【每日阅读训练第四期——速度越障25系列】【25-01】文史哲_The Mayflower

jay871750293

Official Weibo http://weibo.com/u/3476904471

Sorry, dudes, today's delay of journey back from Zhoushan causes this midnight post...

As we are on a new journey to the 25th series, today, let's begin another journey which took place several hundreds years ago--- the Mayflower Voyage. I happened to find a website, starting with the domain of " www.mayflowerhistory.blablabla ", that is a specific web for mayflower and has already garnered plenty useful information, and therefore, I am sure that you will learn much more about the source of this ship, the whole process concerning the mayflower voyage: from the very beginning to one year after the arrival, the significance of this voyage and the sacrifice made in the voyage.

OK, here is the construction of this assignment:
Speaker: unrelated to the topic and belonging to business
Speed: several aspects of the Mayflower
Obstacle: the mian introduction of the Mayflower voyage
Extension: two existing letters from one passenger on the Mayflower
Hence, I strongly recommend to read the Obstacle first and by the way, I admit that the Obstacle is somewhat simple and straightforward.

Final jibber jabber: one key word notated for you before your reading--- [pilgrim] a religious person who travels a long way to a holy place

OK, mates, let's start our journey and find your own answers~
Good luck~

---

Part 1 Speaker

[Rephrase1]
Asking permission & polite requests

[dialog: 6:04]

transcript:
Mp3:
Source: BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2013/09/130905_6min_asking_permission.shtml

Part 2 Speed

Article 1(Check the title later)
The history of ship Mayflower

[TIME2]
Master Christopher Jones and several business partners purchased the ship Mayflower about 1607.  It's origins prior to that remain uncertain.  Its first documented voyage of record was to Trondheim, Norway, in 1609.  Andrew Pawling hired the ship to take a cargo of London goods to Norway, sell them off, and buy Norway goods (lumber, tar, fish) to return back to England.  Unfortunately on the return voyage, the Mayflower encountered a severe North Sea storm and the master and crew were forced to toss most of Pawlings goods overboard to lighten the ship.

The home of Master Christopher Jones in Harwich, co. Essex, England.
Following that, Christopher Jones seems to have stuck with safer trading routes.  The Mayflower made numerous trips primarily to Bordeaux, France, returning to London with cargoes of French wine, Cognac, vinegar, and salt.  The Mayflower could freight about 180 tons of cargo.  The Mayflower also made occasional voyages to other ports, including once to Malaga, Spain, and twice to Hamburg, Germany.

Upon returning from a voyage to Bordeaux, France, in May 1620, the Mayflower and master Christopher Jones were hired to take the Pilgrims to Northern Virginia.  This was the first recorded trans-Atlantic voyage for both ship and master, though Christopher Jones had several crewmembers, including pilot and master's mates John Clarke and Robert Coppin, who had been to the New World before.

The Mayflower was supposed to accompany another ship, the Speedwell, to America, but the Speedwell proved too leaky for the voyage so the Mayflower proceeded alone.  Departing on 6 September 1620, the ship was at sea for 66 days, arriving November 9.  The ship and crew overwintered with the Pilgrims and depart back for England on 5 April 1621, arriving back to England on May 6.

Christopher Jones took the ship out for a few more trading runs, but he died a couple years later in March 1621/2.  The ship was appraised for probate purposes in May 1624, and was referred to as being "in ruins."  It was only valued at 128 pounds sterling, and was almost certainly broken up and sold off as scrap.
[words: 351]

Source：Mayflower History
http://mayflowerhistory.com/history-of-the-mayflower

Article2 (Check the title later)
The Mayflower’s voyage

[TIME3]
The Mayflower was hired in London, and sailed from London to Southampton in July 1620 to begin loading food and supplies for the voyage--much of which was purchased at Southampton.  The Pilgrims were mostly still living in the city of Leiden, in the Netherlands.  They hired a ship called the Speedwell to take them from Delfshaven, the Netherlands, to Southampton, England, to meet up with the Mayflower.  The two ships planned to sail together to Northern Virginia.  The Speedwelldeparted Delfthaven on July 22, and arrived at Southampton, where they found the Mayflower waiting for them.  The Speedwell had been leaking on her voyage from the Netherlands to England, though, so they spent the next week patching her up.

