People and Lifestyle

The unit opens with two pairs of pictures, each showing the same activity in an older way and a newer way.

• The classroom. In the first picture, a drawing, a teacher stands at a blackboard reading from a book, and girls in uniform sit in rows with their books open. In the second, a photo, boys sit in rows with small green and white laptops open on their desks, and one of them raises his hand.
• The harvest. In the first, women and men in a golden rice field cut the crop by hand, bending low with sickles. In the second, a big green combine harvester drives through a huge field of wheat, cutting and threshing it as it goes.

Notice the verbs in the answers: have changed, have started, have been learning. They join the past to now: something began or happened before, and we see its result today. That is the grammar of this whole unit.

Before you read

The reading begins with a black-and-white photo of a girl with short dark hair, sitting at a desk with a pen in her hand, looking at the camera.

What kind of text it is

The text is a diary entry: what a person writes, for themselves, about their own day, life and feelings. It has the marks of every diary:

• a date at the top: Saturday, June 20, 1942;
• the first person all through: I, me, my;
• a personal, chatty voice, as if talking to a friend: Oh well, it doesn’t matter;
• feelings and opinions, not just facts.

This is one of Anne’s first entries, and a special one: in it she explains why she is keeping a diary and gives a short sketch of her life so far. The reading text is shortened (adapted) from the English translation of the diary, which Anne wrote in Dutch.

The text, part by part

Why write at all?

Writing a diary feels strange to Anne, for two reasons: she has never written anything before, and she is sure that nobody, not even she herself, will later want to read the musings (thoughts) of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl. But it doesn’t matter: she feels like writing, and even more, she needs to get things off her chest (to say what has been troubling her).

Paper is patient

She remembers a saying, paper has more patience than people. She thought of it on a day when she was feeling low, sitting at home with her chin in her hands, bored and listless (with no energy or interest), unable to decide whether to go out, and in the end she stayed in, brooding (thinking unhappy thoughts). Paper is patient because it listens without interrupting, judging or getting tired. And since she doesn’t plan to show this stiff-backed (hard-covered) notebook, grandly called a “diary”, to anyone, unless she finds a real friend, it makes no difference what she writes.

The real reason: no true friend

Now she comes to the point, the reason she started the diary in the first place: she doesn’t have a friend. That sounds unbelievable, she admits. She has loving parents, a sixteen-year-old sister, about thirty people she could call friends, aunts, a good home, and a throng (crowd) of admiring boys who even resort to (use, as a last way) a broken pocket mirror to steal a look at her in class. On the surface she has everything, except one true friend. With her friends she only has fun and talks about ordinary things; they never get closer, never confide in each other (share secrets). Perhaps it is her own fault, she says, but things are not liable to (not likely to) change. That is why she has started the diary.

Kitty

She doesn’t want to jot down (write quickly) bare facts, as most people do in a diary. She wants the diary itself to be the friend she longs for, and she gives that friend a name: Kitty. So every later entry is written to Kitty, like a letter.

A short sketch of her life

Because Kitty wouldn’t understand her stories if she plunged right in (started without explaining), Anne gives a brief sketch of her life, though she dislikes doing it:

• Her father, “the most adorable father” she has ever seen, married her mother when he was 36 and she was 25. Her sister Margot was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in 1926; Anne on 12 June 1929.
• Because the family is Jewish, her father moved to Holland (the Netherlands) in 1933, the year Hitler came to power, and became managing director of the Dutch Opekta company, which made a product used for setting jam. Her mother, Edith Hollander Frank, followed in September; the girls stayed with their grandmother in Aachen. Margot joined them in December, and Anne in February, plunked down (set down without ceremony) on the table as a birthday present for Margot.
• Anne went to a Montessori nursery school, then to primary school; in sixth grade her teacher was the head, Mrs. Kuperus, and they cried when they said goodbye. Then she went to the Jewish Lyceum, Margot’s school.

The shadow of the war

Life was not free of anxiety (worry). Their relatives in Germany suffered under Hitler’s anti-Jewish laws. After the pogroms of 1938 (violent attacks on Jews, their homes, shops and synagogues), Anne’s two uncles fled to North America, and her grandmother, then 73, came to live with them.

