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Mau Piailug, Ocean Navigator

Mau sailed from Hawaii to Tahiti using traditional methods. In early 1976, Mau Pialug, a freshman, led an expedition in which he sailed a traditional Polynesian boat across 2,500 miles of ocean from Hawaii to Tahiti. The Polynesian Voyaging Society had organized the expedition. Its puose was to find out if seafarers (海员) in the distant past could have found their way from one island to the other without navigational instruments, or whether the islands had been populated by accident. At the time, Mau was the only man alive who know how to navigate just by observing the stars, the wind and the sea.

He had never before sailed to Tahiti, which was a long way to the south. However, he understood how the wind and the sea behave around islands, so he was confident he could find his way. The voyage took him and his crew a month to complete and he did it without a compass or charts.

His grandfather began the task of teaching him how to navigate when he was still a baby. He showed him pools of water on the beach to teach him how the behavior of the waves and wind changed in different places. Later, Mau used a circle of stones to memorize the positions of the starts. Each stone was laid out in the sand to represent a star.

The voyage proved that Hawaii's first inhabitants came in a small boats and navigated by reading the sea and the stars. Mau himself became a keen teacher, passing on his traditional secrets to people of other cultures so that his knowledge would not be lost. He explained the positions of the stars to his students, but he allowed them to write things down because he knew they would never be able to remember everything as he had done.

16. At the time of his voyage, Mau had unique navigational skills.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

17. Mau was familiar with the sea around Tahiti.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

18. Mau could not afford a compass or charts.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

19. Mau learnt navigation skills from his grandfather.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

20. Mau used stones to memories where the stars were situated in the sky.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

21. The first inhabitants of Hawaii could read and write.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

22. Mau expected his students to remember the positions of the stars immediately.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned