In 1912 a bookseller named Wilfrid M. Voynich acquired a beautifully illustrated handwritten book manuscript written on vellum vellum is a material that was used for writing before the introduction of paper. The “Voynich manuscript,” as it became known, resembles manuscripts written in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. However, it is written in a completely unknown script. To date, no one has been able to decode the script and understand the book’s content. Several theories have been proposed to explain the origin of the Voynich manuscript.
One theory is that the manuscript is a genuine work on some scientific or magical subject composed in a complex secret code. Anthony Ascham, a sixteenth-century physician and botanist, has been identified as a possible author, since many plant illustrations in the Voynich manuscript are quite similar to those in Ascham’s book on medicinal plants, A Little Herbal, published in 1550.
According to some other theories, the manuscript is really a fake and its text has no real meaning. For example, it has been proposed the manuscript was created by Edward Kelley, a sixteenth-century personality who extracted money from nobles across Europe by pretending to have magical powers. Kelley may have created the manuscript as a fake magical book to sell to a wealthy noble. He used a made-up alphabet in a completely random order. It looks like a book of magical secrets, but there is no meaningful underlying text.
Another theory is that the manuscript is actually a modern fake created by Wilfrid M. Voynich himself. As an antique book dealer, Voynich certainly had the knowledge of what old manuscripts should look like and could have created a fake one. Perhaps Voynich’s plan was to sell the fake as a mysterious old book if he received an attractive offer.
The reading passage and the lecture both mainly discuss about a handwritten book written on vellum which had been composed in fifteenth and sixteenth century, to argue whether this book is authentic or not. While the author suggests three theories for the origin of this book, the lecturer disputes this, saying that all these theories had not discussed the probable author and seems unconvincing.
First, according to the reading, it could be a genuine work about a scientific and magical subject that had been written in complex secret code by Anthony Ascham, given that his book on medical plants was pretty similar to this manuscript. However, the lecturer opposes this idea, he explains that this manuscript conveys important and powerful information and because of this important information had been written in complex code, but the Ascham was an ordinary man, and his book did not contain any important and genuine information. He adds that his book is only based on other well-known facts, so it is unlikely that this elaborated secret-coded book has been written by Ascham.
Secondly, the author suggests that this manuscript is a fabricated book with no real meaning written by Edward Kelley, and the purpose of composing this book was to sell to wealthy people. The lecturer on the other hand claims that, since people in sixteenth-century were simple and easy to deceive, so he would not have needed to go for too much trouble for writing this book, He could write a much simpler book and sell it easily without putting a lot of effort into this manuscript.
Lastly, the author posits that this manuscript is a modern fake book, which has been created by Voynich himself. Yet, the man on the audio asserts that, based on the results of the dating of the vellum and the ink used, it proposes that, they belonged to four thousand years ago. consequently, this book had been written long ago before Voynich. Some might say that he could have burrowed the vellum from an old book, but he could not have obtained four thousand years old ink.
- Carved stone balls are a curious type of artifact found at a number of locations in Scotland They date from the late Neolithic period around 4 000 years ago They are round in shape they were carved from several types of stone most are about 70 mm in diame 73
- Which one do you think is the most important factor for a student to success college or university 1 Tutors in university 2 The encouragement from family and friends 3 High quality education from high school 76
- Do you agree or disagree with the following statement It is more important for the government to spend money on art museum and concert halls than on recreational facilities such as swimming pools and playgrounds 80
- do you agree or disagree with the following statement In the past it was easier to identify what kind of career or job would lead to a secure successful future 90
- Summarize the points made in the lecture being sure to explain how they respond to the specific points made in the reading passage 70
Comments
Essay evaluations by e-grader
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 7, column 281, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Consequently
...ey belonged to four thousand years ago. consequently, this book had been written long ago be...
