全新版听说教程 4 听力原文
Unit 1 One World
Part B
Listening Tasks
A Conversation
Birthday Celebrations Around the World
Exercise 1
Listen to the conversation and write down answers to the questions you hear.
Chairman: Welcome to this special birthday edition of One World. Tonight we have a special program dedicated to birthday celebrations around the world. With us in the studio we have Shaheen Hag and Pat Cane, who have a weekly column on birthdays in the Toronto Daily Star. Shaheen: Good evening. Pat: Good evening.
Chairman: Shaheen, perhaps we could begin with you. How are birthdays celebrated in India? Shaheen: Well, perhaps we're all assuming that everyone in the world celebrates their birthday. This just isn't the case. Low-income families in India, for instance, simply can't afford any festivities. And most Muslims don't celebrate their birthdays.
Pat: I think Shaheen has raised an interesting point here. The Christian church, too, was actively against celebrating birthdays.
Shaheen: Of course some Muslims do celebrate their birthdays. In Egypt, Turkey and Indonesia, for example, the rich people invite friends and families around. But not in small villages.
Chairman: Here in England your twenty-first used to be the big one. But now it seems to have moved to eighteen. Is that true?
Pat: Yes, in most parts of the West eighteen is now the most important birthday. In Finland, for example, eighteen is the age when you can vote, you know, or buy wines, drive a car and so on. But in Japan I think you have to wait till you're twenty before you can smoke or drink.
Shaheen: I know in Senegal, which is another Muslim country, girls get to vote at sixteen and boys at eighteen. And in Bangladesh, girls at eighteen and boys at twenty-one.
Chairman: That's interesting. I mean is it typical that around the world girls are considered to be more mature than boys?
Shaheen: Yes, I think so, and in Mexico and Argentina, for example, they have enormous parties for fifteen-year-old girls.
Pat: You know in Norway they have a great party for anyone who's not married by the time they're thirty. It's kind of embarrassing. I mean you get pepper thrown at you. Chairman: Pepper? Why pepper? Pat: I'm not really sure.
Shaheen: So does that mean that on your twenty-ninth birthday you can start thinking \I better get married\
Pat: Well, I'm not sure how seriously they take it.
Chairman: In England we have quite big parties for your fortieth, fiftieth, sixtieth and so on. Pat: Well, in Japan your eighty-eighth is considered ... Chairman: Eighty-eighth?
Pat: ... to be the luckiest birthday. Eight is a very lucky number in Japan. Questions
1. What is One World?
2. What is the topic of the program?
3. What do Shaheen Hag and Pat Cane do?
4. Why don't some people in India celebrate their birthdays? 5. Why is the eighteenth birthday so important in Finland?
6. Why can girls in some countries get to vote at an earlier age than boys?
7. Which of the countries mentioned in the conversation are Muslim countries? Exercise 2
Listen to the conversation again and decide if each of the statements you hear is true (T) or false (F).
Statements
1. The program is broadcast in Canada every day.
2. People everywhere in the world celebrate their birthdays.
3. Many Muslims do not celebrate their birthdays for religious reasons.
4. In England, the twenty-first birthday is very important, which is unusual in the West. 5. The twenty-first birthday is very important in Japan.
6. In Norway, young men and women usually get married before thirty to avoid having pepper thrown at them.
7. Eighteen is a very lucky number in Japan.
8. It can be concluded that our world is made more colorful by the many different ways birthdays are observed in different countries.
Speaking Tasks
Pair Work
A. Reflections on the text
You have just heard a program about birthday celebrations around the world. What do you think of the celebrations?
Why is it that some people do not celebrate their birthdays? What does your birthday mean to you?
Exchange views with your partner. You may mention the following points in your discussion. ○ what birthdays mean to you
○ how birthdays are observed around the world ○ why some people don't celebrate their birthdays B. Picture talk — Talking about wedding customs A Sample
Most people in the world hold a wedding ceremony when they get married. However, like birthday celebrations, wedding celebrations are conducted in different ways, depending on where you live, which religion you believe in, and how good is your financial situation. The following are three groups of pictures showing three wedding ceremonies held in different places and at different times. Give a brief description of each picture and then make a comparison between the three weddings.
Possible Description (for reference)
Pictures (a) — (c) show a typical wedding ceremony held in a church in a Western country. In the first picture, the bride is seen walking down the aisle, leaning on her father's arm. She is wearing a white wedding gown and holding a bouquet of flowers in her right hand. All eyes turn to her as she slowly moves forward to take her place beside the bridegroom in front of the clergyman.
In Picture (b) we can see the clergyman presiding over the wedding ceremony. He is asking the bride and the bridegroom the usual questions on such an occasion.
In Picture (c) the parents of the bride and the bridegroom are giving a large party in a garden. Guests arrive in formal evening dress. There is music and dancing. Pictures (d) — (e) present a traditional Chinese wedding held at home.
In Picture (d), we can see a hall thronged with people. There are red lanterns hanging on both sides of the hall. On the lanterns are written the Chinese character \
In Picture (e) we can see the bridegroom's parents seated in high-backed chairs. The bride and bridegroom are bowing to them. The bridegroom in his long gown looks very respectful. The bride is dressed in bright red but we can't see her face since it is covered with a piece of red cloth. Along the two sides of the wedding hall stand the family members, relatives and friends. Pictures (f) — (h) show a wedding banquet held in a big restaurant in China.
In Picture (f), we can see the bride and the bridegroom standing at the entrance greeting the guests. The bride wears a long white dress, and the bridegroom is in a tuxedo. In Picture (g), we find ourselves in a large banquet hall, decorated with the cheerful colors of a wedding party. About a hundred guests are seated around tables that are graced with all kinds of delicious food and drinks. The host, who is the father of the bridegroom, is making a speech, expressing his thanks to the guests for coming to his son's wedding.
In Picture (h) the bride has changed to a traditional Chinese red gown, or qipao, which is elegantly cut and shows her fine figure. She and the bridegroom are going round the tables, exchanging toasts and sharing a joyful moment with the guests.
Comparing From the pictures, we can see that a wedding is an important event everywhere in the world. It has been so in China, for example, from the old days to the present and the same holds true in Western countries. As a rule, there is a big ceremony, attended by family members, relatives and friends, who have come to share the joy of this special occasion in the lives of two people in love. Food is plentiful and laughter fills the air. To all those present, the ceremony is both sacred and joyous. However, while sacredness and joy are the spirit of all weddings, the way people observe the occasion varies from place to place and changes over time. This is reflected in various respects. First, in Western countries, many people get married in a church while in China this is rare. Second, Western people often choose a scenic spot to hold wedding parties whereas most people in China give their wedding parties either at home or in a restaurant.
Third, in Western countries, the color of the bride's dress is white, which is a symbol of purity, while in China, traditionally, the color of the bride's dress is red, which is a symbol of happiness. ***** ***** ***** *****
Now use the above sample as your model and carry on similar activities with your partner according to the pictures given below.
Part C
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