1984. One hundred and forty years later.
Dr Owen Bitty was the 1 … at the University in Canada. He wanted to know why so many men 2 … in the Franklin Expedition.
Dr Bitty began to think about the first men who died on the expedition. They were all young and they died after only 3 … months at sea. Twenty more men died the 4 … year. There was something very 5 … about this. And there was only one way to 6 … what it was.
In 1984 Dr Bitty went to Baffin 7… with a team of scientists. There they opened the 8 … of the three Franklin sailors. Because of the 9 … cold and ice the bodies were in 10 … condition. Bitty took small samples of 11 … and skin and then put the bodies 12 … into the graves.
Back at the University Bitty 13 … an incredible discovery. From the hair and skin he 14 … that three men died from lead poisoning. They had nearly one hundred 15 … more lead in their bodies than normal. But where did the 16 … come from? Bitty looked closely at some of Franklin’s food tins and found the 17 …. In those days tins were closed with lead. Usually this was not a 18 … problem. But these tins were not made correctly. Lead was inside the tins. It was not that ice and cold that 19 … the men. It was eight thousand tins of 20 … that they were eating. Lead also 21 … the brain. It makes it 22 … to think clearly. Up in the Arctic, we can now 23 … why John Franklin made so many 24 … decisions.
- – made
- – graves
- – answer
- – Bay
- – next
- – affects
- – hair
- – strange
- – died
- – big
- – extreme
- – lead
- – understand
- – perfect
- – scientist
- – killed
- – found
- – six
- – difficult
- – back
- – wrong
- – times
- – food
- – discover
Exercise 11. Listen to the story “The Mystery of Franklin Expedition” once again and answer the following questions:
Questions:
- Captain Franklin was an English man, wasn’t he?
- Did the sailors of the Franklin Expedition look for the route through the Arctic?
- The sailors of the Franklin Expedition had enough food and tins for 3 years, hadn’t they?
- How many libraries did they have?
- When did Franklin and his men leave England?
- Did they have any problems when they sailed across the Atlantic?
- When did Franklin arrive at the Baffin Bay?
- The British Government became very worried about the Expedition, didn’t it?
- What did the Government do to find Franklin and his men?
- How much money was offered for the information about Franklin Expedition?
- Did anybody come with information?
- What was Franklin waiting for in the Baffin Bay?
- What did some sailors find in 1850?
- Did the sailors, sent by the Government, solve the mystery of Franklin Expedition?
- Was Franklin living with Eskimo people?
- What was the name of Franklin’s wife?
- What did Mrs Franklin do to find her husband?
- What did the expedition, sent by Mrs Franklin, discover in 1858?
- What happened to the ships?
- What happened to people?
- When did John Franklin die?
- What was the only chance for the Franklin’s sailors when they left the ships?
- Did the expedition, sent by Mrs Franklin, solve the Mystery?
- How many years passed in 1948 since Captain Franklin and his men had left England?
- Who was Dr Owen Bitty?
- What did Dr Bitty want to know?
- What fact did he find strange?
- What did Dr Bitty decide to do to solve the mystery?
- Dr Bitty went to the Baffin Bay with a team of scientists, didn’t he?
- Did the team of scientists take the bodies of three Franklin’s sailors to the University?
- The sailors’ bodies were in perfect condition, weren’t they?
- Why were the bodies of three Franklin’s sailors in perfect condition?
- Did the scientists take small samples of hair and skin?
- Did they put the bodies back into the graves?
- What did Dr Bitty discover when he was back at the University?
- How many times more lead did Franklin’s sailors have in their bodies than normal?
- Did Dr Bitty find where the lead came from?
- Where did the lead come from?
- Does lead affect brain?
- Did Dr Bitty solve the Mystery of Franklin Expedition?
