Unit 3 A taste of English humour课时作业

learning about language

　　A

　　It is hard to believe that a poor Italian boy who had few lesson in school could find a new land three thousand miles from his home. Yet, the world knows that the discovery of America was made by Christopher Columbus.

　　Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy, about 1450. He grew up by the sea. He spent most of his time watching ships come in from distant places. He loved to smell the sea air; he listened to the music of waves rolling upon the shore. And he dreamed of one day sailing to faraway places in his own ship.

　　His first voyage was on a ship that sailed around the Mediterranean Sea and along the coasts of Europe and Africa. He drew maps of the places he went to, and he began to wonder about the shape of the earth on which he lived.

　　Columbus had read the stories of Marco Polo's travels to the East; he also believed great riches would be found there. But Polo, and men after him, always traveled by land to reach the East. 'I'm sure a ship is faster, so I shall go to the East by sailing West," he decided, "Then I can prove that the earth is really round!" Living in Portugal at the time, he told the King of Portugal about his plan. But king John only laughed at him. "Silly man," he said, "Don't you know that the earth is flat? Why, you and your ships will fall off the edge if you go far away from land.

　　But Columbus did not give up. He studied more books and maps. He asked for help from England and France, for he had no money.

　　Then he went to King Ferdinand and Queen Israeli of Spain. It took many years to make them understand, but at last they said yes to his wild plan! On August 3, 1492, three small Spanish ships-the Pinta, the Nina, and the Santa Maria -set out westward across the Atlantic Ocean. Columbus was sure that land was quite near; his band of about a hundred men was much less certain. Over two month had passed when they noticed birds flying over their heads. A few days later, on October 12, someone saw land! The ships stopped at an island that Columbus named San Salvador. Then they went farther and found the island of Cuba and Haiti.

The men expected to find gold and rich treasures, but instead they saw beautiful green land