Bahasa Inggris | Reading, Wheels

 Invention of Wheel

Wheels help an automobile to ove. Can you imagine the world without wheels? There would be no cars, buses, motorcycles, and scooters. 

Wheel is one of the greatest mechanical inventions for the benefit of mankind. Before the invention of wheel, people carried load on their backs and shoulders. Later they used sledges to carry loads. Sledges were pulled by people or domesticated animals. Probably sledges were the first system used to transport heavy loads before the invention of wheel. People realised that tree trunks could be made round like rollers. These rollers were laid under the sledge at each stage and so very slowly it moved along. As the sledge rolled further the rollers were picked up behind it and laid down again in front of the sledge. The wheel probably developed using this technique.

The earliest known wheels were found in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) between 3500 and 3000 BC. The earliest picture of a wheel is seen in the Standard of Ur, a mosaic which depicts ancient civilisation in Mesopotamia around 6000 years ago. The picture shows procession of heavy war wagons rolling along on wooden wheels. 

Early wheels where either slices of wood cut across a log (tree trunk) with a hole for the axle in the centre or made of three planks of solid wood. The three pieces were held together with wooden struts or strips of leather. But such wheels had to be sawed into shape. They could not be made until people learned to use metal tools. 

The first wheeled vehicles were farm carts, war chariots and sacred wagons of Gods. These wheeled vehicles made the transport of heavy goods quicker and easier. 

The invention of wheel was made in the late Neolithic Age (New Stone Age) around 5000 years ago. The invention of wheel is seen with other technological advances that gave rise to the Bronze Age.

Wheels first used for transportation in 3200 BC in Mesopotamia. In Indian mythology also, we get evidences of use of wheels in chariots dating around 3000 BC. In the Harappan civilization of the Indus valley and north western India, toy cart wheels made of clay were found. These wheels had painted or engraved spokes. Some seals of the second half of the third millennium BC had symbol of the spoked wheel in the script. In reality, the spoked wheels were invented more recently. Spokes are the rods radiating from the centre connecting the hub with the round surface. The Andronova culture is often credited with the invention of the spoke-wheeled chariots around 2000 BC. In Egypt, people started using chariots fixed with spoked wheels around 2000 BC. In China, wheeled vehicles appeared in the second millennium BC. 

The wheels went to evolve and the first wheels with iron rims were seen in the Celtic chariots around 1000 BC. 

Jawablah pertanyaan-pertanyaan di bawah ini menggunakan informasi yang tercantum di dalam bacaan di atas!

1. In which age the invention of wheel was made?

2. Where were the wheel first used for transportation around 3200 BC?

3. Which is the oldest wheel discovered by archaeologists? 

4. Which culture is often credited with the invention of spoked wheel chariots? 

5. What kind of wheels were seen in Celtic chariots around 1000 BC?

6. Name any two devices other than automobiles in which wheels are used!

Kepustakaan:

Jha SN, Banerjee S, Jain N. (2013). A Textbook of Automobile Technology: For Class 9 (Level 1). New Delhi: Goyal Brothers Prakash Educational Publishers. hal. 1-4, 18.

Bahasa Inggris | Reading, Gotama

Naskah berikut ini dikutip dari prosa karangan Herman Hesse yang berjudul Siddhartha, halaman 26-27. Informasi lebih lanjut mengenai Herman Hesse pada tautan ini: Herman Hesse

Gotama

In the town of Savathi, every child knew the name of the exalted Buddha, and every house was prepared to fill the alms-dish of Gotama's disciples, the silently begging ones. Near the town was Gotama's favourite place to stay, the grove of Jetavana, which the rich merchant Anathapindika, and obedient worshipper of the exalted one, had given him and his people for a gift. 

All tales and answers, which the two young ascetics had received in their search for Gotama's abode, had pointed them towards this area. And arriving at Savathi, in the very first house, before the door of which they stopped to beg, food has been offered to them, and they accepted the food, and Siddhartha asked the woman, who handed them the food:

"We would like to know, oh charitable one, where the Buddha dwells, the most venerable one, for we are two Samanas from the forest and have come, to see him, the perfected one, and to hear the teachings from his mouth."

Quoth the woman: "Here, you have truly come to the right place, you Samanas from the forest. You should know, in Jetavana, in the garden of Anathapindika is where is exalted one dwells. There you pilgrims shall spent the night, for there is enough space for the inumerable, who flock here, to hear the teachings from his mouth."

This made Govinda happy, and full of joy he exclaimed: "Well so, thus we have reached our destination, and our path has come to an end! But tell us, oh mother of the pilgrims, do you know him, the Buddha, have you seen him with your own eyes?"

Quoth the woman: "Many times I have seen him, the exalted one. On many days, I have seen him, walking through the alleys in silence, wearing his yellow cloak, presenting his alms-dish in silence at the doors of the houses, leaving with a filled dish."

Delightedly, Govinda listened and wanted to ask and hear much more. But Siddhartha urged him to walk on. They thanked and left and hardly hard to ask for directions, for rather many pilgrims and monks as well from Gotama's community were on their to the Jetavana. And since they reached it at night, there were cosntant arrivals, shouts, and talk of those who sought shelter and got it. The two Samanas, accustomed to life in the forest, quickly and without making any noise a place to stay and rested there until the morning.

Kosakata:

exalted

alms-dish

ascetics

venerable

flock

inumerable

cloak