Module 5 Ethnic Culture

Reading and Vocabulary(1)Simon Wakefield's Yunnan DiarySimon Wakefield travelled round Yunnan after leaving university. Below are extracts from the diary that he kept.April 20th1I've been in Yunnan for two months now and I'm still astonished by how varied the landscape is. Down in the south, in Xishuangbanna, it's very tropical, but here I am in Lijiang, in north-west Yunnan. Lijiang is half new town and half old town. The old town is on the side of a mountain and opposite it is the 5,500 metre Yulong Xueshan Mountain, its peak covered with snow. The sky is clear blue and I don't think I've ever seen anything else so beautiful in my life.2Early this morning I walked up to a beautiful park on the slopes of the mountain, and sat and watched as the town slowly woke up to the day. Seen from above, the old town is a maze of canals, little bridges and tiny cobbled streets that tourists get lost in. Three rivers run through the city and wherever you go, you hear the sound of rushing water. Cars are not allowed in the old town. As you walk past the ancient wooden and stone houses, you feel you are walking back into the past.April 23rd3This region is where the Naxi ethnic group live and I've spent several afternoons sitting in a caféin the old town square, just watching people. Their culture is fascinating. For example, it is the women who run Naxi society, and until recently, Naxi women inherited all property. They sit in small circles in thesquare, with their babies on their backs, completely uninterested in the tourists! They have the custom of playing cards on card tables in the middle of the street. The Naxi still wear traditional costume—the women wear blue blouses and trousers covered by a blue or black apron.4This afternoon I was lucky enough to meet a Naxi man from the old town. He was between 80 and 90 years old, but was full of energy. He spoke some English and showed me some translations of Naxi poems. It was fascinating to read them! The Naxi language is the only hieroglyphic language still in use and is over 1,000 years old. The Naxi believe that they came from a creature called Tabu, who helped them hatch from magic eggs. This story is shown in pictures in books put together in the 10th century, and there are still a few copies of these ancient books in Lijiang.April 25th5Lijiang is a city of painters and writers, but Naxi culture is particularly famous for its music. Passed from father to son, the music has not changed for eight centuries, and among the richer Naxi people, knowledge of this music showed that you were a real gentleman. I've just returned from a performance of the Naxi Orchestra. It took place in an old wooden hall, and was played by Naxi men, some of whom looked as if they were well over 100 years old! They played ancient songs, songs with names such as The Water Dragon Is Singing, Wind from the River and The Sheep on the Hill. Sometimes the instruments sounded like women crying, or trees bending under snow. In the audience there were both tourists and local people. Everyone listened as if someone had put a spell on them.April 29th6I have only one day left before travelling to Kunming and then flying back home. My stay here has been unforgettable and I really don't want to leave. I've learnt so much about the Naxi culture, and I now understand that althoughpeople may seem very different from you, we all laugh, cry, and need love and friendship. However different we may appear to be at first, we are all the same, all equal.Find words in the passage which mean:1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8. a road surface made from many small round stones:Reading and Vocabulary(2)The Bai Ethnic GroupThe Bai ethnic group has a population of aroundtwo million, 90% of whom live in Yunnan. Theirnative region is the Erhai region of Yunnan, and itsmain city is Dali. The Bai have their own dialect,which resembles Chinese; however, Chinese ismostly spoken today. The Bai have an agriculturaleconomy, their main crops being rice, wheat, beans and cotton. Their staple foods are pork, rice and wheat. The Bai have a tradition of building houses as a community, usually beginning on a festival day. The houses are in the style of traditional Chinese architecture. They also build halls known as Yunhe halls, which can hold about 200 people and are used as community centres.The Bai prefer the colour white, and Bai womenwear white and red costumes, while the men wearwhite shirts and long wide trousers. Known as goodsingers and dancers, the Bai have an opera, whichcombines both music and dance. Another tradition is the Bai tea ceremony, in which tea is served three times. The most well-known Bai festival is the Torch Festival. During this festival, a tree, known as the torch tree, is burnt. Young mothers and their children walk round the tree three times for good luck, while others wish for a happy life for the village. Children then light torches and run through the fields.Read the passage and complete the sentences.1.Although the Bai people have their dialect, ____.2.The Bai grow ____.3.Bai houses resemble ____.4.The Bai people meet in ____.5.The Bai like to wear ____.6.They are known to be good at ____.7.Tea is served three times during ____.8.Young mothers walk round the torch tree in order to ____. Reading PracticeNo Problem"Ouch!" I howled in pain as I dropped the hammer onto my foot. I felt foolish.It was pouring with rain, and, lame for a moment, I hopped around to the driver's side."No luck?" said George. We had a flat tyre and I was trying to change the wheel. But it was stuck firm.We had