On August 5, the two ships finally set sail for America.  But the Speedwell began leaking again, so they pulled into the town of Dartmouth for repairs, arriving there about August 12.  The Speedwell was patched up again, and the two ships again set sail for America about August 21.  After the two ships had sailed about 300 miles out to sea, the Speedwell again began to leak.  Frustrated with the enormous amount of time lost, and their inability to fix the Speedwell so that it could be sea-worthy, they returned to Plymouth, England, and made the decision to leave the Speedwell behind.  The Mayflower would go to America alone.  The cargo on the Speedwell was transferred over to the Mayflower; some of the passengers were so tired and disappointed with all the problems that they quit and went home.  Others crammed themselves onto the already very crowded Mayflower.

Finally, on September 6, the Mayflower departed from Plymouth, England, and headed for America.  By the time the Pilgrims had left England, they had already been living onboard the ships for nearly a month and a half.  The voyage itself across the Atlantic Ocean took 66 days, from their departure on September 6, until Cape Cod was sighted on 9 November 1620.  The first half of the voyage went fairly smoothly, the only major problem was sea-sickness.  But by October, they began encountering a number of Atlantic storms that made the voyage treacherous.  Several times, the wind was so strong they had to just drift where the weather took them, it was not safe to use the ship's sails.  The Pilgrims intended to land in Northern Virginia, which at the time included the region as far north as the Hudson River in the modern State of New York.  The Hudson River, in fact, was their originally intended destination.  They had received good reports on this region while in the Netherlands.  All things considered, the Mayflower was almost right on target, missing the Hudson River by just a few degrees.
[words: 457]


[The rest]
As the Mayflower approached land, the crew spotted Cape Cod just as the sun rose on November 9.  The Pilgrims decided to head south, to the mouth of the Hudson River in New York, where they intended to make their plantation.  However, as the Mayflower headed south, it encountered some very rough seas, and nearly shipwrecked.  The Pilgrims then decided, rather than risk another attempt to go south, they would just stay and explore Cape Cod.  They turned back north, rounded the tip, and anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor.  The Pilgrims would spend the next month and a half exploring Cape Cod, trying to decide where they would build their plantation.  On December 25, 1620, they had finally decided upon Plymouth, and began construction of their first buildings.
[words: 130]

Source：Mayflower History
http://mayflowerhistory.com/voyage

*

Article3 (Check the title later)
Inside the Mayflower: cross-section

[Warm up]
Forecastle
This is where the crew's meals were cooked, and where the crew's food and supplies were stored.

Poop House
Nothing to do with a bathroom, the poop house was the living quarters for the ship's master, Christopher Jones, and some of the higher ranking crew, perhaps Master's Mates' John Clarke and Robert Coppin.

Cabin
This was the general sleeping quarters for the Mayflower's twenty or thirty crewmembers.  The crew slept in shifts, so not everyone was sleeping in the room at the same time.

Steerage Room
This is where the ship's pilot (John Clark, primarily) steered the Mayflower.  Steering was done by a stick called a whip-staff that was moved back and forth to move the tiller, which in turn moved the rudder.

Gun Room
This is where the powder, shot, and other supplies were stored for the ship's guns and cannons.

Gun Deck
The gun deck is where the cannon were located.  On merchant ships, this deck was also used to hold additional cargo.  On the Mayflower, it is where the majority of the passengers lived.  They built their own makeshift cabins within this area.

Capstan and Windlass
These were large apparatus used to lift and lower heavy cargo between the ship's decks.
[words: 205]

[TIME4]
Cargo Hold
This is where the Pilgrims stored their cargo of food, drink, tools, and supplies.
The gun deck, sometimes referred to by the Pilgrims as the "tween deck" or the area "betwixt the decks", is where the Pilgrims lived for most of hte voyage.  Occasionally they ventured to the upper deck, especially during calmer weather when they would be less likely to get in the way of the seamen and there was less danger of being swept overboard.  The gun deck had about four gun ports on either side of the ship for cannon.  Even though the Mayflower was a merchant ship, it needed to be able to defend itself from pirates and ships from countries hostile to England.  The ship also had to be prepared for possible conscription--the King or Queen had authority to turn merchant ships into military vessels during a time of war.  The height of the ceiling of the gun deck was only about five and a half feet, so tall people could not have stood up straight.

