is comfortable and somewhat exciting, even if you’ve traveled that way before. Usually some things have changed – new houses, new buildings, sometimes even a new road. The bus driver has a style of driving and it’s fun to try to figure it out the first hour or so . If the driver is particularly reckless or daring, the ride can be as thrilling as a suspense story. Will the driver pass the truck in time? Will the driver move into the right or the left-hand lane? After a while, of course, the excitement dies down. Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of ride. Food always makes bus rides more interesting. But you’ve got to be careful of what kind of food you eat. Too much salty food can make you very thirty between stops.
The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning. You know it will soon be over and there’s a kind of expectation and excitement in that. The seat, of course, has become hander as the hours have passed. By now you’ve sat with your legs crossed, with your hands in your lap, with your hands on the arm rests – even with your hands crossed behind your head. The end comes just at the tight time. There are just no more ways to sit.
500
Volcanoes
There are thousands of volcanoes all over the world. What makes volcanoes? What happens?
The inside of the earth is very hot. Because it is very, very hot, the rock has melted like ice. It has become liquid, like water. It is always boiling, like water in a kettle. If you have seen a kettle boiling, you know that the steam and boiling water try to get out. The very hot melted rock inside the earth also tries to get out. Usually it cannot because the outside of the earth is too thick and strong.
But in some places the outside of the earth is thin and weak. Sometimes a crack (a small opening) appears. The hot melted rock, which we call “lava”, pushes up through the crack and bursts through. Steam and gas shoot up into the air and the hot melted lava pours out. Big pieces of rock may be thrown high into the air.
After a while the volcano becomes quiet again. The melted lava becomes hard. Later the same thing happens again and again. Each time more hot lava pours out on top of the cold lava and then becomes hard. In this way a kind of mountain is built up, with a hole down the middle. Perhaps the volcano will then bi quiet and no more lava will burst out. Perhaps it will start again hundreds of years later.
Although there are thousands of volcanoes in the world, most of them are dead. Only about 500 sometimes start to throw out lava again. A famous volcano which is now dead is Mount Fujiyama in Japan. It is covered with snow in winter.
Vesuvius is the name of a very famous volcano in Italy. It first came to life many, many years ago. It was quiet for hundreds of years. Then in the year 79 it suddenly burst. A great cloud of smoke shot up into the sky with great burning rocks, which fell all around. Hot lava poured down its sides. About 3,000 people were killed.
This has happened again many times since that year. Sometimes no damage was caused, or only little damage. But there was serious damage in the years 472, 1631, 1794, 1861, 1872 and 1906. You can see that a volcano can stay alive for many years. In 1906 part of the top of the mountain fell off. There was also serious damage in 1914 but there has been any since that year.
Water
From the beginning, water has furnished man with a source of food and a highway to travel upon. The first civilizations arose where water was a dominant element in the environment, a challenge to man’s ingenuity. The Egyptians invented the 365-day calendar in response to the Nile’s annual flooding. The Babylonians, who were among the most famous law-makers in ancient times, invented laws regulating water usage. Water inspired the Chinese to build a 1,000-mile canal, a complex system which, after neatly 2,500 years, remains still practically in use and still commands the astonishment of engineers. But the ancients never found complete solutions to their water problems. The Yellow River is also known as “China’s Sorrow”; it is so unpredictable and dangerous that in a single flood it has caused a million deaths. Floods slowed the great civilization of the Indus River Valley, and inadequate drainage ruined much of its land. Today water dominates man as it always has done. Its presence continues to govern the location of his homes and cities; its violent variability can kill man or his crops; its routes links him to his fellows; its immense value may add to already dangerous political conflicts. There are many examples of this in our own time.
300
New Foods and the New World
In the last 500 years, nothing about people -- not their clothes, ideas, or languages -- has changed as much as what they eat. The original chocolate drink was made from the seeds of the cocoa tree by South American Indians. The Spanish introduced it to the rest of the world during the 1500’s. And although it was very expensive, it quickly became fashionable. In London shops where chocolate drinks were served became important meeting places. Some still exist today.