After May 1940, the good times were few. The war came to the Netherlands, then the capitulation (surrender) of the Dutch army, then the Germans, and the trouble began for the Jews. A long list of decrees (official orders) took away their freedom: they had to wear a yellow star, hand in their bicycles, shop only between 3 and 5 p.m., go only to Jewish barbers, stay off the streets from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., and attend only Jewish schools; they could not use trams or cars (even their own), go to theaters or cinemas, swim, play sports in public, sit in a garden after 8 p.m., or visit Christian friends at home. You couldn’t do this and you couldn’t do that, but life went on. Her friend Jacque summed it up: she didn’t dare do anything any more, in case it was not allowed.

Birthdays and the present

Her birthday in 1940 passed quietly, because the fighting in Holland had just ended; in 1941 her grandmother was ill and had an operation. Grandma died in January 1942, and Anne still thinks of her and loves her. The birthday of 1942 was meant to make up for the others, and Grandma’s candle was lit with the rest. The entry ends in the present: the four of them are still well, and that brings her to June 20, 1942, and the solemn (serious, formal) dedication of her diary.

Words from the text

Words linked here open in English Vocabulary, where you can see an example and practice them in the word game. The meanings below are the ones the words have in this text.

Word	Meaning here
musings	long, quiet thoughts about something
stiff	hard and not easy to bend (stiff-backed: with a hard cover)
brood	to keep thinking about something that makes you unhappy, worried or angry
listless	with no energy or interest in anything
throng	a large crowd of people
resort	to use something, often something bad, because nothing else works (resort to)
confide	to tell someone your secrets and private feelings
liable	likely to do or to be something
jot	to write something quickly (jot down)
plunge	to start something suddenly, without preparing (plunge in)
plunk	to put something down heavily or carelessly
adoring	showing great love
adorable	very lovable, charming
decree	an official order from a ruler or government
anxiety	worry and fear about what may happen
capitulation	giving up, surrendering to an enemy
solemn	serious and formal

A. Find the words

B. Match the synonyms

C. Answer the questions

D. True, False or Not Given

A Not Given statement is one the text neither supports nor contradicts: it says nothing about it. Don’t answer from what you know or guess; answer only from the text.

E. A diary and a way of life

Homophones (homo “same” + phone “sound”, from Greek) are words that sound the same but have different meanings, and usually different spellings. When you hear one, only the sentence tells you which word it is; when you write one, only the meaning tells you which spelling to use.

Words	Said	Meanings
cell / sell	/sel/	the smallest unit of a living thing, or a small room / to give something for money
knead / need	/niːd/	to press and fold dough with your hands / to have to have something
coarse / course	/kɔːrs/	rough, not fine or smooth / a set of lessons; a route or direction
their / there	/ðer/	belonging to them / in that place
doe / dough	/doʊ/	a female deer (or rabbit) / flour mixed with water, ready to bake
fare / fair	/fer/	the price of a journey / just and equal; light in color; an outdoor show
heal / heel	/hiːl/	to become well again / the back of the foot, or of a shoe
wait / weight	/weɪt/	to stay until something happens / how heavy something is
deer / dear	/dɪr/	a wild animal with antlers / loved; the start of a letter
site / sight	/saɪt/	a place where something is or will be / the power of seeing; something seen
waist / waste	/weɪst/	the middle of the body / to use badly or too much; rubbish
night / knight	/naɪt/	the dark time / a noble soldier on horseback, long ago

Many of these pairs have a silent letter: the k of knead and knight, the gh of dough, weight and knight. Say the word as if the silent letter were not there.

A. Susan is retiring

In the conversation, Pemba tells Durgesh that a woman called Susan is retiring (stopping work for good, usually because of age) next month. Durgesh asks How long has she worked for the company?, and Pemba answers She has worked there for more than 25 years. Durgesh says she has contributed greatly to the company.

The question and answer are in the present perfect (has worked): her work began in the past and goes up to now. To say how long, use for with a length of time and since with a starting point:

for + a length of time	since + a starting point
for twenty minutes	since 10 a.m.
for two days	since Monday
for nine months	since Baisakh
for 25 years	since 2001
for a long time	since I left school

B. Ask and answer

To ask how long, use How long have/has + subject + been + -ing (for an activity still going on) or the past participle (for a state, or with verbs like live and work). Answer with for or since.

