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2020 ‫מועד חורף‬ - 49 - ‫ פרק שני‬- ‫אנגלית‬

Text II (Questions 18-22)

(1) The prospect of finding treasure aboard a shipwreck is not as outrageous as it may
seem. In 1989, while excavating a ship that had sunk in the eastern Mediterranean
nearly 2,000 years earlier, scientists made an unusual discovery that may well turn out
to be as valuable as a chest of ancient coins. In addition to glass cups, a pitcher, and

(5) ceramics, they found a locker containing medical supplies: a copper bleeding cup, 136
wooden vials, a mortar, and several sealed tin boxes. Inside one of these boxes were
several small gray-green tablets, still dry and intact.

When Alain Touwaide heard of the discovery, he recognized its importance.

Touwaide, a science historian at the Smithsonian Institution and founder of the Institute
(10) for the Preservation of Medical Traditions, has dedicated his career to studying ancient

medical texts such as the Hippocratic Corpus, a collection of writings associated with
the great Greek physician Hippocrates. Unlike some other scholars, Touwaide
maintains that these texts were not merely theoretical, but actually served as practical
handbooks for physicians long ago. At last, he had the means to prove that ancient
(15) medical writings were used for practical purposes: the preparation of medicinal
compounds.

Touwaide and a team of geneticists subjected samples of the pills to advanced
DNA sequencing techniques. The analysis showed that the tablets consisted of a dozen
plants – among them carrot, parsley, celery, and wild onion – held together with clay.

(20) Touwaide looked for references to these plants in the ancient texts and saw that they had
a common denominator: they were all used for gastrointestinal diseases. He concluded
that the pills might have been used to treat stomach disorders, such as dysentery, that
frequently affected sailors.

Touwaide is very excited by the findings. "When I started my work, the people in
(25) academia assumed that these ancient texts were just quackery." Touwaide believes the

pills are the first concrete example of a practical application of ancient medical
knowledge. He is more convinced than ever that such texts will be valuable in the
development of modern pharmaceuticals.

Questions

18. The main purpose of the first paragraph is to introduce -

(1) an ancient medical treasure
(2) a 2,000-year-old shipwreck
(3) the oldest medical supplies ever found
(4) a collection of valuable coins

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