Sra: Imagine It!, Themes, Taking a Stand, Ancient Civilizations Ecology, Great Expectations, Earth in Action, Art and Impact, Level 6

Elizabeth Mann

Fernando Rangel

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Within the Selection

1. What event in California helped motivate businessmen to build the Panama Railroad?

2. Why did Roosevelt want a canal across Panama?

Across Selections

3. What is similar about the engineering achievements in "Beneath the Streets of Boston" and "The Panama Canal"?

4. Apart from size, what are the major differences between the Panama Canal and the canals described in "Mesopotamia"?

Beyond the Selection

5. How did the success of the canal builders increase opportunity for the world's people?

6. How does "The Panama Canal" add to your knowledge of the theme Great Expectations?

Write about It!

Was the Panama Canal worth the money and the lives it cost? Explain your answer.

Remember to look for pictures of canals and dams for the Concept/Question Board.

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Genre

Feature

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter shook hands with Omar Torrijos Herrera, the leader of Panama. They had just signed a treaty . President Carter hoped it would end many years of anger among the Panamanian people.

From the beginning, many people in Panama were angered by the 1903 canal treaty. They believed that Panama did not receive enough economic benefit from the canal. The yearly payment from the canal to Panama was too low, and Panamanians who worked in the Canal Zone were paid less than American workers.

A 1936 agreement increased Panama's yearly payments from the canal. In 1955, another treaty raised the payment even higher. It also promised fairer wages to the Panamanians working on the canal. Even so, Panamanians resented U.S. control. They held protests during the late 1950s and early 1960s. In 1964, some of these protests became riots.

In response to the riots, the United States and Panama began negotiating new treaties. It took more than a decade to reach an agreement. In 1977, General Torrijos and President Carter signed treaties giving more than half of the canal back to Panama. The treaties also said the United States would give control of the canal to Panama in 1999. Both countries wanted a peaceful and smooth transition. The Panama Canal Commission was established to run the canal.
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It would gradually pass more control to Panama. In 1990, a Panamanian citizen became manager of the canal. After 1990, more than 90 percent of the canal workers were Panamanian.

During the mid-1990s, the Panama Canal Authority was formed.

It was part of Panama's government. It would officially take over canal management in 1999.

On December 14, 1999, an important ceremony took place. The Panama Canal Commission handed control of the canal to the Panama Canal Authority. Attending the ceremony was former President Carter. He looked on as the transition happened, just as the 1977 treaty had intended.

The Panama Canal finally belonged to Panama.
Think Link

How does the time line help you follow major events since the Panama Canal was constructed?

Why did the United States pass control of the Panama Canal over to Panama? Do you think the United States would have built the canal had they known Panama would end up owning it? Explain.

Suppose the Panama Canal had not been built. How would ocean travel be different between New York and Japan? How might this affect your life?

Try It!

As you work on your investigation, think about how you can use a time line to organize your information.

A photograph can show us,

in color or in black and white,

what's wrong, what's right.

Look with me inside this ship.

We see, through the lens, a crowd

of families. It all looks loud,

though a photograph makes

noise only in our heads. Lives

are changing. Husbands, wives

and babies are sailing toward us,

who inhabit the future they desire,

free from poverty's dirty fire.

They sail in steerage, a mode

of going from dark to days

of light, to develop all the ways

of being themselves. The mast,

they hope, will grow into a leafy tree

and whisper, "Now you're free."

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Focus Question What is the "mighty woman with a torch" offering? by Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Test-Taking Strategy: Skimming and Prioritizing Questions

You do not have to answer the questions on a test in the order they appear. Good test takers look at each group of questions. They answer the easiest questions first. Then they go back and answer the more difficult questions.

Read the questions below. Decide which one seems difficult and which one seems easy.

In this story, the students voted for Tonya because--

A she was new in school

B no one else ran

C Jeff helped her

D she had a good idea

What is the author's main purpose for writing this story?

A to explain the difference among different types of clouds

B to inform the reader about how clouds are formed

C to show how some clouds are more likely to cause rain

D to persuade the reader to spend more time watching clouds

The first question seems easy. It has fewer words and asks a question you can probably answer from memory or by looking back at the story quickly. The second question is more difficult, however. It will take longer to read. You might want to skip this item, answer all the easier questions, and then return to the difficult item.

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Test-Taking Practice

Read the story "Lighting the Night." Then answer Numbers 1 through 4.

Imagine it is the year 1902. You are visiting a medium-sized town where some friends live. What would the town have been like?

Entering the town, you would notice right away that it sounds different from the cities of modern times. There are no cars humming, no planes roaring, no cell phones ringing, and no lawn mowers droning. Instead, you hear horses' hooves on unpaved roads. You hear people's voices. You might even hear the steam engine of a train huffing and puffing.

