Page 4 - BOOK V Unit 1

The truth was that the water from the Broad Street pump had been infected by waste.
Moreover, Snow was later able to show a link between other cases of cholera and
the different water companies in London. Some companies sold water from the River
Thames that was polluted by raw waste. The people who drank this water were much
more likely to get cholera than those who drank pure or boiled water.

Through Snow’s tireless efforts, water companies began to sell clean water, and the
threat of cholera around the world saw a substantial decrease. However, cholera is still
a problem. Each year, millions of people around the world get cholera and many die
from it. Fortunately, we now know how to prevent cholera, thanks to the work of John
Snow. Moreover, in his use of maps and statistics, Snow transformed the way scientists
study diseases. For this reason, Snow is considered the father of modern epidemiology.

3 Read the passage again and complete the chart below.

A C D
It was believed that Many deaths occurred near the The pump
cholera was caused in Broad Street. water carried
by bad or .
germs in . Some people
drunk the water from the
pump, and lived.
B Snow the E The
places where the people A woman and her daughter of the pump was
died in another part of London
who had after . removed.
lived.

4 Match the following headers with the letters from the chart above. Write A–E
in the blanks.

1 conclusion 2 evidence 3 process 4 solution 5 theories

5 Write out the questions according to the answers.

1 Q: What ?
Ask questions
A: Snow thought that cholera was caused by germs in food or water. One way to approach

2 Q: Why ? a reading passage is to
ask questions about it.
A: Snow had the handle of the pump removed so that it could not Asking questions can
be used. help you understand
the content. It can also
3 Q: How ? help you think more
deeply about the topic.
A: The cholera threat was defeated thanks to the work of John Snow.

6 In groups, discuss the following questions.
1 What was the most important tool Snow used to defeat cholera? What common medical
tools, e.g., a microscope, didn’t he use? Why?

2 How has John Snow’s work affected our daily lives?

UNIT 1 SCIENCE AND SCIENTISTS 3