driven ten hours along the road through the jungle without seeing another soul. In the distance was an ox working in a field."So what do we do now?" asked George, as I got back into the car.About fifteen minutes later, the rain stopped. Out of the jungle came an old woman. She walked towards us carrying something long and thin."Uh—oh, here comes danger!" said George, "She's got a spear."She was wearing traditional garments, with short sleeves, a colourful necklace and other jewellery. As she got closer, we saw the spear was just a wooden pole. I got out."Hello!" I said, in English. "Can you help us?" I pointed to the wheel.She stared at it, and then made a gesture to follow her back to the jungle. George and I looked at each other, then set off after her.Soon we came to a tent under an arch of trees. It had a rigid framework of wooden poles, like the one the woman was carrying, covered with heavy cloth, and fastened with rope made with some kind of loose plant fibre. All around were corn plants. It was harvest time for the grain, and a spade, a fork and other tools were lying on the ground. Nearby were some chicks and a rooster, and a pig tied to a post.The woman folded back a cloth and invited us in. My eyes had to adjust to the darkness inside. The tent was furnished with a few mats on the floor, and a low table with a teapot. She picked up a photo and showed it to us. Was it her husband? The man in the photo was bare to the waist. He looked much too young. She was probably a widow. Maybe her son or her nephew?Our hostess poured some tea, and watched as we drank."Say something," ordered George."Cheers!" I said and raised my cup. "Can we contact a garage?"Suddenly, there was a tap at the door. It was the man in the photo. The old woman said something, and he looked at us. I felt awkward, so I smiled at him."No problem," he said, in English. He pulled out a mobile phone and made a call."Twenty minutes. No problem. Let's wait by the car," he said.As we walked back to the car, the sun pierced the clouds. Over the hills beyond was the most beautiful rainbow.Choose the best answer to the questions.1. To be lame means ____.to have an injured footto be unsure what to doto be frustratedto have an injured arm2. They saw the woman who was carrying something long and thin, and____.they were relieved to see herthey thought she would be able to mend the flat tyrethey were scared because they thought it was a spearthey knew she would be able to help them3. The writer and George give the impression that they ____.knew the region very wellwere travelling between two towns in a remote jungle regionwere experienced explorers of jungleswere expert car mechanics4. Harvest is the time when ____.you sow grain for cropsyou measure the crops you have collectedyou collect crops from the fieldsyou make the grain into flour5. By the end of the passage ____.it was still rainingthe rain was stoppingit had stopped raining and the sun had come outit had stopped raining6. The writer wants to ____.describe a meeting between travellers and villagers in the jungleshow in an amusing way how mobile phones can be found in themost isolated placesdraw attention to the dangers of travelling in the jungledescribe life in a remote village in the jungle7. The passage is ____.a reporta storyan advertisementtravel brochureCultural CornerRead the passage and answer the questions.1.In what way are the Native American and the AustralianAborigines' cultures similar?2.Are there any similarities between these cultures and those ofthe Chinese minorities, which you have read about in this module?Native Americans and Australian AboriginesAmong the most well-known ethnic minorities of the English speaking world are the Native Americans of North America, and the Australian Aborigines.It is generally agreed that Native Americans came across from Asia, somewhere between 12,000 and 25,000 years ago. Until the arrival of the Europeans in the 15th century, it is thought that there were between 1.8 million and 10 million Native Americans in North America. The people had thick straight black hair, dark eyes and brown skin. They were a hunting, fishing culture, but as they moved round, many kinds of society developed, speaking many languages. For example, in the west people lived in villages and developed an agricultural economy, whereas in the east, where it was colder, people remained a hunting culture. With the arrival of the Europeans, there were many battles over land, and the Native American population became much smaller, partly because they died from European diseases. Today, Native Americans live in only a few areas of North America. They were made citizens of the US in 1924.The native people of Australia, called Aborigines, probably came from somewhere in Asia more than 40,000 years ago. It is thought that at the time of the arrival of the Europeans in the late 18th century, the population was about 350,000.Like the Native Americans, they were hunters and gatherers, living in small groups across the continent. These groups did not have leaders and the older men of the group made their decisions together. When important ceremoniestook place, hundreds of people from different groups travelled great distances to attend them. For Aborigines, the land is very important and no part of it can be owned by a particular person.After the arrival of the Europeans, Aboriginal numbers became smaller and smaller, as the Europeans took more and more land. However, in the 1960s, the importance of Aboriginal culture began to be understood. Today, Aborigines make up just over 1.5% of Australia's population.。