节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-11-13
难易度:Low
关键字:territory, miner, reserve, valuable, malaria
Welcome back from the break, everyone.
Just a couple of years ago, Brazil passed New Guinea as having the most
uncontacted people groups in the world,
something like 60 or 70 different groups that know nothing of cell phones, the
NBA, instant noodles or the English language.
Well, we're learning that the Yanomami tribe is struggling for survival.
Is there hope?
Let's find out as we continue the reading at the top of page 26.
Yanomami of the Amazon Rain Forest.
Looking for solutions.
Today governments and international organizations are looking for ways to
protect the Yanomami.
The Brazilian government has reserved a large area of land for the tribe.
And in 1990, Brazil ordered all miners out of the Amazon region.
Yet these things might not be enough.
Gold is so valuable that miners keep going back and harming the Yanomami's way
of life.
People around the world watch and hope "the last free people on Earth" can be
protected.
The Yanomami people have been discovered as early as the 1920s.
But it wasn't... gold was not discovered until the 1970s.
And this brought a lot of deadly changes to the Yanomami people.
And just before the break we've seen that their population fell down to 20... or
down 20 percent in just seven years.
So this is a big problem.
That's right.
Their very deadly changes being bringing in new diseases, new sickness like the
cold and malaria,
fighting over the land and polluting their streams and cutting down their trees.
So a lot of their environment was changing, and no one was protecting them.
Well, now we're looking for solutions; solutions being answers to these
problems.
We started our article with the question:
Can they be protected? Can this last people group be protected from the rest of
society?
Well, let's see what the governments and international organizations are
starting to do.
OK. Yes, how can these people be saved?
And this has been going on for 30 to 40 years.
So these governments and international organizations, well, they're looking for
ways to try and protect the Yanomami people.
That's right.
We're trying to protect them.
That means keep them from harm.
And this would be any of the harm that was brought in by modern society, either
sickness or destroying of their land.
So governments and international organizations,
meaning companies that are not part of the government from around the world that
do goodwill work are trying to help.
OK. So how are they trying to help?
The Brazilian government has reserved a large area of land just for this tribe.
That's right.
We learned that they were in the mountains and areas of Brazil and Venezuela.
So Brazil has set aside a land for them.
They've "reserved" land for them.
Now that means to set it aside to think... to... put it away so that they
don't... it's not used by other people.
Now actually a lot of governments do this.
Yeah. They save a certain area of land just to protect it, to keep it there.
And so, for example, Kaylah, you're saying like the United States government has
what's called national parks, they save those so they protect them.
Well, even more than that.
Governments all over the world save and reserve land for native peoples.
So in the United States, the North American Indians have been given land,
property,
as well as aboriginal tribes throughout all of Asia have been given land to
protect so they can preserve their culture.
OK. So the same thing has been done here to protect the tribe.
And so no one else is allowed to go there except for the tribe that lives there.
Well, in 1990, Brazil ordered all miners out of the Amazon region.
So they went in in the 70s; by 1987, there was a problem.
And just three years later, the Brazilian government said: No more mining. You
have to leave this region.
Right. They ordered them to go.
That means they commanded or told them they need to go out of that region.
And a region is a certain area of land.
Kind of like a territory.
Exactly, yes, except the region is not necessarily owned by someone, it's just
an imaginary line drawn in the land.
That's right. They told them, "You can't go in there anymore." And yet this
might not be enough.
That's right.
These things might not be good enough to just protect the... Yanomami people.
By just telling them "you have to leave" doesn't necessarily mean they will.
Gold is so valuable that miners keep going back and harming the Yanomami's way
of life.
Yeah. It doesn't matter that the government told them they need to get out, gold
is valuable.
It's worth a lot of money.
So sometimes they don't really care what the government says.
People still go back and keep harming the Yanomami's way of life.
That's right. And that word "valuable," as you said, means worth a lot of money.
So what is valuable in your life?
What do things... maybe not even worth money, it's worth something to you.
It holds a place that is important to you.
So what's valuable?
Well, to these miners, gold is the most valuable thing.
And if you ask some people the Yanomami's way of life, these people would be
more valuable.
Yeah, maybe protecting these people would be more valuable to you.
So what can you do?
Well, people around the world watch and hope that "the last free people on
Earth" can be protected.
You know, all of the world now, friends, that you know about it.
The more people that know about the Yanomami, the more people work together to
protect them,
the more people speak up from all over the world and encouraging Brazil and
Venezuela to set up protective areas for these people.
OK. So now we are able to ask ourselves this question again:
Can one of these... can this group of people actually be saved?
That's right.
Can we protect them?
Now we asked at the very beginning.
Can we protect them, Ryan?
What are we protecting them for?
Well, we want to protect their way of life.
That means the way they live, their culture, their traditions as we know, and
actually let them be free.
Don't harm them just because we selfishly want gold.
That's right.
Now we said... I asked at the beginning of the lesson yesterday.
What are we protecting them from, modern society or from living the way they do?
Well friends, the answer is we're protecting them from danger, protecting them
from sickness and from harm,
letting them live their lives the way that they have for thousands of years and
not disturbing them.
Friends, what do you think about the Yanomami?
Do you want to save them?
Write to us.
Find us on Facebook and tell us your thoughts about the Yanomami people.
Yes, we would love to hear those.
But right now, friends, it's time to go watch the skit.
(Music).
Here I am in the rain forest.
What are you doing here?
I'm looking for the world's last isolated people group.
Well, you found me.
I am Yanomami.
So, now what?
I am a researcher.
I want to know all about your people.
OK, I will tell you.
How many Yanomami are there?
Oh, let me count.
There are one, two, more than two.
More than two?
Yes, we are many.
We are more than two, yeah.
OK. Is it true that you are untouched by modern society?
What is modern society?
It must be true.
My people have lived the same for thousands of years.
How do you live without cars, computers and telephones?
Well, everything we need comes from the rain forest.
What about food?
Yes. We hunt and fish and farm the land.
What about banks and credit cards?
We don't need money.
We don't even need the gold.
Gold? What gold?
Our Yanomami territory has lots of gold.
Gold is very beautiful.
Gold is very valuable.
No, no. We can't eat it.
We don't need it.
Oh! I'll be right back.
Wait... where are you going?
To get shovels and dynamite and thousands of miners.
Thousands of miners... is that more than two?
Hey... wait! Hey!
(Music).
(Chinese).
And I guess that's all the time we have for today.
See you next time. Bye-bye.
Think about this, without Facebook, without the wheel, without satellite TV or
refrigeration,
South America's Yanomami people group has lived the same way for hundreds, maybe
thousands of years.
The Yanomami were first contacted by the outside world in the 1920s.
But some real challenges came in the 1970s when gold was discovered in their
territory.
It was then that contact with the outside world changed the Yanomami way of life
forever.
Friends, tomorrow we'll celebrate the birthday of the BBC.
Join us.
And until then, have a wonderful Tuesday.