During the voyage, the 102 Mayflower passengers lived primarily on the gun deck.  The length of the deck from stem to stern was about 80 feet, of which about 12 feet at the back belonged to the gun room and was off-limits to the passengers.  The width at the widest part was about 24 feet.  This means the living space for all 102 people was only about 58 feet by 24 feet!  Various hatches provided access to the cargo hold below.  The windlass and capstan, used to haul heavy items between the decks, also took up floorspace, as did the main mast in the middle, and the sprit sail mast in the front.  On top of that, the Pilgrims stored on this deck a 30-foot shallop (a small single-sail boat) that they would reassemble upon arrival and use for exploration and future trade.  Families would have built themselves small little "cabins", simple wood dividers nailed together, to provide a very small amount of privacy.  They lived in this small space for the 66-day voyage, and then many of them lived there another four to six months as they explored for a place to live, and later worked to build houses on shore, in the middle of a snowy and wet New England winter.
[words: 387]
http://mayflowerhistory.com/cross-section

Article4 (Check the title later)
Women on the Mayflower

[TIME5]
Governor William Bradford reported that the Pilgrims were worried that the "weak bodies of women" would not be able to withstand the rigors of a trans-Atlantic voyage and the construction of a colony.  Prior to the Mayflower, very few English women had made the voyage across the ocean. Sir Walter Raleigh's Roanoke colony arrived in Virginia in 1587, and amongst those 120 colonists there were 17 women: a baby girl, Virginia Dare, was born after arrival. When re-supply ships came from England, they could not relocate the people. The colony had mysteriously disappeared, and was never seen again. The Jamestown Colony was founded in 1607, but relatively few women had yet made the voyage and taken up residence there.

The Pilgrim husband, as head of the household, had an important and difficult decision to make. Building a colony would be hard on a woman's "weaker body."  It might be safer and more healthy to leave her behind, and have her come later once the houses were built, and the general safety and successfulness of the colony were better established. But that could be several years. Could he live several years without his wife? How strong was his wife anyway, could she really handle it? Was it right to put your wife's life in danger in this manner?

Francis Cooke, Thomas Rogers, Samuel Fuller and Richard Warren felt it was better if their wives Hester, Alice, Bridget and Elizabeth stayed behind, and came over later. Degory Priest also left behind his wife Sarah, despite the fact Sarah's brother Isaac Allerton came on the Mayflower with his pregnant wife and three young children. But most husbands, 18 in total, decided their wives should come with them. Was it the right decision?

As the Mayflower left England for America, there were 18 adult women on-board. Three of them, Elizabeth Hopkins, Susanna White, and Mary Allerton, were actually in their last trimester of a pregnancy. All the adult women on the Mayflower were married, there were no single women--although there were a few teenage girls nearing marriageable age.
[words: 345]

[TIME6]
While no women would die during the Mayflower's voyage, life after arrival proved extremely difficult. In fact, 78% of the women would die the first winter, a far higher percentage than for men or children. Dorothy Bradford was the first woman to die, and the only woman who died in the month of December. While many of the men, including her husband, were out exploring on Cape Cod, she accidentally fell off the Mayflower into the bitter cold waters of Provincetown Harbor. Most of the women's death dates were not recorded, but we do know that Rose Standish died on January 29, Mary Allerton died on February 25, and Elizabeth Winslow died on March 24. Most of the women died in February and March.

The extremely high mortality rate among women is probably explainable by the fact the men were out in the fresh air, felling trees, building structures and drinking fresh New England water; while the women were confined to the damp, filthy and crowded quarters offered by the Mayflower, where disease would have spread much more quickly. The two-month voyage was long enough; the women, however, remained living on the ship for an additional four months while the men built storehouses and living quarters on shore. Many of the sick were no doubt cared for on-board the ship by the women, increasing their exposure to colds and pneumonias. William Mullins died on February 21, apparently on-board the Mayflower since his will was witnessed by the ship's captain and ship's surgeon. His wife Alice and son Joseph had not yet died, but it wasn't too long before they did, orphaning their teenage daughter Priscilla in the New World.

Only five women survived the first winter. One of the five survivors, Mrs. Katherine Carver, died in May of a "broken heart," her husband John having died of sunstroke a month earlier. Weak bodies or not, by the time of the famous "Thanksgiving," there were only four women left to care for the Colony's fifty surviving men and children. The four women were Eleanor Billington, Elizabeth Hopkins, Mary Brewster, and Susanna (White) Winslow. Susanna Winslow was the widow of William White who died the first winter; she remarried to Edward Winslow, whose wife Elizabeth had also died the first winter.

