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Lighthouses are structures along the shorelines of large bodies of water. For tourists, lighthouses can be an interesting place to visit., and photograph. For historians, they are a window to the past and reminder of a different way of life. For sailors and ship captains, they are a sign of safety. They can protect a boat from running aground (搁浅)at night or other times when there is a fog or a storm.
Originally, lighthouses were built with rooms for the lighthouse keeper. It was the job of the keeper to make sure that it was always working. Although it could be lonely at times, it was an important job. Today, almost all lighthouses are automated, which means that there is no need for lighthouse keepers.
No one is certain when lighthouses first. We do know that lighthouses is probably more than 3,000 years old. An epic Greek poem titled The Iliad was written by a man named Homer around 1200 B.C. In the poem, Homer refers to a lighthouse, giving modern scholars an idea of how long lighthouses have been a part of human life.
Early lighthouses were quite different from today's lighthouses. They were usually made of iron baskets that were
Suspended from long poles. The basketsburning coal or wood. In the 1700s, these baskets were taken the place of by oil or gas lanterns. When electricity was invented, the lanterns were changed into electric beacons(灯标).