Both tenses join the past to now. They answer different questions.

The present perfect: what is done, and how many

Form: have/has + past participle (V3): I have cleaned, she has visited, they have known.

Use it for:

• a past action whose result we have now: I have lost my key. (I can’t open the door now.)
• how many times, or how much, up to now: Charles has visited New York three times.
• experience, with ever and never: Have you ever been to Lumbini?
• with just, already, yet: The bus has just left. Have you finished yet?
• states that began in the past and are still true, with for and since: I have known Gerry for six years.

The present perfect continuous: how long, still going on

Form: have/has + been + verb-ing: I have been cleaning, she has been waiting.

Use it for:

• an activity that began in the past and is still going on, with how long: The boys have been playing computer games for over an hour.
• an activity that has just stopped, whose effects we can see: The road is wet; it has been raining. Why are your clothes wet? I’ve been watering* the plants.*

	Present perfect: has done	Present perfect continuous: has been doing
Looks at	the result: what is finished	the activity: what is still going on
Answers	how many? how much?	how long?
Example	I have cleaned two rooms.	I have been cleaning for two hours.
Example	She has written three letters.	She has been writing letters all morning.

A. Choose the verbs

B. Present perfect or continuous?

A diary is a private record of your days, written for yourself. Unlike most writing, there is no wrong way to keep one, but a good entry has these parts:

1. the date (and the day of the week);
2. a greeting, if you like: Dear Diary, or a name, as Anne’s Kitty;
3. what happened: the main events of the day, in the past simple (I went, we planted, she said);
4. how you felt about them;
5. what you think: your view of something that happened, which the task asks for each day;
6. a look ahead, if you like: a plan or a hope for tomorrow;
7. a short closing.

Write in the first person (I, we), in a natural, friendly voice. Use the present perfect for what is finished at the moment of writing (I have just finished my homework), and the present for how you feel now (I am tired).

Before you read

The photos in the text show the Rautes: a camp of low tents of black plastic sheets in a forest clearing on a hillside; men wrapped in pale shawls, with cloths tied round their heads; men sitting on the ground carving blocks of wood; and a family group sitting outside their camp with a large round drum.

What kind of text it is

The Rautes is an informative article about an ethnic group: who they are, how many there are, their history, how they live, how men and women share the work, how they hunt and what festivals they keep. It mixes facts (about 180 people, roughly 52 families) with the writer’s opinions (truly remarkable, commendable, a precious part of the diverse people of Nepal). As you read, notice which sentences are which.

The text, part by part

Nepal’s last nomads

The Rautes are one of Nepal’s most distinctive indigenous groups (native to the land), who have kept their own culture for generations. They are the country’s only nomadic people: they never settle permanently. They refuse the idea of a permanent home, school or farming. That they have survived into this century as full-time nomads, at a time when the world’s cultural diversity is diminishing (getting less), is truly remarkable.

How many, and where

The text puts their number at about 180 people, roughly 52 families, and calls Karnali Province their only sanctuary (a place where they are safe).

A history nobody wrote down

There is no written history of the Rautes. People agree on one thing: long ago they fled from the state (the rulers of the time), never came back, and made a new life in the jungle. To eke out a living (to just manage to live, with little), they became expert woodworkers, learned to hunt monkeys, and adapted to the forest. Only the Mukhiya, their headman, speaks to outsiders about their way of life, on behalf of the whole group.

Clans and values

The Rautes hold traditional knowledge of living as a community. Their heredity (descent, the families they are born into) is in three clans: Kalyaal, Raskoti and Samaal. The writer says it is important to study their ethical norms and values, rituals and livelihood.

A lesson for the world

Acculturation (people taking on the culture of a bigger, more powerful group) has spread everywhere, and the world’s diversity is shrinking. Yet the Rautes have kept their traditions. Keeping a nomadic culture in a globalizing world is commendable (deserving praise), says the writer, and this global uniqueness makes them a precious part of Nepal’s diverse people.