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, consequently, first, however, if, lastly, second, secondly, so, then, well, while, as to, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 16.0 10.4613686534 153% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 6.0 5.04856512141 119% => OK
Conjunction : 15.0 7.30242825607 205% => Less conjunction wanted
Relative clauses : 14.0 12.0772626932 116% => OK
Pronoun: 42.0 22.412803532 187% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 36.0 30.3222958057 119% => OK
Nominalization: 3.0 5.01324503311 60% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1718.0 1373.03311258 125% => OK
No of words: 349.0 270.72406181 129% => OK
Chars per words: 4.92263610315 5.08290768461 97% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.32221490584 4.04702891845 107% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.51452541684 2.5805825403 97% => OK
Unique words: 184.0 145.348785872 127% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.527220630372 0.540411800872 98% => OK
syllable_count: 504.9 419.366225166 120% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.4 1.55342163355 90% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 7.0 3.25607064018 215% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 7.0 8.23620309051 85% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 1.25165562914 160% => OK
Conjunction: 4.0 1.51434878587 264% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 3.0 2.5761589404 116% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 11.0 13.0662251656 84% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 31.0 21.2450331126 146% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively long.
Sentence length SD: 69.0736820628 49.2860985944 140% => OK
Chars per sentence: 156.181818182 110.228320801 142% => OK
Words per sentence: 31.7272727273 21.698381199 146% => OK
Discourse Markers: 10.1818181818 7.06452816374 144% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 4.19205298013 24% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 4.0 4.33554083885 92% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 3.0 4.45695364238 67% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.27373068433 94% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.196132819673 0.272083759551 72% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0921845303771 0.0996497079465 93% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0397286044023 0.0662205650399 60% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.126799184615 0.162205337803 78% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.026461024928 0.0443174109184 60% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 17.6 13.3589403974 132% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 56.93 53.8541721854 106% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 5.55761589404 158% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.0 11.0289183223 118% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.85 12.2367328918 97% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.88 8.42419426049 105% => OK
difficult_words: 82.0 63.6247240618 129% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 17.0 10.7273730684 158% => OK
gunning_fog: 14.4 10.498013245 137% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.2008830022 80% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Write the essay in 20 minutes.
Rates: 85.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 25.5 Out of 30
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 7, column 281, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Consequently
...ey belonged to four thousand years ago. consequently, this book had been written long ago be...
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, consequently, first, however, if, lastly, second, secondly, so, then, well, while, as to, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 16.0 10.4613686534 153% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 6.0 5.04856512141 119% => OK
Conjunction : 15.0 7.30242825607 205% => Less conjunction wanted
Relative clauses : 14.0 12.0772626932 116% => OK
Pronoun: 42.0 22.412803532 187% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 36.0 30.3222958057 119% => OK
Nominalization: 3.0 5.01324503311 60% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1718.0 1373.03311258 125% => OK
No of words: 349.0 270.72406181 129% => OK
Chars per words: 4.92263610315 5.08290768461 97% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.32221490584 4.04702891845 107% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.51452541684 2.5805825403 97% => OK
Unique words: 184.0 145.348785872 127% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.527220630372 0.540411800872 98% => OK
syllable_count: 504.9 419.366225166 120% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.4 1.55342163355 90% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 7.0 3.25607064018 215% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 7.0 8.23620309051 85% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 1.25165562914 160% => OK
Conjunction: 4.0 1.51434878587 264% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 3.0 2.5761589404 116% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 11.0 13.0662251656 84% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 31.0 21.2450331126 146% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively long.
Sentence length SD: 69.0736820628 49.2860985944 140% => OK
Chars per sentence: 156.181818182 110.228320801 142% => OK
Words per sentence: 31.7272727273 21.698381199 146% => OK
Discourse Markers: 10.1818181818 7.06452816374 144% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 4.19205298013 24% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 4.0 4.33554083885 92% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 3.0 4.45695364238 67% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.27373068433 94% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.196132819673 0.272083759551 72% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0921845303771 0.0996497079465 93% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0397286044023 0.0662205650399 60% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.126799184615 0.162205337803 78% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.026461024928 0.0443174109184 60% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 17.6 13.3589403974 132% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 56.93 53.8541721854 106% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 5.55761589404 158% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.0 11.0289183223 118% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.85 12.2367328918 97% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.88 8.42419426049 105% => OK
difficult_words: 82.0 63.6247240618 129% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 17.0 10.7273730684 158% => OK
gunning_fog: 14.4 10.498013245 137% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.2008830022 80% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Write the essay in 20 minutes.
Rates: 85.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 25.5 Out of 30
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.