You explore until evening falls. Suddenly, you notice that the city is extremely dark! Streetlights with flickering gas flames come on. The light they give off is yellow and unsteady, casting shadows that appear to dance.

Then you see something familiar. A group of people is standing in front of a movie theater. Large bulbs are ablaze on the theater's marquee, giving off a light that is strong and steady. It is very different from the gaslight, so you guess it has to be electrical.

"What's showing tonight?" you ask a young girl accompanied by her mother.

Laughing, she says in response, "The theater is closed tonight. We are here to look at the new lights." The girl's mother explains that a new power station has been finished. It generates the electricity that was being used to light up the theater.
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"Soon," the mother says, "the town will not only have an electrified movie theater; it will have a new electric streetcar."

"We will be just like New York or San Francisco!" adds the daughter.

Electricity was not actually "invented." Whether in the form of lightning bolts or static made by rubbing cloth, electricity is a natural power source. Humans just had to learn how to create and harness it. When they did, everything changed.

Even after people learned how to generate electricity, it was not available everywhere. The electrical power had to travel through wires. These wires had to be run from the power plant to the population centers. Once these power lines were run into towns, older buildings had to be wired into the system. In some parts of the country, this process took decades.

Now, as you enjoy the strong steady lights of the theater in 1905, you are surprised to see its dozens of lightbulbs dim, flicker, and then turn off entirely. The crowd of people seems unsurprised by this development. They say their goodnights and start to head home.

"What happened to the power?" you ask the girl.

"The power company turns off the electricity at 9 o'clock every night," she says. "But there is no need to worry. It will come back on tomorrow, bright as ever."

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Use what you learned from the story "Lighting the Night" to answer Numbers 1 through 4. Write your answers on a piece of paper.

Test Tips

* Compare the answer choices with one another.

* Skip difficult questions and come back to them later.

* Think about the question.

Which words from the story help the reader form an image of the light from a gas flame?

A "strong and steady"

B "yellow and unsteady"

C "bulbs are ablaze"

D "huffing and puffing"

What is something that electric companies used to do that they no longer do?

A control the city streetlights

B light up movie theater signs

C turn off the power at night

D send power through wires

Why does the author mention cars, planes, cell phones, and lawn mowers at the beginning of the passage?

A to show how quiet it was in 1902

B to show what things use electricity

C to show what was invented in 1902

D to show how different life used to be

Which of these sounds might you hear in the town in this story?

A an airplane

B a car

C a phone

D a train

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Fine Art Theme Connection

* What event is occurring?

* How does this illustrate Earth in action?

* How do Warhol's colors represent the event?

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Big Idea

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crater

tension

eroded

entirely

impression

wealth

Vocabulary Strategy

The scientist climbed to the top of the mountain. She looked down into the crater . This mountain was different from the others nearby because the others were part of one range.

She knew that most of the mountains in this range had been pushed up along a fault line. A fault line is a place where huge plates in Earth's crust collide or slip past one another. Sometimes tension is created when plates try to slip past one another but do not move.

Between Earth's crust and its core , or central part, is the mantle. The huge plates float on the mantle. Sometimes, as they float, they can bump into one another. The scientist thought about how this mountain range had been created. One plate had pushed against another plate underneath the earth. It thrust the edge of the other plate up, creating the mountain range.

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As the scientist looked around, she could see how wind and moving water had eroded huge canyons in the mountains.

The mountain with the crater had formed when hot steam and lava in the mantle broke through the surface. She knew that all of the lava, ash, and stone had piled up to form a cone.

The scientist climbed down the mountain. Near the bottom, she caught sight of pieces of a cup. She wondered what had caused it to fragment . She dug beside the pieces and discovered a plate that had been entirely covered by a layer of soil. It left an impression in the soil after she picked it up.

The scientist wondered if the plate and broken cup had been left by a miner. During the 1800s, miners had crossed these mountains in search of wealth .

The scientist stopped and looked around. Mountains like these were all the wealth she needed.

Game

Concept Vocabulary

The concept word for this lesson is topography. Topography means "a region's surface features." Mountains, valleys, plains, rivers, and lakes are all part of a region's topography. How does topography connect with the unit theme?

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Genre

Comprehension Strategy: Compare and Contrast

As you read, compare and contrast thoughts, ideas, and things presented in the text to help you understand the selection.
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Focus Questions

What are some visible reminders of Earth in action? How do nature and human nature interact on Earth?

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The earth from space

The earth is first of all a lonely planet set in space. It's the only one we know of where conditions were exactly right for the slow development of life. The earth looks vast and flat from where we stand, but seen from space, it's a small round ball and doesn't look so very vast at all.

