Part 2: Summarizing Central Ideas about Elizabethan England 222

When analyzing the development of a text's central ideas, readers should consider .

how central ideas connect

Readers must consider ________ to determine the central idea in an informational text. the author and setting historical facts and people the topic and supporting details symbolism and language

the topic and supporting details

Which line best helps develop the central idea that the plague was a very deadly disease? "Elizabethans do not understand infection and contagion as we do." "In 1565 the people of Bristol count up the plague victims for that year and arrive at the figure of 2,070 . . ." "This last epidemic originates in Portugal and is brought to Devon by mariners." "It is ironic that the great naval ships that deliver the English from the Spanish threat bring another danger . . ."

"In 1565 the people of Bristol count up the plague victims for that year and arrive at the figure of 2,070 . . ."

Read the excerpt from The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England. The theory of the humors is just the basic framework into which physicians fit a number of other ideas. Galen teaches that every living thing is composed of the four elements: fire, earth, air, and water. Each of these corresponds with one of the four humors. Fire, which is said to be hot and dry, corresponds with choler; water (cold and wet) with phlegm; earth (dry and cold) with black bile; and air (hot and wet) with blood. These properties are all associated with parts of the body, so the brain is cold and moist, the kidneys hot and moist, and so on. If an imbalance in the humors clashes with the properties of an organ, the patient will be ill. Which sentence best summarizes the excerpt? Water was thought to be cold and wet, so it was associated with phlegm. Elizabethans believed that the balance of the four humors would keep them healthy. Galen taught Elizabethan doctors about fire, water, earth, and air. Air was the most important humor because it corresponded with blood.

Elizabethans believed that the balance of the four humors would keep them healthy.

Read the excerpt from The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England. Elizabethans do not understand infection and contagion as we do. It is not that they are completely ignorant as to how illnesses spread—physicians believe they know perfectly well—it is rather that their understanding is very different from ours. The principal ideas underpinning most Elizabethan medical thinking come from Galen, who lived in the second century A.D. Physicians will cite him as an unquestionable authority when they explain to you that your health depends on a balance of the four humors: yellow bile or choler, black bile, phlegm, and blood. If there is too much choler in your body, you will grow choleric; too much blood and you will be sanguine; too much phlegm and you will be phlegmatic; and too much black bile makes you melancholic. It is from these imbalances that sickness arises. How does the paragraph develop the central idea that Elizabethan beliefs influenced their understanding of disease? It provides details about Galen's medical training. It compares modern and Elizabethan techniques. It details the belief that bodily humors affect health. It describes popular Elizabethan treatments.

It details the belief that bodily humors affect health.

Which sentence is an example of an objective summary? Elizabethans had some interesting ideas about disease. Malaria was common in marshy areas where mosquitoes bred. Studying humors seems like a ridiculous medical practice. Obviously, English citizens should have left the swampy regions.

Malaria was common in marshy areas where mosquitoes bred.

Which sentence is an example of an objective summary? Mortimer is a witty writer who adds humor to history. It must have been horrible to live in Elizabethan times. Quality health care today is wonderful, but overpriced. Modern medicine has changed dramatically since the 1500s.

Modern medicine has changed dramatically since the 1500s.

What should writers do when summarizing a text? Check all that apply. They should include minor details. They should state their personal beliefs and opinions. They should restate the text's central ideas. They should include important supporting details. They should use objective language.

They should restate the text's central ideas. They should include important supporting details. They should use objective language.

When providing an objective summary of a text, writers should directly quote the text. avoid central ideas. include their opinions. exclude personal opinions.

exclude personal opinions.

Read the excerpt from The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England. Perhaps the most difficult thing to come to terms with is the scale of death. Influenza, for example, is an affliction which you no doubt have come across. However, you have never encountered anything like Elizabethan flu. It arrives in December 1557 and lasts for eighteen months. In the ten-month period August 1558 to May 1559 the annual death rate almost trebles to 7.2 percent (normally it is 2.5 percent). More than 150,000 people die from it—5 percent of the population. This is proportionally much worse than the great influenza pandemic of 1918-19 (0.53 percent mortality). Another familiar disease is malaria, which Elizabethans refer to as ague or fever. Which sentence best helps readers determine the central idea of the paragraph? "Perhaps the most difficult thing to come to terms with is the scale of death." "However, you have never encountered anything like Elizabethan flu."' "Influenza, for example, is an affliction which you no doubt have come across." "Another familiar disease is malaria, which Elizabethans refer to as ague or fever."

"Perhaps the most difficult thing to come to terms with is the scale of death."

Read the excerpt from The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England. There is no concept of "health and safety" in Elizabethan England, so you will inevitably feel vulnerable when you arrive. Nauseating smells and sights will assail your senses; contemporary standards of cleanliness will worry you. People die every day from unknown ailments, the young as often as the old. Infectious diseases periodically kill thousands within a few weeks. Even when plague is not in town, it lurks as an anxiety in the back of people's minds and, when it does strike, their worry turns to terror. On top of the illnesses, the chances of being attacked and hurt are much higher than in the modern world, and workplace injuries are far more common. What is the central idea of this paragraph? Infectious diseases, like the plague, killed many people. Infectious diseases were a great source of concern. Elizabethans faced health challenges similar to ours today. Elizabethans faced a variety of challenges in staying healthy.

Elizabethans faced a variety of challenges in staying healthy.

Read the excerpt from The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England. Elizabethan people suffer from some afflictions that no longer exist in modern England. Plague is the obvious example but it is by no means the only one. Sweating sickness kills tens of thousands of people on its first appearance in 1485 and periodically thereafter. It is a terrifying disease because sufferers die within hours. It doesn't return after a particularly bad outbreak in 1556 but people do not know whether it has gone for good; they still fear it, and it continues to be part of the medical landscape for many years. How does the paragraph develop the central idea that Elizabethans suffered from diseases that are unfamiliar to modern readers? It lists diseases found only in modern England. It describes the plague in great detail. It gives a description of the English landscape. It provides the example of sweating sickness

It provides the example of sweating sickness.

Read the excerpt from The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England. But what if it comes to the worst? What if you have painful black buboes in your groin and armpits, and experience the rapid pulse, the headaches, the terrific thirst, and delirium that are the tokens of the plague? There is little you can do. Physicians will prescribe the traditional medicines of dragon water, mithridatium, and theriac if they hear you are suffering but you will suspect that these are cynical attempts to relieve a dying person of his money. The physicians themselves will not normally come near you. Simon Forman, who does attend plague sufferers, is a rare exception: this is because he has himself survived the disease and believes he cannot catch it again. What is the central idea of this paragraph? Physicians could not do much for victims of the plague. Physicians were afraid to come near patients with symptoms. Symptoms of the plague included headaches and delirium. Symptoms were treated with dragon water or theriac.

Physicians could not do much for victims of the plague.

Read the excerpt from The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England. Serious though influenza and malaria are, they are not the biggest killers of the age. That title belongs to the plague or "pestilence." No one knows precisely how many die over the course of the reign but the total is probably around 250,000. In 1565 the people of Bristol count up the plague victims for that year and arrive at the figure of 2,070, almost 20 percent of the population. Ten years later, after another deadly outbreak, they record a further 2,000 fatalities. What is the central idea of this paragraph? Another name for the plague in the 1500s was "the pestilence." In 1565 almost 20 percent of the population died of the plague. The plague was the most deadly disease of the Elizabethan era. Malaria and influenza killed almost as many people as the plague.

The plague was the most deadly disease of the Elizabethan era.

A summary is a statement of a text's central ideas in one's

own words