Reading page 107 reading reading passage 1
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Reading-test-20
The Sauna
Paragraph A Two thousand years ago, the itinerant Finns established a fur trade with Central Europe and gave up their wandering ways. As their numbers increased, they moved inland, turning to the soil for sustenance. Anthropologists know little about the Finns before the Middle Ages; therefore, the origin of the sauna is in question. Most researchers agree that Finns always had some form of sweat bath, as did most people around the world. It was one of the simplest and most efficient ways to satisfy people’s innate need to keep clean. When the Finns were nomadic, they probably used a sweat lodge they could take with them, similar to those carried by the American Indians and still seen among nomadic tribes in central Asia. The first sauna was dug into an embankment in the ground with plank sides. Later saunas were built above ground with wooden logs for the floor, walls and roof. Rocks were heated in a stone stove with a wood fire until the rocks were super hot. This room did not have a chimney, but a small air vent in the back wall. It was a half-day process to heat this type of room and when the sauna reached the required temperature, the bathers entered after the smoke cleared. The walls and ceiling would become dark black and so this original sauna was called “savu” (Finnish for smoke). Paragraph B In the early 18th century, Scandinavian saunas lost their functional use in society and gathered opponents in Europe. The opponents of the sweat bath in Finland, Norway and Sweden were a coalition of economists, who maintained it wasted firewood. Their claims were not unfounded. People traditionally took a sauna every day, which consumed a considerable amount of firewood. Furthermore, the outside saunas rotted faster than other buildings, seldom lasting more than twelve years, and they were in need of constant renovation. This put pressure on family and community finances. Finns were under great duress from the Swedes to abandon the sauna. Propagandists warned against its harmful effects, claiming they caused illness, convulsions, tumors, premature loss of vision, and that they were particularly dangerous for children. Download 87.46 Kb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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