12 History
12 History June 1 2023 | World and Press Families fight to exonerate witches blamed for epidemic 350 years ago HISTORY The first known execution of an alleged witch in Connecticut took place in 1647. mit Audiodatei und Übungsmaterial By Will Pavia 1 NOT LONGafter the founding of the colony of Connecticut, a married couple named John and Joan Carrington who lived in a town called Wethersfield were arrested for witchcraft. The indictment against John, a carpenter and father of two, alleged that “thou has interterteined ffamilliarity with Sattan, the great enemye of God and mankinde and by his help has done works above the course of nature … for (which) … thou deservest to die.” 2 Records of their trial have been lost, but some historians now believe that the couple, like other so-called witches, were blamed for a flu epidemic that killed several local people. Contemporary accounts suggest that on March 6, 1651, “they were taken from the prison, and after being hanged, their bodies were thrown in an unmarked grave in Writer and historian Beth Caruso stands at the site of a 1651 accident that led to the hanging of an accused witch in Windsor, Conn. | Photo: Jessica Hill/AP/Picture Alliance the prison cemetery,” Suzanne Vogel-Scibilia, a clinical psychiatrist, told a meeting of the Connecticut judiciary committee, part of the state assembly. 3 “I am the tenth great-grandchild of John Carrington,” she said. “This might seem like an old issue. But I have difficulty telling my granddaughters and my grandsons what happened to their ancestors.” She was there to support a resolution exonerating those accused of witchcraft and the 11 executed for it in Connecticut, including the Carringtons. 4 Massachusetts, where 156 people were accused of consorting with the Devil in the Salem trials of 1692 and 1693, pardoned one woman who had been overlooked in previous exonerations in an amendment to the state budget last summer. But there has been more resistance to the idea in Connecticut, where the first known execution of an alleged witch took place in 1647. 5 John Winthrop, founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, had noted the execution in his diary without naming the accused. Two and a half centuries later, a diary belonging to the town recorder in Windsor offered a name. “They tore down this old house that belonged to the granddaughter of Matthew Grant,” said Beth Caruso, a Connecticut writer and historian. “Some kid was going through the rubble and found this old book.” This was later passed to a state librarian who found a jotting on the flyleaf, recording the execution of Alse Young, in 1647. 6 Caruso said the Grant diary, though it largely contained sermons and old hymns, also contained records of deaths. “From that I was able to discover that the family living right next door to Alse Young had actually lost several children in this influenza epidemic,” she said. “There were other important people in the town – the minister lost two children, the town doctor lost a child.” It appeared to confirm that Alse Young’s and other prosecutions arose from epidemics, she said. 7 Beverly Kahn, a political scientist, told the state’s judiciary committee that her own “great to the eighth grandmother Goodwife Knappe” was executed after she became “a pawn in a power struggle between Roger Ludlow, founder of Fairfield, and his political rival Thomas Staples”. She said Ludlow wanted Knapp to testify that Staples’s wife was a witch. “Knapp resisted and did not accuse Staples or any other of witchcraft. She proclaimed her innocence until they killed her,” Kahn said. 8 State senator John Kissel, a Republican, said the execution took place while Connecticut was under British rule. “I’m concerned about the path we are taking if we have to go and redress every perceived wrong in our history.” … © The Times, London/News Licensing This article originally appeared in The Times, London. 0 – 1 TO EXONERATEentlasten; s.w.u. exoneration — alleged angeblich; s.w.u. to allege behaupten — witchcraft Hexerei — indictment Anklage(schrift) — carpenter Zimmermann — thou alte Form von „du“ — to entertain familiarity with h.: ein Bündnis eingehen mit 2 – 4 historian Historiker(in) — contemporary zeitgenössisch — unmarked grave namenloses Grab — clinical psychiatrist klinische(r) Psychiater(in) — judiciary committee Justizausschuss — assembly Parlament — to consort with verkehren mit — to pardon begnadigen — amendment Änderung — budget Haushalt — resistance Widerstand; s.w.u. to resist s. widersetzen 5 – 6 town recorder Stadtschreiber(in) — to tear down abreißen — rubble Schutt — jotting Notiz — flyleaf Vorsatzblatt — sermon Predigt — hymn Kirchenlied — minister Pfarrer(in) — prosecution Gerichtsverfahren — to arise from zurückzuführen sein auf 7 – 8 great to the eighth … … achten Grades — Goodwife früher: Anrede für e-e Frau — pawn (fig) Spielball — to testify aussagen — to proclaim one’s innocence seine Unschuld beteuern — to redress a wrong ein Unrecht wiedergutmachen — perceived vermeintlich Continued from page 1 8 As the parties draw battle lines for a general election, there are signs that some of the cultural and social issues that have dominated Britain’s political debate since before the Brexit vote in 2016 are finally fading. With the inflation rate in double digits and the economy on the edge of recession, the local elections were fought largely on economic matters, not on immigration, sovereignty, or the promise to “Get Brexit done,” which propelled Boris Johnson, then the prime minister, to a landslide victory in the 2019 election. 