[00:07.60]WARMING UP
[00:12.15]1 Look at the pictures of these festivals
[00:17.19]and discuss the tollowing questions with your partner.
[00:22.05]1 Do you know the names of the festivals?
[00:34.19]2 Do you know which countries the festivals come from?
[00:43.65]3 What are the people in the pictures doing? Why are they doing this?
[00:54.41]Picture 1
[00:58.54]When people came to North America from the British Isles,
[01:12.52]they brought their Halloween customs with them.
[01:25.47]Today,Halloween is a night when children dress up like ghosts,
[01:34.01]witches,devils,and so on.
[01:48.09]They go from house to house in their costumes,
[01:53.24]ring doorbells,and shout,"Trick or treat!"
[02:19.00]People give them candy and apples,gum,and nut,and the children have good time.
[02:38.25]But most children have no idea that their holiday has such a long history.
[02:58.10]Halloween is 31 October,the eve of All Saints'Day.
[03:19.16]That's why it's called in Chineses.
[03:25.71]Picture 2
[03:36.16]It is a Festival of the Dead,held once a year in Japan.
[03:58.71]The dead are said to return to their homes on this day
[04:14.88]and they are welcomed by the living.
[04:33.82]In towns that are near the sea,
[04:44.16]the tiny lanterns which has been hung in the streets the night before,
[05:01.71]are placed into the water when the festival is over.
[05:31.57]Thousands of lanterns slowly drift out to sea,
[05:37.63]guiding the dead on their return journey to the other world.
[06:22.48]That is what we see in the second picture on page 8,
[06:39.44]which is really a moving spectacle indeed:
[07:05.69]here we can see Japanese women
[07:09.82]and children in kimonos putting lanterns on the surface of the seashore,
[07:34.90]standing and watching them drifting away until they can be seen no more.
[08:15.93]Picture 3
[08:19.38]It is most probably about Kwanzaa,
[08:32.73]or Kwanza a seven-day festival celebrating the culture
[08:38.16]and history of African Americans.
[09:17.61]I had never heard about it until one day I happened to read about it in
[09:26.47]WEBSTER'S NEW WORLD COLLEGE DICTIONARY:
[10:00.42]"Kwanzaa=n.[coined by M.Ron Karenga<Swahili matunda ya kwanza,first fruits ]
[11:00.27]LISTENING
[11:07.04]1 Listen to the tape and choose the correct answers.
[11:13.57]Mardi Gras
[13:55.06]SPEAKING
[14:00.62]After doing the exercise on pages 9and 10,
[14:09.27]try to tell your classmates which of the four holidays you think is the best one and why.
[14:32.44]I think Peace Day is the best one,far more important than the other three.
[14:47.90]It is only when peace is realized that people can enjoy happiness in their life.
[15:45.35]It is only when peace comes true that there is real friendship to speak of.
[17:15.60]And it is only when there is no longer any fighting
[17:25.94]or conficts that it is possible to protect nature from any pollution |