The photo is also from the New World. Around 1600, the Spanish brought it from Peru to Europe, where it soon was widely grown. Ireland became so dependent on it that thousands of Irish people starved when the crop failed during the “Potato Famine” of 1845-6, and thousands more were forced to emigrate to America.
There are many other foods that have traveled from South America to the Old World. But some other went in the opposite direction. Brazil is now the world’s largest grower of coffee, and coffee is an important crop in Colombia and other South American countries. But it is native to Ethiopia. It was first made into a drink by Arabs during the 1400’s.
According to an Arabic legend, coffee was discovered when a goatherd named Kaldi noticed that his goats were attracted to the red berries on a coffee bush. He tried one and experienced the “wide-awake” feeling that one-third of the world’s population now starts the day with.
400
TV Shows and Long Bus Trips
Long bus rides are like television shows. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end – with commercials thrown in every three or four minutes. The commercials are unavoidable. They happen whether you want them or not. Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window. “Buy Super Clean Toothpaste.” “Drink Good’n Wet Root Beer.” “Fill up with Pacific Gas.” Only if you sleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, are you spared the unending cry of “You Need It! Buy It Now!”
The beginning of the ride is comfortable and somewhat exciting, even if you’ve traveled that way before. Usually some things have changed – new houses, new buildings, sometimes even a new road. The bus driver has a style of driving and it’s fun to try to figure it out the first hour or so . If the driver is particularly reckless or daring, the ride can be as thrilling as a suspense story. Will the driver pass the truck in time? Will the driver move into the right or the left-hand lane? After a while, of course, the excitement dies down. Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of ride. Food always makes bus rides more interesting. But you’ve got to be careful of what kind of food you eat. Too much salty food can make you very thirty between stops.
The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning. You know it will soon be over and there’s a kind of expectation and excitement in that. The seat, of course, has become hander as the hours have passed. By now you’ve sat with your legs crossed, with your hands in your lap, with your hands on the arm rests – even with your hands crossed behind your head. The end comes just at the tight time. There are just no more ways to sit.
500
Volcanoes
There are thousands of volcanoes all over the world. What makes volcanoes? What happens?
The inside of the earth is very hot. Because it is very, very hot, the rock has melted like ice. It has become liquid, like water. It is always boiling, like water in a kettle. If you have seen a kettle boiling, you know that the steam and boiling water try to get out. The very hot melted rock inside the earth also tries to get out. Usually it cannot because the outside of the earth is too thick and strong.
But in some places the outside of the earth is thin and weak. Sometimes a crack (a small opening) appears. The hot melted rock, which we call “lava”, pushes up through the crack and bursts through. Steam and gas shoot up into the air and the hot melted lava pours out. Big pieces of rock may be thrown high into the air.
After a while the volcano becomes quiet again. The melted lava becomes hard. Later the same thing happens again and again. Each time more hot lava pours out on top of the cold lava and then becomes hard. In this way a kind of mountain is built up, with a hole down the middle. Perhaps the volcano will then bi quiet and no more lava will burst out. Perhaps it will start again hundreds of years later.
Although there are thousands of volcanoes in the world, most of them are dead. Only about 500 sometimes start to throw out lava again. A famous volcano which is now dead is Mount Fujiyama in Japan. It is covered with snow in winter.
Vesuvius is the name of a very famous volcano in Italy. It first came to life many, many years ago. It was quiet for hundreds of years. Then in the year 79 it suddenly burst. A great cloud of smoke shot up into the sky with great burning rocks, which fell all around. Hot lava poured down its sides. About 3,000 people were killed.
This has happened again many times since that year. Sometimes no damage was caused, or only little damage. But there was serious damage in the years 472, 1631, 1794, 1861, 1872 and 1906. You can see that a volcano can stay alive for many years. In 1906 part of the top of the mountain fell off. There was also serious damage in 1914 but there has been any since that year.
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