Incidentally, all the wives who had been left behind were still living. Four of them came on the ship Anne in 1623, had additional children, and raised their families at Plymouth.
[words: 410]

Source: Mayflower History
http://mayflowerhistory.com/women

Part 3 Obstacle

Article5 (Check the title later)
The Mayflower

[paraphase7]

Pilgrims Before the Mayflower
In 1608, a congregation of disgruntled English Protestants from the village of Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, left England and moved to Leyden, a town in Holland. These “Separatists” did not want to pledge allegiance to the Church of England, which they believed was nearly as corrupt and idolatrous as the Catholic Church it had replaced, any longer. (They were not the same as the Puritans, who had many of the same objections to the English church but wanted to reform it from within.) The Separatists hoped that in Holland, they would be free to worship as they liked

In fact, the Separatists (they called themselves “Saints”) did find religious freedom in Holland, but they also found a secular life that was more difficult to navigate than they’d anticipated. For one thing, Dutch craft guilds excluded the migrants, so they were relegated to menial, low-paying jobs. Even worse was Holland’s easygoing, cosmopolitan atmosphere, which proved alarmingly seductive to some of the Saints’ children. (These young people were “drawn away,” Separatist leader William Bradford wrote, “by evill [sic] example into extravagance and dangerous courses.”) For the strict, devout Separatists, this was the last straw. They decided to move again, this time to a place without government interference or worldly distraction: the “New World” across the Atlantic Ocean.

The Mayflower
First, the Separatists returned to London to get organized. A prominent merchant agreed to advance the money for their journey. The Virginia Company gave them permission to establish a settlement, or “plantation,” on the East Coast between 38 and 41 degrees north latitude (roughly between the Chesapeake Bay and the mouth of the Hudson River). And the King of England gave them permission to leave the Church of England, “provided they carried themselves peaceably.”

In August 1620, a group of about 40 Saints joined a much larger group of (comparatively) secular colonists–“Strangers,” to the Saints–and set sail from England on two merchant ships: the Mayflower and the Speedwell. The Speedwell began to leak almost immediately, however, and the ships headed back to port. The travelers squeezed themselves and their belongings onto the Mayflower and set sail once again.

Because of the delay caused by the leaky Speedwell, the Mayflower had to cross the Atlantic at the height of storm season. As a result, the journey was horribly unpleasant. Many of the passengers were so seasick they could scarcely get up, and the waves were so rough that one “Stranger” was swept overboard and drowned. (It was “the just hand of God upon him,” Bradford wrote later, for the young sailor had been “a proud and very profane yonge man.”)

The Mayflower Compact
After two miserable months at sea, the ship finally reached the New World. There, the Mayflower’s passengers found an abandoned Indian village and not much else. They also found that they were in the wrong place: Cape Cod was located at 42 degrees north latitude, well north of the Virginia Company’s territory. Technically, the Mayflower colonists had no right to be there at all. In order to establish themselves as a legitimate colony (“Plymouth,” named after the English port from which they had departed) under these dubious circumstances, 41 of the Saints and Strangers drafted and signed a document they called the Mayflower Compact. This Compact promised to create a “civil Body Politick” governed by elected officials and “just and equal laws.” It also swore allegiance to the English king.

Plymouth Colony and the First Thanksgiving
The colonists spent the first winter, which only 53 passengers and half the crew survived, living onboard the Mayflower. (The Mayflower sailed back to England in April 1621.) Once they moved ashore, the colonists faced even more challenges. During their first winter in America, more than half of the Plymouth colonists died from malnutrition, disease and exposure to the harsh New England weather. In fact, without the help of the area’s native people, it is likely that none of the colonists would have survived. An English-speaking Pawtuxet named Samoset helped the colonists form an alliance with the local Wampanoags, who taught them how to hunt local animals, gather shellfish and grow corn, beans and squash. At the end of the next summer, the Plymouth colonists celebrated their first successful harvest with a three-day festival of thanksgiving. We still commemorate this feast today.

Eventually, the Plymouth colonists were absorbed into the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony. Still, the Mayflower Saints and their descendants remained convinced that they alone had been specially chosen by God to act as a beacon for Christians around the world. “As one small candle may light a thousand,” Bradford wrote, “so the light here kindled hath shone to many, yea in some sort to our whole nation.”
[words: 788]
Source: History
http://www.history.com/topics/mayflower

Part 4 Extension

Article6 (Check the title later)
LetterⅠ from Mayflower

[Tme8]

  Dearest Aunt Constance,
  
    You wondered what life in a ship would be like. I can now tell you, I would trade my bed for yours in the beat of a heart! I sleep on a damp bed in a tiny cabin with mother and father. We are all packed in like so much cargo below deck. We do not know many of the other passengers, yet we live nearly on top of each other. Few of us have ever been aboard a ship, and there is much seasickness. The stench is most awful! I welcome the times when we are allowed to go on deck to empty our chamber pots and breathe the fresh air.   

