The book Gulliver’s Travels would be best described as a. a memoir b. a satirical novel c. a travelogue
The character Lemuel Gulliver is a. a politician b. a news reporter c. a surgeon
In the last section of the book, Gulliver meets a civilization of a. giants b. flying scientists c. intelligent horses
Discussion/essay questions
What is the purpose of satire? Can you think of a good modern work of satire?
What do you think makes a story appealing to all ages?
Transcript
Gulliver’s Travels is a 1726 satirical novel by Irish author Jonathan Swift. The book is a parody of the travel narrative, which was a very popular genre at the time. The protagonist, Lemuel Gulliver, is a surgeon on a ship. He travels to fictional countries and encounters strange civilizations, including the six-inch-tall Lilliputians and the research-obsessed Laputans. Each culture is a comedic representation of a human trait. In the last section of the book, Gulliver meets a group of intelligent horses who contrast with the absurd and foolish humans. Although Gulliver’s Travels is often read as a children’s book, it was written for adults. The fantasy civilizations represent social and political structures in Britain during Swift’s life. Gulliver’s Travels is one of the earliest examples of the English novel.
The records are made of a. copper-plated gold b. gold-plated aluminum c. gold-plated copper
The records contain depictions of human a. religion b. language c. politics
The covers of the records have a. engravings of human anatomy b. engravings of important monuments on Earth c. engravings that explain how to retrieve the sounds and pictures
Discussion/essay questions
The Golden Record team chose not to include images of war, poverty, and other negative parts of humanity. Do you think this was a good decision? Why or why not?
Which sounds and images would you choose to represent Earth? Why?
Transcript
In 1977, NASA launched two space probes, called Voyager 1 and 2, to explore and photograph the solar system. They knew that the probes would eventually drift too far away to bring back to Earth, so they decided to use the opportunity to create a greeting for alien civilizations. Each Voyager craft contains a gold-plated copper record. A team of researchers chose a series of sounds and images to represent Earth, including drawings of human anatomy, photographs of nearby planets, and songs and languages from around the world. On the covers of the records, the researchers engraved pictures that explain how to retrieve the information. Although there is a very small chance that an alien civilization will ever discover the Golden Records, they are built to last for a billion years, and they will likely outlive the human race.