9 “We have passed peak Brexit,” said Timothy Garton Ash, a professor of European studies at Oxford University. “The structural problems that flow from Brexit are still there, but it’s the beginning of a long, slow, painful journey back.” Among the biggest questions is the future shape of Britain’s relationship with the European Union. This will shape the political debate, Garton Ash said, but it will not be answered for several years, perhaps by the winner of the general election after next. 10 Under Sunak, the government has taken steps to reset its relationship with the rest of Europe. Sunak eased tensions with President Emmanuel Macron of France, a guest at the coronation. Britain signed a deal to settle a trade dispute in Northern Ireland with the European Union, which sent three top leaders to the ceremony in Westminster Abbey. 11 The king played a symbolic, if scrutinized, role in that deal by inviting one of those leaders – the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen – to Windsor Castle shortly after she and Sunak had signed the agreement. Critics said the king had been drawn improperly into politics, an impression heightened by the fact that Downing Street called the agreement the Windsor Framework. That suggested to some that he had put his imprimatur on it. Windsor is his family name, as well as that of the castle west of London where Sunday evening Charles and his family celebrated the coronation with a star-studded concert. 12 For all the razzle-dazzle, the concert felt slightly less starry than one held last year for Elizabeth on her platinum jubilee. That captures the challenge Charles faces in succeeding his mother, a beloved figure who reigned longer than any sovereign in British history. … 13 “She was such an extraordinary figure that one could speak of a second Elizabethan age,” Garton Ash said. “Most monarchs in the 21st century will not have ages named after them.” Still, as an emissary for British values, he said, Charles was “turning out to be a good king.” On his first foreign trip, to Germany, he won praise for his speech to the parliament, in which he switched seamlessly from English and German and delivered a robust expression of Western support for Ukraine. 14 The importance of the king’s role in these moments should not be underestimated, political scientists said. At a time of domestic political and economic flux – of restive local elections and extravagant royal spectacles – the monarch is an enduring symbol of British identity and its place in the world. “All of that,” Garton Ash said, “gives a country, which is not in very good shape or spirit, at least a bit of comfort.” © 2023 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times. 8 – 10 to draw battle lines die Fronten abstecken — in double digits im zweistelligen Prozentbereich — sovereignty Souveränität, s.w.u. sovereign Souverän(in) — to propel vorantreiben; h.: (fig) tragen — landslide victory Erdrutschsieg — to reset h.: auf e-e neue Grundlage stellen — to ease tensions Spannungen abbauen — trade dispute Handelsstreit 11 – 12 to scrutinize kritisch beobachten — improperly unangemessen — to heighten verstärken — framework Rahmenabkommen — to put one’s imprimatur on s.th. sein Plazet für etw. geben — star-studded mit Starbesetzung — razzle-dazzle Trubel — platinum jubilee 70-jähriges Thronjubiläum — to succeed nachfolgen 13 – 14 emissary Abgesandte(r); h.: Verfechter(in) — to win praise Lob ernten — seamlessly nahtlos; problemlos — flux Wandel — restive un ruhig
World and Press | June 1 2023 Science 13 Professor dives deep in search of a longer life SCIENCE Professor Joseph Dituri believes intense atmospheric pressure holds the key to a longer life. He explains how he’s hoping to reach 110. mit Audiodatei By Will Pavia 1 ONE MORNINGthis week, Joseph Dituri woke in a bunk bed 22 feet beneath the surface of the sea and got up to make a cup of coffee. It was early, and the large round windows of his living room were still pitch black, but soon the morning dawned, and his little cabin on the sea floor filled with soft green light. Breakfast was two eggs, cooked in the microwave with some leftover steak from the night before and cheese. “That was amazing,” Dituri, 55, said. 2 It was the start of his 14th day at the bottom of a lagoon beside Key Largo in Florida, as he attempts to become the first human being to spend 100 days underwater. By subjecting himself to a battery of physical and medical tests he hopes to show the beneficial effects of living under the kind of atmospheric pressure that makes a 0 – 2 INTENSEextrem — atmospheric pressure atmosphärischer Druck — bunk bed Stockbett — 22 ft ca. 6,7 m — pitch black stockfinster — to dawn dämmern — leftover übrig geblieben — to subject o.s. to s.th. s. selbst etw. aussetzen — a battery of e-e ganze Reihe von — muscle mass Muskelmasse 3 – 4 associate professor Dozent(in) — to counter entgegenwirken — exposure Ausgesetztsein — lozenge-shaped rautenförmig — hyperbaric banana explode. “My initial findings are it increases muscle mass,” he said in a video call. “That’s really, really early stuff, but I’m telling you, I’m super-excited.” 