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used in everyday life, and writing made it possible to store up knowledge
which grew with eahc generation. Specially trained people were therefore
needed to teach it.
2. Only the sons of nobles 2 attended the first Egyptian schools,
which taught reading, physical education and good behaviour. In ancient
India the priestly caste decided what should be taught to each of the four
castes, or groups, into people were divided.
Only the priestly caste was allowed to learn the Hindu scriptures. In China,
until the 19th century, education was organized according to social classes,
and consisied largely of learning the scipturcs by heart.
3. A clear example of the way in which even neighbouring peoples
produce different types of education comes from ancient Greece. Sparta
and Athens were two Greek states. The Spartans, a hard and warlike
people, gave a purely military education. At fhe age of seven all boys of
noble families were taken from their homes and were sent to live in
groups. They were kept under a very strict discipline and were taught hunt
ing, military scouting, swimming and the use of weapons. The Spartans
despised literature, and some people think they could not even read.
At the veiy same time, also for the nobles only, the Athenians were
building what we call a liberal education - one that helps man to develop
all sides of his nature, helps him to make and appreciate beautiful things
and helps him to find the best way of life. They thought it important to
educate the body as w ell as the mind, and had a programme of physical
training which consisted of running, jumping, wrestling and throwing the
discus. As time went on Athenian education paid special attention to
reading, writing and literature and these were taught by a special teacher,
known as the "grammatist". Common people were not educated, they were
trained in craftsmanship, workmanship, trades.
Greek philosophers, or thinkers, always discussed what education should
try to do and what it should include. Plato wrote a book called The
Republic, which is one of the best books ever written on education, and
since those days Greek ideas have influenced European education,
especially secondary and university education.
4. The Romans were very good at organizing, and they were the first
people to have schools run by the government free of charge. Throughout
their great empire there was a network of these schools which provided for
three stages of education.
At six or seven a l l boys (and some girls) went to the primary school,
where they learned "three R’s"; reading, writing, and arithmetic. Most
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children were not taught more than this, but at 120r 13 boys of the rkh
families went on to the "grammar" school to study the Greek and Latin
languages and their literatures, that is, what had been written in those
languages. At 16, young nobles who wanted to enter politics 'or the
service of their countiy went to the schools of rhetoric to be trained in
rhetoric, or public speaking.
5. In Great Britain the first teachers we read about were craftsmen.
They taught children to read, write and count, to cook and mend their own
shoes. In the early 19th century the main system of teaching was the
"Monitor" system, a The teacher could manage a class of 100 or more by
using older pupils or "monitors" to help him. The schools had long desks
which were sometimes arranged in tiers so that the teacher could see every
child in a large class.
UNIT 16
THE HISTORY OF LAND TRANSPORT
INTRODUCTION
1. The word "transport" means to carry people or goods from place to
place. It is also used for the vehicles that carry people от goods - for
example, motor transport includes buses, lorries, motor coaches and motor
cars. The American word for the same thing is transportation, and the
remark transportation is civilization" was made by an American, the
motor-car manufacturer Henry Ford.
The history of transport is divided into two stages. The first stage is that in
wh-ich all forms of transport depended directly on the power of men or
animals or on natural forces such as winds and current. The second stage
began with tile development of the steam engine, which was ysources of
power for transport.
UNIT 17
LAND TRANSPORT
PORTERS AND PACK ANIMALS
1.
The most ancient peoples were probably wanderers. They did not
ive in settled homes because they did not know how to till the soil. As
t ey moved from place to place they had to carry their goods themselves.
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The porters were usually the women, probably because the men had to be
ready to beat off attacks by wild beasts or enemies. Even now; to carry the
household goods is the job of women in back, ward wandering tribes.
The next step was the use of pack animals for carrying goods. The kind of
animal used varied in different places, but the general idea was the same -
the bundles or baskets were carried by the animals on their backs. The dog,
although too small to carry much, was probably one of the first transport
animals used because it is so easily trained. Dogs are still to be trained for
dragging sledges in the Arctik because of their light weight.
2. The next advance in land transport came with the invention of the
wheel. The wheel at once led to the development of two-wheeled carts and
four-wheeled waggons and carriages, but before these could be used for
carrying goods over long distances, a system of roads was necessary.
These roads had to be wide enough to take a cart and paved, for unless
their surface was paved the wheels sank in and the cart stuck. In Britain,
and also over much Europe, the first long-distance paved roads were made
by the Romans, chiefly so that troops could be marched without delay from
place to place. The roads made it possible to use wheeled
traffic. However, when the Roman Empire collapsed, the roads gradually
got in to a very bad state.
3. There were two problems to be solved - first, how to make good
roads, and, second, to decide who was to pay for them. In Great Britain
these problems were solved in the 18th century. Stretches of roads were
handed over to groups called trusts. The trusts borrowed money for repair
ing and improving the roads, paying it back from the sums they collected
from road users. This method of paying for new roads and bridges is still
used, especially in the United States. Then it became possible to travel
rather comfortably by coaches. In cities like London, rich people had their
own carriages, while poor people went on horseback or walked. Then
appeared carriages that could be hired for short distances. They correspond
to the modern taxis. The word is short for "taxi cab" which in turn comes
from the words taximeter and cabriolet. A cabriolet is a light twowheeled
carriage introduced from France .in the 19th century. The taximeter is a
mechanical device connected with the wheels which, by measuring the
distance travelled, shows the fare due at any moment. It is also controlled
by a clock so that waiting time too is charged for.
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