The explorer's story composition is over 600 words.
1, the story of Xu Xiake.
Xu Xiake (15871.5-1641.3.8) is a famous macro-ancestor, whose name is Xia Ke. He was born in a famous rich family in Jiangyin, Jiangsu. Ancestors are all scholars, which can be called scholarly family. His father, Xu Youmian, never wanted to be an official or associate with power. He likes to visit and enjoy the surrounding scenery. Influenced by his father in his childhood, Xu Xiake likes reading books such as history, geography, adventure and travel notes. These books made him love the magnificent rivers and mountains of the motherland from an early age and determined to travel all over the world. At the age of fifteen, he should have passed a boy exam and failed. Seeing that his son had no intention of becoming famous and was no longer reluctant, the father encouraged him to read widely and become a learned man. Xu Xiake's ancestors built a scroll building to collect books, which created good conditions for Xu Xiake's extensive reading. He studies very hard, and when asked, he can remember everything he has read. The library at home can't meet his needs, and he also collects some books that he has never seen before. As long as he sees a good book, even if he has no money, he will take off his clothes and change books. At the age of nineteen, his father died. He really wanted to go out and visit famous mountains and rivers, but according to the moral standards of feudal society, "parents are here, don't travel far". Xu Xiake didn't immediately prepare for a long trip because of his old mother in class. His mother is a cultured and reasonable woman. She encouraged her son to say:
"As a man the gentleman, should aim at the quartet. Go out to travel! Go to heaven and earth to stretch your mind and broaden your knowledge. How can I stay at home and do nothing, because I am here, like a chicken in the fence and a pony on the shaft? " After hearing this, Xu Xiake was very excited and determined to travel far. Before he left, he wore a traveling crown made by his mother and left his hometown with simple luggage on his shoulders. This year, he was twenty-two years old. From then on, until his death at the age of 56, he spent most of his time traveling.
Without any government funding, Xu Xiake traveled to 16 provinces including Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong _ Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan. East to Putuo Mountain in Zhejiang, west to Tengchong in Yunnan, south to Nanning in Guangxi and north to Panshan in Jixian County, Hebei Province, covering more than half of China. What's more, during more than 30 years of travel and investigation, he mainly walked, even rarely took a boat, and often carried his own luggage. Most of the places he has been to are desolate backcountry or sparsely populated frontier areas. He is not afraid of wind and rain, tigers and wolves, keeps company with Changfeng and Baiyun, feeds his hunger with wild fruits and quenches his thirst with clear springs. He was dying several times, risked his life and tasted the hardships of the journey.
At the age of 28, Xu Xiake came to Wenzhou to climb Yandang Mountain. He remembered that there was a big lake on the top of Yandang Mountain in ancient books, so he decided to climb to the top and have a look. When he climbed to the top of the mountain with difficulty, he saw that the ridge was straight and there was nowhere to stay. How can there be a lake? However, Xu Xiake still refused to give up and continued to walk on a big cliff, and the road was gone. He carefully observed the cliff and found a small platform below, so he tied a long cloth belt to a rock at the top of the cliff, then grabbed the cloth belt and hung it down. When he reached the small platform, he found that the bucket below was too deep to get down. He had to grab the cloth belt, climb the cliff, and climb up with difficulty, ready to climb back to the top of the cliff. Crawling and crawling, the belt broke. Fortunately, he grasped a prominent rock skillfully, otherwise he would fall into the abyss and be shattered. Xu Xiake tied the broken belt, struggled to climb, and finally climbed to the top of the cliff. On another occasion, he visited Huangshan Mountain and was caught in heavy snow on the way. The local people told him that in some places, the snow was waist-deep, so he couldn't see the way to climb the mountain clearly and couldn't get up. Xu Xiake was not scared. He leaned against an iron bar to find his way. Up the mountainside, the mountain becomes steeper and steeper. Shady places on the hillside are the hardest to climb. The road was covered with thick ice, steep and slippery. When you step on it, you will slide down. Xu Xiake dug a hole in the ice with an iron bar. Step on the pit, climb slowly step by step, and finally climb up. Monks on the mountain were very surprised to see him, because they had been trapped in the mountain by heavy snow for several months. He also walked through three dangerous roads in Wuyishan, Fujian: Baizhang dangerous ladder in Wang Feng, dolomite steep cliff, "chicken breast" and "dragon ridge" connecting bamboo shoots. When he arrived in Wang Feng, the sun was about to set, and he couldn't find his way down the mountain. He grabbed the hanging thorn with his hand and rolled down. He is in Songshan Mountain in Zhongyue, and he also hangs down the gorge from the top of the Taishi. Xu Xiake's amazing travel notes can indeed show that he is an ancient man.
