薮下研究室

Reading Drill No.10

  History shows that although fire is incredibly useful, it can also be destructive, and there are stories from all parts of the ancient world of whole communities being destroyed by fire.  Later, by the beginning of the Middle Ages, towns began to appear in Europe with Large buildings constructed of wood.  People at this time were worried about the danger of unattended fires, so many towns and villages adopted the practice of reminding its citizens to cover their fires at night.  The English king, Alfred, was so worried about fire safety that he passed a law in 876 requiring all fires in the city of Oxford to be covered every day on the ringing of a church bell at 7 p.m.  In 1068, King William extended this law, called the curfew law, to the whole of England, but he also prohibited people from gathering outside their homes after dark.  This law was very unpopular because it was clearly intended to control people’s movements, rather than to prevent fires.  The curfew law was repealed by King HenryⅠin 1100, but the ringing of “curfew bells,” as they became known, continued in some churches for more than seven hundred years.
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