(its my semester! ) excerpt from “young christopher columbus," adapted from christopher columbus and the new world of his discoveryby filson young there are few historical records of young christopher columbus’s life, but we are able to imagine a vague picture of him before he became a sailor. in order to do so, we rely on columbus’s own writing, the writings of people who knew him, knowledge of ordinary life in italy during his lifetime, logic, and educated guesswork. the picture that these details paint is an interesting one. it shows a young boy with a dream that he struggled to follow. around the age of 10, columbus was apprenticed to his father, a woolweaver in genoa, italy. there is little evidence that christopher ever wanted very much to do with wool-weaving. in fact, dreams of becoming a sailor probably made him a pretty poor weaver. he did, however, receive an education during his apprenticeship. christopher would have learned about various things in a school established by the weavers in his hometown. it is likely that young christopher read the works of ancient greek philosophers, such as aristotle, pliny the elder, and seneca. he probably also learned about astronomy, which would have been later in his life since sailors navigated their ships based on the stars. on top of these topics, young christopher was also probably interested to learn more about geography and the politics of his time. however, to think that young christopher columbus was enthusiastic about school or enjoyed the time he spent learning to weave is probably incorrect. certainly, the new responsibilities of work would have been exciting at first. but if there was ever a young boy who enjoyed being outside, it was christopher. he could happily spend hours down by the docks with the breeze blowing off the water as he watched ships come and go. so he jumped at every opportunity he got to escape the indoor life of school and weaving to head down to the water. and it was on those docks that christopher would listen to the sailors tell stories of their adventures at sea, while thinking how boring life as a weaver was going to be. the wharves of genoa in those days were a busy place. they were full of romance and adventure, buccaneering, trading, and treasure-snatching. there were dark-bearded spaniards, fair-haired englishmen; there were greeks, and indians, and portuguese. the bales of goods that arrived often came from distant lands. there was cotton from egypt, and tin and lead from southampton in england. there were spices from china, rhubarb from persia, silk from india, and wool from syria. with so much excitement and business happening right in front of him, it is no wonder christopher’s father’s occupation was not terribly interesting. it is easy to imagine the young boy deciding that he was not going to just watch the boats come and go; he was going to be on them. however, telling his father about this decision would not be so easy. he struggled with it for several years. finally, at the age of 14, christopher told his father, domenico, that weaving was not in his future. though domenico was disappointed, he knew that his son would be happier on the ocean than working as a weaver in genoa. soon after, christopher left home on a ship to live out his dream of being a sailor. which is one detail from the passage? a. christopher columbus grew up in genoa, italy. b. christopher columbus was a disobedient son. c. christopher columbus sailed three ships to the new world. d. christopher columbus wanted to find a fast route to asia.