After a day's trek, no matter how tired, no matter where he stayed, Xu Xiake insisted on recording the harvest of his investigation. There are more than 2.4 million words in his travel notes, but most of them are lost. What remained was the famous Travels of Xu Xiake, which was compiled into a book by later generations. With more than 400,000 words, this book is a great "fantastic book" integrating science and literature.
Xu Xiake's trip is not only for innovation and success, but also for exploring the mysteries and laws of nature. For example, his visit to Jianxi and Ningyangxi in Fujian is an example. Liling and Maling are the cradles of Jiangxi and Ningyangxi respectively. The heights of the two ridges are roughly equal, but the flow of the two streams into the sea is quite different. Jianxi is long, Ningyang is short. After investigation, Xu Xiake found that the water flow in Ningyangxi was faster than that in Jianxi. "The more urgent the trip, the more urgent the water flow", that is, the shorter the trip, the more urgent the water flow. This famous conclusion in geography was drawn by Xu Xiake through on-the-spot investigation. His investigation and study of mountains and rivers, waterways, geology and landforms has made achievements beyond his predecessors.
He inspected the waterway sources of many rivers, such as Zuoyou River, Xiaohe Riverside River, tributaries of Xiangjiang River in Guangxi, Erpanjiang River in the north and south of Yunnan, and the Yangtze River, among which the Yangtze River is the deepest. The mighty Yangtze River flows through most of China, and where it originated has long been a mystery. In the geography book Yugong in the Warring States period, there is a saying that "the Minjiang River leads to the Yangtze River", which has been used by later books. Xu Xiake has doubts about this. With this problem, he found that Jinsha River originated in the southern foot of Kunlun Mountain, which is more than 1000 Li longer than Minjiang River, so he came to the conclusion that Jinsha River is the source of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Due to the limitation of the conditions at that time, Xu Xiake failed to find the real source of the Yangtze River. But he took an extremely important step and found the source of the Yangtze River. No one found out for a long time after him. It was not until 1978 that the state sent an investigation team to confirm that the real source of the Yangtze River was Tuotuo River in Gladin Cave, the main peak of Tanggula.
Xu Xiake is also a pioneer in the scientific investigation of limestone landforms in the world. Limestone is widely distributed in the southwest of China. Xu Xiake made a detailed investigation in Hunan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan and other places, and described, recorded and studied different limestone landforms in various places in detail. He also inspected more than 100 limestone caves. In Jiuyi Mountain in southern Hunan, he heard that there was a flying Longyan, so he asked the local monk Mingzong to show him the way and investigate with a torch. Flying Longyan is a huge cave with twists and turns. There are holes in the cave, full of pits and water, so it is difficult to walk. Xu Xiake didn't care at all, and went deep into it. He doesn't care if his shoes will run away. Mingzong advised him to go back several times, but he wouldn't listen. It was not until the torch was almost burned out that he reluctantly came back. He doesn't have any instruments, only by visual steps, but most of his investigations are very scientific. For example, the records of seven-star rock 15 caves in Guilin are generally consistent with the field survey conducted by our geographical researchers today. More than a hundred years after Xu Xiake's death, Europeans began to investigate limestone landforms. Xu Xiake can be regarded as the earliest limestone geomorphologist in the world.
Xu Xiake has made many contributions to geographical science. In addition to the above, he also studied geothermal phenomena such as volcanoes and hot springs, and carefully described and investigated natural phenomena such as climate change and plant changes due to different terrain. In addition, he vividly described and recorded the situation of agriculture, handicrafts and transportation, the evolution of scenic spots and historical sites in various places and the customs and habits of ethnic minorities. His wonderful book is also of great literary value, and every article can be said to be a beautiful prose.
The last time Xu Xiake went out was on 1636, when he was 5 1 year old. This time, I mainly went to the southwest of China, arrived at Tengyue (now Tengchong, Yunnan) on the border between China and Myanmar, and returned to my hometown at 1640. He fell ill soon after he returned to his hometown. During his illness, he also looked through his own collection of rock specimens. Before he died, he still clung to the two stones he brought back during the inspection.