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Volcano

We live on the earth's solid, outer crust, where it's cool enough for us to exist. The crust on average is twenty miles thick. Below the crust is the mantle, a very hot region of stuff called magma -- squooshy, semimolten matter on which the crust floats. Below that is the core of the earth. At a temperature of nine thousand degrees everybody knows that it's very hot, but no one is sure if it's solid or not.

Volcanoes erupt when magma pushes up through a weak spot in the earth's crust. As the magma rises it begins to expand, and as it nears the surface it explodes, filling the sky with an enormous load of dust and gas and flaming ash. Once the magma hits the air it's known as lava, and it begins to flow, a fountain of fire, a river of flame, leveling everything in its way.

When the eruption is over and that dust and ash and lava settle down, it all cools and hardens and forms a mound. The mound is often in the shape of a cone, with a hole called a crater or vent that runs down the center. Over the centuries that's the way some of the world's greatest mountains were made.

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The crust of the earth -- dry land as well as the ocean floor -- is divided into gigantic plates, which float and shift around on the mantle. Each plate moves perhaps two inches in the course of a year. In ten million years, so the experts say, Los Angeles may be sitting in San Francisco Bay.

It often happens that plates collide, or one will brush another's side. That produces stresses underground, and an earthquake is the earth's way of easing the tension and settling back down. Sometimes a quake is just a tiny tremor, rattling glasses and cracking plaster, but sometimes it's a great disaster, destroying things and taking lives.

Mountains

When the floating plates of the earth collide head-on, the crust of the earth will buckle and slide, break up and rise, fold over and thrust. This process over millions of years will change an entirely level plain into a high and jagged mountain range. The Rocky Mountains and the Adirondacks were both formed in exactly that way. The Rockies are still high and jagged today. The Adirondack Mountains, being much older and so much more eroded, are rounded and smoother, not nearly as high or as rugged and steep, and the valleys between them aren't nearly as deep.

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Igneous Rock

There are basically three kinds of rock. Igneous rock was magma once, part of the mantle that's under the crust. Igneous means fiery, which refers to the fact that the rock was so hot once that it melted entirely. When some of that magma intrudes on the crust, it pushes up from below, then begins to cool down. Some cools slowly while it's still underground and turns into igneous rock that's hard and dense. Some becomes lava and flows down the sides of active volcanoes. Compared with the other kind, it's porous and light.

Sometimes magma pushes up but not all the way out of a volcanic cone, filling the volcano's crater like a plug in a spout, and when it cools off, it is very hard rock. In a few million years erosion removes the soft ash and lava that had made up the cone, leaving that dense plug of rock to stand all alone.
Devil's Tower, South Dakota

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Water from rains or melting snow collects in streams and rivers, which eventually flow to the sea. Tiny particles of rock and sand get carried along by that water and they settle down to the ocean floor, where they're called sediment. This grainy stuff keeps piling up layer after layer, for ages and ages, until under the pressure of its own weight, the bottom layers turn to stone. Some of this rock stays under the sea, but sometimes the sea dries up and recedes. Sometimes, because of the movements of the tectonic plates, the ocean floor buckles and is lifted up and sedimentary rock from the bottom of the sea winds up where you'd 4 least expect it to be, on the side of a mountain or the top of a hill.

Heat and pressure can change many things, not just the way those things look or feel but their very structure, how they're made. Metamorphic rock has been changed in that way. Pressure from the weight of the rocks on top of it and heat from magma that's glowing hot can turn a sedimentary rock like limestone, which is soft and rough, into marble, which is very different stuff. Marble has a smooth and beautiful look. When it's shaped and polished, it looks so good that sculptors often use it to make their art.

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Fossils

In ancient seas when a fish or some other creature died, it sank to the bottom, where it would lie until its flesh rotted away. If in the meantime the sediment kept piling on, covering the skeleton of this once-living thing, then millions of years later when the sand turned into stone, the rock would contain an impression of the fish's bones. That kind of impression, called a fossil, makes it possible for scientists to know what living things were like a very long time ago.

Rocks break up when they rub together; they fracture and fragment when exposed to the weather. Over millions of years, they're ground down into tiny particles of sand.

All by itself, of course, sand is just sand. Nothing can grow in it unless it contains a substantial amount of organic matter. Organic is a word we use to describe anything that was once part of something alive: dead leaves, dead wood, pine cones, a lost toenail, dead flesh and bones, the by-products of living things, like manure and spit and fallen hair. When all this organic matter breaks down and combines with the ground-up sand, that's how soil is made. Soil sits on top of the land, a thin layer, a narrow band of soft and fertile earth.
Fossil fish found near Provo, Utah

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