    When the weather is fair, the days are much the same. We pray as we rise in the morning and before and after we take our meals. For food we commonly have pease or bean pottage, cheese and ship’s biscuit. For drink, we have beer. We have some water but they say it will soon go bad. Did I tell you that I have a friend? Her name is Mary and I am so grateful for her. Mary and I play games, tell riddles, sing or just speak to each other. It is often too dark to even read. There are few other lasses on the ship since most families left their daughters behind until our town is built. The sailors will sometimes allow us on deck, but they are a hard lot and frighten me somewhat. Master Goodman brought his two dogs—a mastiff and a spaniel—and we chase them as they chase the mousers that chase the rats. Have I made mention of the rats? They are almost as great in size as the mousers! May the Lord help us when the weather is not fair. Father told me that sailors usually seek safe harbor in the autumn and now I know why. The storms are fearsome! They roll and toss our poor ship which creaks and moans as though it will break apart. My arms and legs are bruised from being thrown about and having things fall on me.

     In one storm, a young man was thrown into the sea, but by God’s good will he caught hold of a line that was dragging in the water and was saved. Just a fortnight ago came the worst storm yet. Aunt Constance, I thought we would all surely drown and become food for the fishes. The ship’s upper works were leaking and of a sudden there was a great snap! Master Carver told us that one of the ship’s main beams had cracked. Many of the crew wanted to turn back, but after much consultation, t’was decided that we would continue . The carpenters and sailors mended the beam and caulked the leaks. Thus we put our faith in God and we press on. I do not think that I can stand such a fright again. I pray that we reach the New World soon.
[Words: 507]

Source: Scholastic
http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/letters/Mayflower_letter1.htm



Article7 (Check the title later)
LetterⅡ from Mayflower

[Time9]

Dearest Aunt Constance,
  
I was so grateful to arrive in the New World, but I am now beginning to wish that we had never left home. I know that father had a hard life in England because he was punished for following his conscience and worshipping in the Separatist Church, but I wonder if it could have been as hard as this.

We arrived here just as winter did. It is bitter cold and snow is almost always upon the ground, but God has blessed us with a place to start our new town. There is a fair brook running under a high hill that Father says will offer us protection from our enemies. The men have begun building houses on land, but we must remain on the ship until they are nearer to being finished. I never thought I would still be aboard the ship for so long after we arrived! I suppose it is safer on the ship. I know not what to think of the naturals of this place that are called Indians. The first time some of our men encountered them, there was a fight though by God’s blessing no one was injured. We are on our guard now.

Master Goodman—the one with the dogs—has become quite ill. He was out cutting thatch with Peter Brown when his dogs chased a great deer deep into the forest. They chased after them and were soon lost, and had to pass the night in the wilderness. When they found their way back the next afternoon, Master Goodman had to have his shoes cut off his feet as they were so swollen with the cold. Many of our party have already died, among them Mary’s mother and father. I cannot think how lost I would be in this strange and frightful place without mother and father. I pray that they will not succumb to scurvy and other diseases.

I mean not to be so grim, but I fear that things could get far worse. We are near to scraping the bottoms of the barrels of rice, peas, and biscuit, and the men have had little fortune in hunting. I am worried, though I know that with God’s help we will survive this dark winter.


  Your loving niece,
Lizzy
[Words: 381]

jay871750293

sherryv 发表于 2013-9-16 01:51
占个座~25期我又来啦

哈哈，sherryv~
欢迎归队~

jay871750293

鸢尾yuanwei 发表于 2013-9-23 15:22
Thanks Jay~~~

2. 2'10

不客气哈~ 鸢尾~
另外，我弱弱地问一句哈：为什么没有从最新的练习开始呢？感觉好像有好几次你都是在老帖里做作业...
（没别的意思，只是问问哈~）

jay871750293

鸢尾yuanwei 发表于 2013-9-25 18:41
习惯了呢。。因为每次都是从神猴那个汇总贴进去，然后就从一个系列的第一个开始顺序往下做~~~~~呵呵呵~~~ ...

恩恩，不要紧的哈~
我觉得你比我好多了，我都很懒的，没做的老帖都不太愿意看了...
anyway，共勉哈！！！

jay871750293

晓野的野 发表于 2013-10-7 01:12
我的名字 叫做补作业君
我会补上的 明天早上 哦 不 今天早上就补上
不要抓我不要抓我

嘻嘻，加油，补作业君！

jay871750293

晓野的野 发表于 2013-10-8 10:31
哈哈 补作业君已经把作业补上啦 啦啦啦啦

嘻嘻，给力呀！！