X. Shorten the article about Arthur and prepare your brief informative summary. T h e l o s t c I V I l I z a t I o n

1. Study the following words:

Remains – остатки, останки

Incredible – невероятный

To desert – покидать, оставлять, дезертировать

Inhabitant – житель

To vanish – исчезать

To abandon – покидать

Collapse – разрушение, упадок

II. Read and translate the text.

In 1841, a book was published which astonished the world. It was called «Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan». The author, John Lloyd Stephens, had just returned from a long, difficult and dangerous journey through the thick rain forests of Southern Mexico and Guatamala. He had gone there with Frederick Catherwood, an architect and artist, to search for the remains of a lost civilization known as the Mayas. Very little was known about the Mayas at that time but Catherwood’s drawings in the book revealed incredible cities with temples, pyramids and other buildings as impressive as those of their northern neighbours, the Aztecs. These cities, however, were deserted. The inhabitants had vanished almost a thousand years before.

Since that time, far more has been learned about this remarkable civilization. The Mayars had a highly developed system of government and of agriculture, as well as an incredibly accurate system of measuring time. They were also wonderful engineers, capable of moving huge blocks of stone long distances and cutting them into precise shapes and sizes. And yet, although the Mayas knew about the wheel, they never used it. Neither did they use metals other than copper. What is even more surprising is that they suddenly abandoned many of their cities and built new ones in the jungle. Some time around AD 900, Mayan civilization collapsed. By the year 1200, their last great capital, Chichen Itza, was deserted.

Who were these strange people and the even stranger gods they worshipped? What brought about their sudden and mysterious collapse? Some writers have tried to prove that the Mayas had contact with visitors from space and even that they themselves came from another planet. Some people believe that their civilization came to an end because the Mayas never developed a proper resistance to local germs and diseases. All we really know is when the first Europeans appeared off their coast in 1517, this great and mysterious culture was only a memory.

III. Answer the questions:

1. When was a book «Incidents of Travel in Central America» published?

2. Why were people astonished by this book?

3. What did the author find in Central America?

4. What were the most surprising things about the Mayas?

IV. Give the synonyms to the words:

Return (v), drawing (n), incredible (adj), wonderful (adj), abandon (v), collapse (n), visitor (n)

5. Translate the sentences into English:

1. Очень мало было известно о цивилизации Майя до издания книги Джона Ллойда Стефенза.

2. В книге были описаны невероятные города с храмами, пирамидами и другими зданиями, подобные тем, которые были найдены у Ацтеков.

3. Цивилизация Майя имела высоко развитую систему правительства, сельское хозяйство и весьма точную систему измерения времени.

4. Они были также чудесными инженерами, разработавшими систему, способную двигать огромные каменные глыбы на большие расстояния и обрабатывать их с высокой точностью.

5. Мы знаем, что когда первые европейцы высадились на побережье в 1517 г., эта великая и таинственная цивилизация существовала только в памяти.

5. Make up your own sentences with the words (see task 1).

5. Discuss the topics:

1. What was the book by John Lloyd Stephens about?

2. What do you know about the Mayan civilization?

3. Why did the Mayan civilization come to an end?