[00:04.49]Lesson 5 1 Dialogue
[00:10.74]Captain Cook(C C)is preparing for his first great expedition to the Pacific.
[00:18.00]He is talking to a seaman(s).
[00:21.55]s:What stores do you want me to order,Sir?
[00:25.91]cc:I insist on taking proper food for this expedition.
[00:31.27]The men often fall ill and suffer fever,so I have decided to take live animals.
[00:40.23]s:Live animals?I didn't know we were going to take live animals with us,Sir.
[00:48.88]cc:That's right.We will take 10 pigs,10 sheep and sixty chickens.
[00:57.42]The chickens can eat the food that we would otherwise throw away.
[01:03.37]They will provide us with eggs and meat.
[01:07.53]s:What about vegetables,Sir?They usually go bad as soon as we are at sea.
[01:14.79]cc:I have decided to take a lot of cabbage in vinegar.
[01:20.54]s:I've never heard of that,Sir.Will the men enjoy eating it,Sir?
[01:27.07]cc:I shall insist that they do from now on.Eating cabbage will keep them healthy.
[01:34.93]s:Have you decided which boat to take,Sir?
[01:39.19]cc:We will take the Endeavour.It is a good,strong ship,though not very fast.
[01:45.85]There will be a lot of room below for stores.
[01:50.39]s:Is there anything else that you want me to get?
[01:54.55]cc:Yes.I suggest taking a lot of vinegar.
[02:00.01]s:Why vinegar,Sir,if I may ask?
[02:05.26]cc:We will use it for cleaning the inside of the ship.
[02:10.51]If we do this,we shall have less sickness.Please get me 300 litres.
[02:18.87]I think that will be enough.
[02:22.03]Lesson 6
[02:31.17]2 Reading comprehension
[02:35.92]CAPTAIN COOK(1)
[02:39.58]James Cook was born in the north of England on October 27th,1728.
[02:47.94]The local landowner took an interest in the young boy and paid for his schooling.
[02:55.39]He learnt to read and write and was particularly good at mathematics.
[03:02.47]At the age of 18 he joined a ship which was used to carry coal
[03:09.44]down the east coast of England.
[03:13.57]Cook learnt fast and quickly became a skilled seman.
[03:20.02]In 1756 the Seven Years War between Britain and France broke out
[03:27.88]and Cook joined the navy.
[03:31.36]He did very well and sailed with the navy to Canada,
[03:36.61]where the war with the French was also being fought.
[03:41.65]In 1759 the French army was defending the city of Quebec,
[03:48.70]which stood high on a rock above the St.Lawrence River.
[03:54.14]Cook went up and down the river in order to chart all the dangrous rocks.
[04:00.98]Finally he was able to mark a path for the warships to follow.
[04:07.33]He led the ships down the river to a place where the British army could land safely
[04:14.59]and take the enemy by surpuise.
[04:18.46]After a short battle,the French were defeated and the city of Quebec was seized.
[04:26.00]After the war,Cook married and set up home in London.
[04:31.78]For several years he sailed to the east of America,where he charted its coasts.
[04:39.22]In 1768 his big chance for a major expedition came.
[04:46.07]The navy was planning an wxpedition to the South Pacific Ocean
[04:51.94]with the purpose of watchinga very unusual event,
[04:57.30]that is the planet Venus passing between the earth and the sun in 1769.
[05:05.24]They also hoped to find a new continent
[05:09.68]which they thought existed in the Indian or Pacific Ocean.
[05:15.61]Cook was to be in charge of this expedition as captain of the ship Endeavour.
[05:23.19]The Endeavour was not a warship but an old merchant ship,
[05:29.14]just like the one on which Cook had learnt his seamanship.
[05:34.60]It was just over 32 metres in length.
[05:39.64]It was not a fast sailimg ship,but was strongly built.
[05:45.21]It also had plenty of space below for storing things
[05:50.85]and so was extremely suitable for an expedition.
[05:55.58]Cook knew that sailors often suffered fever while at sea
[06:01.74]and got sick because of the lack of fresh meat,fruit and vegetables
[06:08.59]He was a strict but good captain,one who,unusually,
[06:14.83]took good care of the sailors on his ship.
[06:18.98]He therefore loaded the ship with litres of vinegar
[06:24.26]for the purpose of cleaning the inside of the ship.
[06:29.41]As well as the normal supplies of salted meat,cheese,
[06:35.28]plain biscuits and beer,he took live sheep,pigs and chickens.
[06:42.44]He also included stores of onions,cabbage in vinegar,and flour for baking bread.
[06:50.70]In July 1768 the Endeavour set out for the Pacific.
[06:57.33]The ship carried a total of 94 people,including scientists.
[07:03.37]Although 38 of the people died of diseases during the expedition,
[07:09.22]Cook's diet of proper food kept the rest of them healthy.
[07:15.10]Lesson 7
[07:24.06]1 Reading comprehension
[07:29.10]CAPTAIN COOK(2)
[07:33.04]In April 1769 Cook's expedition arrived at the beautiful island of Tahiti
[07:41.98]in the Pacific Ocean.
[07:45.35]There they spent three happy months
[07:49.50]and were also able to watch the planet Venus crossing in front of the sun.
[07:56.45]In July they set sail again and headed south and west in search of a new land.
[08:05.72]They finally reached New Zealand
[08:09.56]and for a period of six months Cook charted the coasts of the two islands,
[08:16.82]separated by the narrow channel of water that he called Cook Strait.
[08:24.27]Cook then sailed west to Australia.
[08:28.73]Other sailors had already charted parts of the west and north coasts of Australia
[08:35.68]and the island of Tasmania in the south,
[08:40.25]but Cook was the first to map the east coast.
[08:45.82]They landed in a beautiful bay that Cook named Botany Bay
[08:52.66]because of the beautiful plants that they found there.
[08:57.63]Later this was to become the place of the first foreign settlements in Australia.
[09:04.47]They found Australia to be an astonishing land where the soil was red,
[09:11.13]bears climbed trees,birds ran but didn't fly
[09:17.30]and large animals jumped about on two legs
[09:22.34]carrying their young in a stomach pocket.
[09:27.09]Next they sailed up the east coast between the mainland and the Great Barrier Reef.
[09:34.54]There the expedition nearly ended in disaster.
[09:39.50]The ship struck a coral bed,which tore a large hole in the side of the ship.
[09:47.23]But Cook ordered the crew to throw over the side of the ship guns,iron balls,
[09:55.57]pots and chains and even stores to raise the boat in the water.
[10:02.93]Then they beached the ship on the shore where they were able to repair the damage.
[10:10.06]Only Cook's quick thinking saved the expedition.
[10:15.84]The expedition passed close by the island of Java
[10:21.40]and then returned by the southen point of Africa,
[10:26.36]arriving back in England in July 1771.The whole country celebrated Cook's return.
[10:36.53]He had sailed round New Zealand and up the east coast of Australia,
[10:43.08]charting over 8'000 miles of coastline that had been unknown before |