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 ____ to convey a complex message quickly.
Yet photographs can change people’s hearts and minds ____ an instant.
And ____ 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 ____ amounts of waste into the river.
Although the river became ____ most people simply regarded this as a sign of the area’s economic success.
In June ____ 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 ____ time, few people in Cleveland cared.
This was because fires had been recorded on the Cuyahoga more than ten times before, and some of them ____ been much worse.
However, it wasn’t long before ____ 1969 fire became famous.
This was thanks to an article ____ in Time magazine that year.
The article featured a ____ photograph of flames and smoke rising from the river.
But this was not a photograph of the 1969 fire, which was put out so quickly that nobody ____ a picture of it.
In fact, it was a picture of a much worse fire that had occurred on the river ____ years earlier.
Still, the image ____ a great impact on people.
Around that time, the attitudes of Americans toward environmental ____ were starting to change.
More and more people ____ becoming aware of the need to protect the environment, and the shocking image of the burning river sparked public anger about water pollution.
As a result, ____ Cuyahoga River fire of 1969 became a symbol of pollution.
A national environmental awareness event was held on April 22, 1970, which later became known ____ the first Earth Day.
And in 1972, national water quality standards were ____ with the passage of the Clean Water Act.
Exposing the Harsh Reality of Child Labor
In the 19th ____ the Industrial Revolution led to a dramatic increase in factory production in the United States.
The demand for workers increased, and many new positions ____ filled by children.
By 1900, about twenty percent of all children in the United States were ____ and some of those working in factories were only four years old.
The work was difficult and dangerous, leaving many ____ laborers with health problems.
Factory owners turned to child ____ for several reasons.
For example, children could be ____ less than adult workers.
They were also less likely to go ____ strike.
Lewis Hine, a teacher and photographer, wanted to reveal ____ cruel this system was.
So he quit his teaching job and started to work for ____ National Child Labor Committee as an investigative photographer.
He gained ____ to factories by pretending to have different jobs like insurance agent or fire inspector.
Once inside, he would photograph ____ children working there.
He would also ask their names and ages and record ____ about their living and working conditions.
From 1908 to 1912, he secretly gathered information and took photographs to expose factory owners who were ____ advantage of helpless children.
Hine’s photographs captured young children doing all sorts ____ jobs.
These included picking vegetables, weaving baskets, ____ even handling dangerous equipment.
What is more, ____ children’s faces showed the tragic impact of hard labor.
When ____ saw the children’s joyless expressions, they could not help but feel heartbroken.
The pictures were later ____ in exhibitions, lectures, magazine articles, and so on.
As ____ result, the public realized just how serious the situation was.
Soon, many states ____ stronger laws to ban the employment of children.
In 1938, the United States Congress ____ an act that made it illegal for children under sixteen to work in factories during school hours.
These examples show that photographs can bring ____ change to society.
They prove that, ____ a picture truly is worth a thousand words.