Lesson 4 The Winds of Change
Pictures Worth a Thousand Words
As quickly as a camera captures a scene, an ____ can grab hold of our emotions.
Through speech or written text, it can be difficult ____ convey a complex message quickly.
Yet photographs can change people’s hearts ____ minds in an instant.
____ when the magic of photography sparks an emotional reaction in a great number of people, it can change history.
The Burning River That Started a ____
In the 1880s, industry began to grow rapidly along the Cuyahoga River in the city of ____
____ industrial growth provided steady jobs to people in the area.
Meanwhile, steel mills and factories started dumping large ____ of waste into the river.
Although the river became polluted, most people simply regarded this as a sign ____ the area’s economic success.
In ____ 1969, the polluted river caught fire.
____ likely cause was a burning flare falling from a train, which set fire to oil-soaked waste beneath a bridge.
At that time, few people in ____ cared.
This was because fires had been recorded on the Cuyahoga more than ten times before, and some of them had been ____ worse.
However, it wasn’t long before the 1969 fire ____ famous.
This was thanks to an ____ published in Time magazine that year.
The article featured a shocking ____ of flames and smoke rising from the river.
But this was not a photograph of the 1969 fire, which was put out so quickly ____ nobody took a picture of it.
In fact, it was a picture of a much worse ____ that had occurred on the river several years earlier.
Still, the image ____ a great impact on people.
Around that ____ the attitudes of Americans toward environmental problems were starting to change.
More and more people were becoming aware of the need to protect the environment, and the shocking image of the burning river sparked public anger ____ water pollution.
As a result, the Cuyahoga River fire of 1969 became a symbol of ____
A national environmental awareness event was held ____ April 22, 1970, which later became known as the first Earth Day.
And in 1972, national water quality standards were established with the passage of the ____ Water Act.
Exposing the Harsh Reality of Child Labor
In the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution ____ to a dramatic increase in factory production in the United States.
The ____ for workers increased, and many new positions were filled by children.
By 1900, about twenty percent of all ____ in the United States were employed, and some of those working in factories were only four years old.
The work was difficult and dangerous, leaving many child laborers with ____ problems.
Factory owners turned to child labor for ____ reasons.
For example, children could ____ paid less than adult workers.
They were ____ less likely to go on strike.
Lewis Hine, a teacher and photographer, wanted to reveal how cruel ____ system was.
So he quit his teaching job and started to work for the National Child Labor Committee as an investigative ____
He gained access to factories by pretending ____ have different jobs like insurance agent or fire inspector.
Once inside, ____ would photograph the children working there.
He would also ask ____ names and ages and record information about their living and working conditions.
From 1908 to 1912, he secretly gathered information and took photographs to expose factory owners who were taking advantage of ____ children.
Hine’s photographs captured young ____ doing all sorts of jobs.
These ____ picking vegetables, weaving baskets, and even handling dangerous equipment.
What is ____ the children’s faces showed the tragic impact of hard labor.
When people saw the children’s joyless expressions, ____ could not help but feel heartbroken.
The pictures were later shown in exhibitions, lectures, ____ articles, and so on.
____ a result, the public realized just how serious the situation was.
Soon, many states passed stronger laws to ban the employment ____ children.
In 1938, the United ____ Congress passed an act that made it illegal for children under sixteen to work in factories during school hours.
These ____ show that photographs can bring meaningful change to society.
They prove that, sometimes, a ____ truly is worth a thousand words.