Question

According to the text, what are some different ways that kites have been used by the Chinese military around 3000 years ago?

Answer 1

Explanation:

PASSAGE 2 18 Marks You may never want to fly kites to keep away evil spirits, as the Chinese have done for centuries, or to make rain, as the Tibetans did, but some more modern and westem uses may tempt you to try experimenting yourself along similar lines. Ancient and medieval Chinese sources describe kites being used for measuring distances, testing the wind, lifting men, signalling and communication for military operations. The earliest known Chinese kites were flat (not bowed) and often rectangular. Later, tailless kites incorporated a stabilising bowline. Kites were decorated with mythological motifs and legendary figures, some were fitted with strings and whistles to make musical sounds while flying. From China, kites were introduced to Cambodia, India, Japan, Korea and the western world. The most widespread use of kites in modern times has been for meteorological investigations. Everybody knows about how Benjamin Franklin, the great American scholar and statesman, sent a kite up in 1752 during a thunderstorm to prove that lightning was caused by electricity. He produced sparks at ground level from a key hung on the wer line as the current flowed down it. A second investigator repeated Franklin's experiment shortly afterwards and was killed. By sending up instruments on kires it has been possible to make readings of air pressure, temperature, speed, direction and humidity. Although thermometers had been sent up long before, it was not until 1894, that a self-reading thermometer, a thermograph, was sent up by a kire. The army, navy and air force have used kites in various ways for decades. Another Korean version of the invention of the kite tells how a general used one to carry a line across a stream. This line then formed the basis of a bridge. Lines are still occasionally flown from point to point in this way using kites. At sea, kites have often been used to carry a line to distressed ships in rough weather. Kites, especially box and bow kites, have been used as gunnery targets . They are easy to make and cheap to use and will stand quite a lot of punishment before they cease to fly. Apart from their use as targets, kites have been used by the army to fly flags, for aerial photography over enemy trenches, for suspending flares over targets during night fighting, for carrying a man over enemy lines, for dragging torpedoes etc to a target area. They have been used by both military and civil authorities for raising, transmitting and receiving aerials to obrain improved wireless reception. As a matter of fact, the first long-distance short wave transmission of all made use of an aerial flown on a kite. When Marconi made the famous transatlantic transmission, he raised his receiving aerial some 400 feet on a kice. During World War II the RAF developed a kite flare' as part of survival equipment for airmen forced down at sea. When airborne, the kite was attached to a special shock absorber which was fixed to the dinghy. It was stated that provided there was a 6 mph wind, the kite would stay aloft indefinitely. Some of these kires were brought to Australia and sent to the 6th Australian Division in 1944 for trials to determine whether they were of use in jungle warfare, especially in defining locations. After experiments, the authorities decided that they were of no value for this purpose. QUESTIONS (a) On the basis of your reading of the given passage make notes on it using headings and sub-headi Use recognisable abbreviations wherever necessary. Supply an appropriate title to it. (b) Write a summary of the given passage in 80-100 words.