Appendix 2

Sample Dictations

Dictation 1 Early Years of Christianity

When the Romans conquered people, they did not force them to adopt the religious beliefs of the Empire. If they paid a yearly offering to the emperor, they were free to worship as they pleased. This religious freedom led to the spread of Christianity so that by the time the Empire broke, Christianity was the best-established and most widely accepted religion.

In Italy, Rome became the center of Christianity since both St. Peter and St. Paul preached the Gospel of salvation there. But there was a time when Christian religion was out of law, and believers were punished and blamed for many of the troubles of the Empire. To worship as they pleased and to escape punishment, they found shelter in the catacombs. The catacombs were located outside of Rome. Here the early Christians worshiped, buried their dead, and at times even lived.

The Emperor Constantine became a Christian and in 313 in Milan he adopted Christianity as the official religion of the Great Roman Empire and since that time the life of the Christians changed.

Dictation 2

Early Christian Art

Some of the first Christian art known to exist are the frescoes painted on the ceilings and walls of the chapels in the catacombs. These paintings were symbolic. At first symbols were borrowed from the Romans around them. For example, Juno’s peacock was the symbol or immortality. The phoenix was a symbol for Christ’s resurrection. Christ as the Good Shepherd became a common and comforting symbol for the early Christians since it showed God’s protection and care.

When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire small meeting places were not enough for all believers. So Christians adopted the Roman basilica plan for their worship settings. The basilica plan ideally suited the Christians’ worship services because they could sit and listen to the preaching of the Gospel.

The basilica was a long, brick building with a timber roof. The interiors of the basilicas were highly decorated with rows of columns, mosaics of colored glass. Gold was also used on the walls, creating a shimmering surface. The plain brick exteriors showed a great contrast to greatly decorated interiors. This was symbolic of the richness of the spirit compared to everyday life.

Dictation 3

The Roman Conquest of Great Britain

The Romans landed on the shores of Britain in 55 B.C. Their leader was Julius Caesar. Long before the coming of Caesar, men and women had lived and died and worked and fought in the land, which we now call England. But we have no record of their life: no historian has told us of their fortunes and we know nothing about them. It was Julius Caesar who wrote down in words the story of the strange new people he had found and a description of the far-off country in which they lived. And thus the written history of Britain begins with the landing of Caesar. He made two raids during the years 55 and 54 B.C. He penetrated as far as the Thames but did not succeed in quick conquest. Caesar was angry with the Britons because they had been helping the Gauls to fight the Romans. He didn’t get very far in the thick forest, which covered southern Britain, and the next year he and his army went back to Gaul.

The Romans didn’t come back until 43 A.D., almost a century later. This time their leader was the Emperor Claudius. They landed an army of forty thousand men in Kent. Many people in the south of England welcomed them, but in the north and west they had to fight hard. In 61 A.D. the army of Queen Boadicea attacked the Romans. But even her chariots, which had large knives sticking out of their wheels, couldn’t beat the Roman soldiers. However, the invaders had great trouble in the north, on the border with Scotland. The Scottish tribes were so fierce that the Emperor Hadrian ordered the Roman army to build a huge wall along the border. You can still see Hadrian’s Wall today. It’s three metres thick, five metres high and one hundred and fifteen kilometers long.