3 Dituri, an associate professor at the University of Florida, believes it may also counter one of the processes of ageing and improve his chances of living beyond a hundred years old. Exposure to air pressure two or three times higher than normal, usually in a lozenge-shaped capsule called a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, allows the lungs to gather more oxygen and has been used to treat deep sea divers suffering “the bends” and various infections and injuries. The musician Justin Bieber has claimed that sleeping inside one helps to reduce his anxiety. 4 Dituri, who was a US navy diver, is effectively living inside one, in the Jules Undersea Lodge, a 100 sq ft (9sq m) cabin that was originally parked on the sea bed off Puerto Rico. In the 1970s, it was a research laboratory. Brought to the Florida Keys, it was refashioned into a mini-hotel that could only be reached in a scuba suit. It stands on stilts, on the sea bed, fed from the surface with pressurised oxygen and water. You enter via a watery port in the floor. Short-stay guests, who emerge into a wet room to peel off their suits, have included the former prime minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau and Steven Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith. In 2014, two biologists, Jessica Fain and Bruce Cantrell, stayed for 73 days. 5 Dituri spent 27 years in the navy and then studied biomedical engineering, specialising in traumatic brain injuries. In 2021, he suffered one himself when a car struck the side of his pick-up truck as he drove home from the gym. Knocked unconscious, he oxygen chamber hyperbare Sauerstoffkammer — deep sea diver Tiefseetaucher(in) — the bends Taucherkrankheit — to refashion umgestalten — stilts Stelzen — pressurised oxygen Drucksauerstoff — wet room Nasszelle — to peel off (fig) ausziehen 5 – 6 biomedical engineering Biomedizintechnik — traumatic brain injury Schädel-Hirn-Trauma — unconscious bewusstlos — stroke Schlaganfall — intensive care unit Intensivstation — expertise Professor Joseph Dituri outside the Jules Undersea Lodge, where he is attempting to live for 100 days. | Photo: Frazier Nivens/ AP/Picture Alliance had a stroke and ended up in an intensive care unit. Afterwards, he spent a week in hospital. 6 Given his expertise, he imagined he would be well placed to recover, but no single treatment seemed to help, and he struggled with fear, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. Six weeks after the accident he embarked on a new regimen that involved lots of treatments at once: hyperbaric oxygen therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, and physical therapies, he said. 7 That led to this 100-day experiment in living underwater, at 1.65 times the pressure on the surface. “I designed this study around the traumatic brain injury healing power of pressure,” he said. “The [air pressure] I treat people at on the surface is exactly the treatment depth I’m at now. We know it increases stem cells. At the depth I’m at, you get at least twice the number of circulating stem cells, if you only do it for five days. How much will it be after 100 days?” 8 Dituri believes that pressure could hold the keys to treatments for increasing the human lifespan. “We know that hyperbaric therapy increases the length of telomeres by 25–33 per cent,” he said. A telomere is a section of repetitive DNA sequences that protect the end of a chromosome. Fachwissen — to embark on s.th. etw. beginnen — regime h.: Behandlung — cognitive behavioural therapy kognitive Verhaltenstherapie — physical therapy Physiotherapie 7 – 10 stem cells Stammzellen — lifespan Lebensdauer — telo mere Telomer — repetitive s. wiederholend — consultation Beratung — artificial intelligence künstl. Intelligenz — trim fit — evening stroll Abendspaziergang “When they are gone, that’s it,” Dituri said. “That’s ageing.” He believes that increasing telomere length may “make it more possible to live past 100, by a lot. Right now I’m shooting for 110.” 9 Each day he subjects himself to a series of physical tests, aided by a team who swim down to visit him in the lodge. A psychologist holds weekly consultations with him online. “After eight weeks, I will start talking to her once every two days,” he said. “Just because I’m in an isolated and extreme environment.” 10 He is doing studies for NASA and for SpaceX too, including using an artificial intelligence health monitor developed for astronauts on long missions. Astronauts who stay a while in space lose muscle mass. Dituri expects the opposite effect. He is exercising daily and expects to come out trimmer, “because I’m not drinking alcohol, and I’m eating very clean, lots of vegetables.” He also believes that he will emerge slightly shorter. Each day he speaks via a video link to classes of school children. In the evenings, he puts on a scuba suit and swims along the bottom of the lagoon. He compares it to taking an evening stroll. “The lobsters are out walking around, that’s kind of cool,” he said. © The Times, London/News Licensing This article originally appeared in The Times, London. Neu! B2 – C1 – C2 Climate Change – noch ist es nicht zu spät • Original Pressetexte aus britischen u. US-amerikanischen Medien • gymnasiale Oberstufe / Abitur • Infografiken u. Vokabular zum Wortfeld Climate Change Special World and Press: Climate Change 64 Seiten, DIN A4, · ¤ 18,90 ISBN 978-3-7961-1179-2 www.sprachzeitungen.de
