Part 3. Mystery Solved

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.

 


  1. – made
  2. – graves
  3. – answer
  4. – Bay
  5. – next
  6. – affects
  7. – hair
  8. – strange
  9. – died
  10. – big
  11. – extreme
  12. – lead
  13. – understand
  14. – perfect
  15. – scientist
  16. – killed
  17. – found
  18. – six
  19. – difficult
  20. – back
  21. – wrong
  22. – times
  23. – food

  1. – discover

 


Exercise 11. Listen to the story “The Mystery of Franklin Expedition” once again and answer the following questions:

Questions:

  1. Captain Franklin was an English man, wasn’t he?
  2. Did the sailors of the Franklin Expedition look for the route through the Arctic?
  3. The sailors of the Franklin Expedition had enough food and tins for 3 years, hadn’t they?
  4. How many libraries did they have?
  5. When did Franklin and his men leave England?
  6. Did they have any problems when they sailed across the Atlantic?
  7. When did Franklin arrive at the Baffin Bay?
  8. The British Government became very worried about the Expedition, didn’t it?
  9. What did the Government do to find Franklin and his men?
  10. How much money was offered for the information about Franklin Expedition?
  11. Did anybody come with information?
  12. What was Franklin waiting for in the Baffin Bay?
  13. What did some sailors find in 1850?
  14. Did the sailors, sent by the Government, solve the mystery of Franklin Expedition?
  15. Was Franklin living with Eskimo people?
  16. What was the name of Franklin’s wife?
  17. What did Mrs Franklin do to find her husband?
  18. What did the expedition, sent by Mrs Franklin, discover in 1858?
  19. What happened to the ships?
  20. What happened to people?
  21. When did John Franklin die?
  22. What was the only chance for the Franklin’s sailors when they left the ships?
  23. Did the expedition, sent by Mrs Franklin, solve the Mystery?
  24. How many years passed in 1948 since Captain Franklin and his men had left England?
  25. Who was Dr Owen Bitty?
  26. What did Dr Bitty want to know?
  27. What fact did he find strange?
  28. What did Dr Bitty decide to do to solve the mystery?
  29. Dr Bitty went to the Baffin Bay with a team of scientists, didn’t he?
  30. Did the team of scientists take the bodies of three Franklin’s sailors to the University?
  31. The sailors’ bodies were in perfect condition, weren’t they?
  32. Why were the bodies of three Franklin’s sailors in perfect condition?
  33. Did the scientists take small samples of hair and skin?
  34. Did they put the bodies back into the graves?
  35. What did Dr Bitty discover when he was back at the University?
  36. How many times more lead did Franklin’s sailors have in their bodies than normal?
  37. Did Dr Bitty find where the lead came from?
  38. Where did the lead come from?
  39. Does lead affect brain?
  40. Did Dr Bitty solve the Mystery of Franklin Expedition?