Xu Xiake's spirit of loving the motherland and science and courageously climbing the peak in scientific career is always worth learning by future generations.
2. Magellan
Ferdinand, a famous Portuguese navigator and explorer, sailed to Portugal (1505 ~ 15 12) and Spain (1519 ~152/) successively. Start from Spain, bypass South America, find strait of magellan, and then cross the Pacific Ocean. Although he was killed in the Philippines, his ship continued to sail west and returned to Spain, completing its first round-the-world voyage. Considered to be the first person to sail around the world.
Born into a noble family, Magellan joined the Portuguese navy to fight in India in 1505. Although Portugal won the battles on the east coast of Africa and the west coast of India, broke the Muslim forces in the Indian Ocean and seized the control point of maritime trade from the Arabs, it failed to control Malacca and its achievements were not perfect. So at 15 1 1, he participated in the invasion of Malacca. The wealth of the East flows into the ports of the western world through Malacca, and Portugal holds the key to the Malaysian seaport because it controls the Straits of Malacca. But we still need to explore the spice islands and the Moluccas, which will generate wealth. So I made a reconnaissance voyage at15112. After arriving in Banda Island, 15 12 returned to Lisbon with a batch of spices. The following year, I joined the army to attack the Moroccan fortress Assam, and I was disabled for life because of the injury. 15 14 After returning to China, the king called twice to ask for a promotion and increase the annuity, but both were rejected.
15 17 Magellan went to Spain with the cosmologist Farrero, giving up Portuguese nationality and becoming King Charles I of Spain. 15 18 became the captain of the expedition fleet to open a new route for Spain to the Moluccas. Magellan was sure that he could find a channel from the Atlantic Ocean to the South China Sea. 1565438+ The fleet set sail on September 20th, 2009, with 270 sailors from 9 countries. Arrived in Tenerife on September 26th, 654381October 3rd, and continued sailing to Brazil. Anchored off the coast of Guinea. 1 October 29th, 165438+ sailed to 27 leagues southwest of Cape St. Augustine (1about 5 kilometers). After bypassing Cabofrieu, the fleet arrived in Rio de Janeiro Bay on February 13. Arrived in port St. Julian in March of the following year.
After suppressing the rebellion initiated by Spanish captains, 1520 left Sanlian Port on August 24th, and the fleet continued southward. 10 year1October 24th, when it bypassed Notre Dame, it entered the strait they were looking for at 52 degrees 50 minutes south latitude (later named after Magellan). When we reached the western end of Xia Tao, there were only three ships left in the fleet. 65438+ entered the "South China Sea" on1October 28th. Back to the sea area, it was calm and called "Pacific Ocean". Suffering from hunger, the crew made a great voyage across the Pacific Ocean with the help of the Peruvian current and under Magellan's ruthless decision.
The fleet of 65438+February 18 sailed northwest from the coast of Chile, and did not see land until152165438+1October 24, probably PuCapka in Tuamoto Islands. On February 13, it crossed the equator at 158 degrees west longitude, and landed on Guam in Mariana Islands for the first time on March 6, getting fresh food for the first time in 99 days. Set sail on March 9, heading southwest. Later, he landed in massawa (today's Philippine Islands) and found the first Spanish ally in the Pacific Ocean. On Cebu Island, the local rulers and their officials converted to Catholicism. Less than two months later, on April 27, Magellan was killed while fighting with the locals on the island of Maketan. After Magellan's death, only two ships went to Damocka, and only the Victoria returned to Spain under the command of Elcano on September 1522. Survivors include another 17 Europeans and 4 Indians. Elcano returned to the Atlantic Ocean from the Pacific Ocean around the Cape of Good Hope, proving that the earth is round.
Magellan's outstanding contribution lies not in the voyage around the world itself, but in his bold belief and excellent control of this cause. He was the first person to cross the Pacific Ocean from east to west. It took him more than three months' voyage to change the popular concept at that time: it only takes a few days to reach East India by boat from the New World to the west. The practice of Magellan's fleet sailing around the world proved that the earth is a round body. No matter from west to east or from east to west, there is no doubt that it can go back to its original place once it goes around our planet. This will always be an indelible great feat in human history.