"Reader's Choice" Reading Guide

Author: Translator: Zhang Weiwen Editor-in-Chief: Yang Fenglian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-08-01
Features:
Paragraph: PARAGRAPH READING Example 【Vocabulary for Level 4 and Above】 caln [klen] n. family, clan, tribe. 13 councillor [‘kaunsile] n. advisor, counselor, (city/town) council member. 13 kinship [‘kinship] n. relationship by blood or marriage, kinship. 13, 249 kinsman [‘kinzmen] n. male relative, male member of the same clan. 13 tribe [traib] n. tribe, race. 13, 252, 253 【Phrases and Expressions】 be bound to do sth. obligated to do something (must, should). 13 consist of: composed of, made up of. 13 【Language Notes】 consist of: consist is an intransitive verb (abbreviated as vi.), therefore it cannot have a passive form. consist of differs from contain and comprise: the former means "composed of," so the components after of must be all, not some parts; the latter means "contains," and its object can be either all or part of the content. For example: The essay, which consists of ten paragraphs, contains/comprises two paragraphs of description. The two cannot be interchanged. 【Reference Translation】 Before the first Europeans to travel across the American continent recorded some observations and impressions of the Native Americans, the Cherokee1 had already created a highly developed culture, perhaps second only to the southwest unconverted Maya2 and Aztec3 tribes. The social structure of the Cherokee was formed based on kinship clans, and there were seven recognized clans. All members of a clan were considered blood relatives and morally obligated to protect any member of their clan from unfair treatment. Each clan (Bird Clan, Paint Clan, Deer Clan, Wolf Clan, Blue Clan, Long Hair Clan, and Potato Clan) was represented by one or more councilors at the civil council. The chief of the entire tribe was not inherited from relatives but elected from these clans. In fact, there were two chiefs: one for peace and one for war. During peacetime, the peace chief governed. From the moment of declaration of war, the war chief took command. 【Cultural Notes】 1. Cherokee: An important tribe of the North American Indian Great Plains. Originally scattered in the southern and northern mountainous areas of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee in the United States, they had their own language and script and developed a highly advanced culture. 2. Maya: A tribe of Central American Indians that had developed a highly advanced culture before the discovery of the Americas. Originally lived in the Yucatán Peninsula of present-day Mexico, most of Guatemala, and the western part of Honduras, with their own language and script. 3. Aztec: A tribe of Central American Indians that were originally nomadic. By the late 12th century, they migrated from the north to the Mexican Valley to settle and gradually became powerful, establishing a vast empire. They reached high levels in engineering, architecture, mathematics, art, and astronomy. Paragraph 1 【Vocabulary for Level 4 and Above】 axle [‘eksl] n. axle. 15 characterize [‘kerikteraiz] vt. characterize, mark with distinctive features, give the character of. 15, 32, 257, 313 conceive [ken’si:v] vt.