Integrated Writing B-Answer Key

The author asserts that the bubonic plague originated in China during the Middle Ages and disappeared in the seventeenth century. The speaker, on the other hand, explains that the plague may actually have originated in ancient Egypt and that outbreaks still occur today.

According to the author, the worst outbreak of the bubonic plague occurred in the 1300s. The disease started in China and was transported to other parts of the world by rats. The rats carried disease-ridden onto ships. The plague arrived in Europe through Italy in 1347. Over the next five years, it killed 25 million people in Europe and 75 million people worldwide. This led to a breakdown of the social order. The plague continued to recur every generation until the seventeenth century, when it disappeared.

The speaker presents a different theory of the origins of the bubonic plague. She describes the work of an archeologist who found evidence of the plague in ancient Egypt. The archeologist found the remains of fleas at the site of an ancient village. The archeologist then turned up evidence that ancient Egyptians had experienced epidemics which may have been the bubonic plague. The speaker says that rats may have carried the disease from Africa to Europe on ships. She also points out that the bubonic plague has not disappeared. There are still several thousand new cases reported around the world every year.