节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-11-12
难易度:Low
关键字:isolated, tribe, researcher, jungle, Amazon Rain Forest, deadly
Welcome back to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
OK. There's a lot of controversy about what we modern people should do when we
make contact with an isolated people group.
Should we try to "civilize" them?
Should we just leave them alone?
Some tribes simply don't want contact with our world, and they're pretty
successful.
Some of them are pretty successful at remaining isolated.
Others, however, like the Yanomami, weren't given a lot of choice.
Let's learn why as we pick up the reading under the heading: Changes from the
outside.
Yanomami of the Amazon Rain Forest.
Changes from the outside.
In the late 1920s, researchers found a tribe of people untouched by modern
society.
This was the first reported meeting with the Yanomami, who were living deep
within the South American jungle.
Scientists agree that their location deep in the forest helped keep their
culture unchanged.
Until recently, most Yanomami still lived in isolated regions.
Everything they needed came from the rain forest.
They hunted, fished and farmed the land.
Then a discovery brought the outside world to them.
And along with it came deadly changes.
The Yanomami are a fascinating people group in the dark rain forest jungles of
the Amazon in South America.
Now we were saying that they are considered to be the last free people on Earth.
And that's because they're not constrained, they're not stuck doing modern
things.
They're not stuck to working all the time or doing these things that we have
to... every single day we go through.
So they're free from those things.
So what does their life actually look like?
Well, we've seen now that they are "untouched." And we'll see what that means in
a little bit.
But we're going to see now how they actually ended up changing a little bit from
the outside starting in the late 1920s.
That's right.
Now they were undiscovered until the late 1920s.
Now researchers found a tribe of people untouched by modern society.
Now a "researcher" is someone who studies a specific subject very thoroughly or
very well covering all areas of it.
They would be considered an expert in that area.
Now quite often researchers are looking for new information.
So you might have a medical researcher looking for ways to help clear diseases.
Now what were these researchers doing?
Well, these researchers were actually researching the jungles of Amazon forest.
And so they were going in there looking around, and they discovered this
untouched tribe.
Now they weren't necessarily looking for a tribe.
They might've been looking for certain plants or animals but came across this
new people group.
And they have been "untouched," which means they've not been reached by modern
society.
Their culture and their life was still the same from thousands of years before.
Right. And friends, modern society, as we know, is the world we live in today,
the way it is now.
Now this was the first reported meeting with the Yanomami who were living deep
within the South American jungle.
OK. So they were living very deep in the jungle.
Now a "jungle" is, as we know, a large group of trees similar to a rain forest.
Now it's a tropical forest; "tropical" meaning it's very hot all the time.
It is wet or dry, but it's usually pretty wet.
Now it has a lot of plants and trees.
And they go very closely together.
It's very... very tight growing plants.
So it's hard to move through them and difficult to see through them.
So this is where these people group were discovered.
Yes. And they were deep in the jungle.
And that means they're very far in the middle of the jungle, not near the
outside.
So researchers would have to be going into the jungle to look around to find
different plants or animals.
And they really... there's no way to find... which just kind of happened upon
them.
Well, and that's why, Kaylah, scientists actually agree that their location in
the jungle actually helped keep their culture unchanged.
That's right, because it was so difficult to get to them, difficult to find them
because of how deep they were living, how far into the jungle they were.
So it was hard to find them.
So it preserved, it kept their culture unchanged.
Yes. Now something is unchanged, that means, well, it doesn't change.
So throughout the years, instead of inventing new things like cell phones and
computers, they kept doing the same things.
Now until recently, most Yanomami still lived in isolated regions.
"Isolated" still meaning those faraway places, not near other things.
OK. Now we said "until recently," so everything at that time that they needed
came just from the rain forest.
That's right.
So during that time... but now, just recently, within the last couple of years,
they've been coming more in.
Now they got everything they needed from the rain forest.
They hunted, fished and farmed the land.
OK. So Kaylah, what does this actually look like if you're getting everything
from the rain forest?
You're hunting, right?
And that's for food, right? Just food?
Hunting, you would be hunting for food, for protection.
You would be getting your vegetables and fruits growing them in the grounds,
harvesting them out of trees.
But then using everything they needed.
So that means they also built their homes out of things in the rain forest.
They didn't need anything else.
Yeah, so they... since they used everything in the rain forest, they didn't use
anything from the outside world.
But then that discovery is what brought the outside world to them.
That's right.
There was an important discovery that the outside world decided to go in, so why
was this an important discovery, Ryan?
Well, Kaylah, we'll see what that discovery is actually tomorrow.
But we'll see actually that discovery came with some deadly changes.
Even though it's extremely important, it brought deadly changes.
Now the word "deadly" means it can cause death.
It can bring death to these people's lives.
And well, it's kind of hard to understand what that might mean.
And this phrase, and along with it, is actually a really good phrase to use in
your writing.
That's right.
So let's actually learn more about that phrase with Liz in Grammar on the Go.
Hi, friends.
Greetings from the Amazon Rain Forest.
My name is Liz.
And it's time for Grammar on the Go.
I'm here today because we're talking about the Yanomami.
And here's today's Grammar Tip sentence:
And along with it came deadly changes.
Our focus today is on the sentence pattern: along with something came something
else.
This sentence pattern is actually switched around.
What the writer is saying is:
And deadly changes came along with it.
However, native speakers will switch the sentence pattern around to create a
delayed effect.
Rather than just being direct with a normal sentence pattern, "and deadly
changes came along with it," the writer holds the main point to the very end.
This creates suspense.
So when you want to give a speech or do some writing and you want to mention
something surprising, then consider using this sentence pattern.
For example:
Peter got himself into debt, and along with that came unwanted visits from loan
sharks.
Or: Dillon refused to quit smoking and he began to have lung problems, and along
with that came other health problems.
If you'd like to see some other example sentences, then check out today's
Grammar Tip section for more examples.
That's it for today.
This is Liz with Grammar on the Go signing off.
Bye-bye.
Friends, do you want to know what these deadly changes are?
Well, join us tomorrow as we look at them.
Right now it's time for Language Tips with Michelle.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).
And we're running out of time.
keep up the good work, and I'll see you next time.
Here are two interesting facts about the Yanomami.
One: Their diet contains very little salt.
And two: Their blood pressure is among the lowest of any people group in the
world.
So is there a connection?
To find out, scientists requested blood samples to study.
The Yanomami agreed to give them blood samples, but they didn't realize that
their blood samples would not be returned to them.
This became a huge problem because, as it turns out, the Yanomami religion
requires that every part of the body,
including the blood, be together when a Yanomami person is buried.
It's an interesting example of what happens when primitive and modern cultures
come together.
Friends, we'll look at some more of the challenges and changes the Yanomami
people face as they interact with the outside world tomorrow.
Until then, I hope all of you have a great day.
Bye-bye.