In tasks 1-5 choose one correct variant A, B, or C.

1. In the 18^th century, Lisbon was wrecked by …

1. A tsunami
2. A tornado
3. A volcanic eruption

 

1. The first wave of the earthquake hit Lisbon …

1. In the morning
2. In the afternoon
3. At night

 

1. The second disaster that immediately followed the first was...

1. A tsunami
2. An earthquake
3. A series of fires

 

1. According to Reverend Charles Davy, during the cataclysm a ship was hit by...

1. A giant rock
2. A seismic wave
3. A dislocated tectonic plate

 

1. The devastating effects of the Lisbon earthquake were also felt in ….

1. Australia
2. Asia
3. Africa

In tasks 6-10 fill in the gaps with NO MORE THAN 4 WORDS AND/OR NUMBERS from the text.

1. The natural disaster that occurred in Lisbon /_________/_________/_________/ of a British scientist.
2. According to John Michell’s /_________/_________/_________/, the motion of the waves prompts the earth to vibrate.
3. John Michell couldn’t expound on the origin of the /_________/_________/ that could produce such a wave.
4. John Michell managed to quantify the momentum of the wave using /_________/_________/ and his own theory.
5. John Michell observed that strong fires burning inside the earth’s core caused tectonic plates to /_________/_________/.

An event in 1775 caused all of Europe to pay attention to the ground beneath it. On November 1, Lisbon, Portugal, was devastated by earth tremors and the high waves that followed.

On that fateful day, a majority of the population was in the city's churches commemorating the Catholic holiday of All Saints' Day. At 9:30 a.m., a rumbling sound was heard. Then the ground began shaking. People in the cathedrals saw larger chandeliers swaying as walls shook. The shaking paused. Then came a second shock, followed by a third.

Fires flared up immediately, ignited by cooking fires and heating stoves. Buildings that survived the quake as well as the rubble of fallen structures began to burn. Many people died in the fires, which continued burning for six days.

The twin horrors of the earthquake and the fires drove much of the population to the seaside. People observed that the sea had pulled back an unusual distance from the shore, but they did not understand why. The quake, which had struck off the coast, led to a tsunami, which hit Lisbon and wiped out houses and businesses in low-lying areas. Scores of people who had rushed to the seaside were swept out into the ocean and died. An eyewitness, Reverend Charles Davy, said he talked to a ship's captain who thought his ship had struck a rock. Actually, the sensation was caused by the waves of energy from the earthquake passing under the ship.

An estimated 60,000 people died in Lisbon. Most large buildings and 12,000 houses were destroyed. The quake caused damage as far away as Algiers, 685 miles to the east and across the Mediterranean Sea in Algeria.

The tragedy in Lisbon also captured the attention of English astronomer John Michell. Michell gathered information about the Lisbon earthquake and theorized it was caused by waves passing through the ground.

 

His idea was that a sharp force hitting a point in the earth would travel as an elastic wave, even passing through solid rock. Michell knew sound moves through the air in waves with high points and low points in a regular progression. Sound waves can be characterized by amplitude, velocity, and frequency, among others.

 

Michell’s elastic wave theory claims that sound waves travel through air, compress, and expand. As the waves travel, they cause the earth to vibrate. However, Michell had no explanation for the massive force required to start such a wave.

 

Using his wave theory and observer reports from Lisbon, Michell calculated the velocity of the wave. It was not an accurate measurement, but it was a start. He figured the waves would go out in all directions, like ripples from a stone dropped in a pond. Michell believed that if one could map the waves, the location of the earthquake could be determined.

 

His explanation of waves produced by an earthquake and causing the shaking was correct, but he came to the wrong conclusion about the formation of the waves. He noted that earthquakes and volcanoes often occur together, and he thought large fires burning substances such as coal beneath the ground caused rock layers to arch up from the heat. Then pieces of rock would break off and fall into the fire, where the moisture in the rock would explode, causing an earthquake.

 

Michell tried to fit what eyewitnesses of the Lisbon earthquake reported into a framework that would explain the events. His theory of elastic waves was impressive for its time, but additional information was needed before a more complete theory of the cause of earthquakes could be proposed.

 

Keys:

1. a
2. a
3. c
4. b
5. c
6. captured the attention
7. elastic waves theory
8. massive force
9. observer reports
10. arch up

 

Section 2

LISTENING