Men’s work and women’s work

Like other groups that follow Hindu society, the Rautes are patriarchal: men are at the top of the social hierarchy (the order of who is above whom). But inside the camp, women have a more prominent role than men. The work is clearly divided:

Men	Women
carve wooden bowls and boxes	do most of the household work
hunt monkeys	collect firewood, cook, raise the children
trade the woodwork in markets	search the jungle for medicinal herbs, firewood and vegetables
collect food grains	know where the springs are
socialize with outsiders, dance	help to move and build the camp

Unmarried girls and widows also go to the villages to collect grain and take orders for the wooden goods. Women dominate almost every facet (part) of life except socializing, hunting, carpentry and dancing. Because searching the forest for herbs, firewood and vegetables is their job, they know the forest and its ecosystem very well.

Families and children

Husbands and wives respect and love each other. A married woman never travels outside the camp with anyone but her husband. Women don’t carve wood or hunt: these are men’s tasks. Children up to the age of about 10 to 14 have no real duties: they play with things they find in nature and roam around the camp, and only sometimes help to fetch water or carry small things when the camp moves.

Hunting with nets

Monkey hunting keeps the Rautes’ hunting way of life alive. Their method is rare: a group of 8 to 30 young and middle-aged men hunts together with nets, never with guns or bows and arrows.

Festivals

The Rautes celebrate Saune Sankranti, Dashain, Tihar, Chaite Dashain and Maghe Sankranti. They prepare food, homemade ale (a kind of beer) and meat in advance. During a festival, everyone takes part, they don’t meet strangers or travel outside their area, and they stop all carpentry and hunting. The festivals are kept with joy and fervor (deep feeling), with singing, dancing, feasting and their own rituals; rice, meat and drinks are at the heart of the feast.

Words from the text

Word	Meaning here
indigenous	belonging to a place from the earliest times; native
nomadic	moving from place to place, with no permanent home
diminish	to become smaller or less
diversity	many different kinds together
sanctuary	a safe place
eke out	to manage to live on very little
heredity	passing from parents to children; descent
acculturation	taking on the culture of another, usually more powerful, group
widespread	existing over a large area, or among many people
remarkable	unusual or surprising, and worth noticing
commendable	deserving praise
patriarchal	ruled or controlled by men
hierarchy	an order of people from the highest rank to the lowest
prominent	important and easy to notice
counterpart	a person with the same position in another group
facet	one part or side of something
extensive	covering a lot; far-reaching
rear	to bring up children
roam	to walk or travel around with no fixed plan
permanence	lasting for a long time, or for ever
ale	a kind of beer
fervor	strong feeling, enthusiasm (spelled fervour in British English)

A. Crossword

B. True or false

C. Answer the questions

D. Culture and lifestyle

A. Before you listen

There are two pictures: a flag, divided diagonally into a yellow upper half and an orange lower half, with a white dragon across the middle; and a man and a woman in long, colorful traditional clothes.

The recording

A short talk about how Bhutan measures the happiness of its people: the Gross National Happiness Committee, a survey, and its results. Read the questions in B first, then listen, as many times as you need.

Words you will hear: inner peace (calm in your mind); GDP, Gross Domestic Product (the value of everything a country produces in a year); survey (asking many people the same questions); census (a count of everyone in a country); questionnaire (a list of questions); extensively (to a large degree).

B. Answer the questions

C. Nepal and the World Happiness Report

A. Have you ever been…?

In the conversation, Binita asks Samir about his travels. Notice the present perfect, for experience: what has happened at some time in your life up to now, without saying when.

• Have you travelled a lot? (American spelling: traveled) Yes, I’ve been* to lots of places.*
• Have you ever been to Sri Lanka? Yes, I’ve been to Sri Lanka once.
• What about China? No, I haven’t been to China.

Been to means “gone and come back”: She has been to Pokhara (she went and returned). She has gone to Pokhara means she is there now.

B. Rewrite with since or for

To turn a present fact into how long, use the present perfect (for states: live, be, have, want, know) or the present perfect continuous (for activities still going on: study, work, wait, do), with since + the starting point or for + the length.

An essay gives your ideas on one topic in organized paragraphs: an introduction that says what the topic is and what you will argue; body paragraphs, one idea each, with examples; and a conclusion that sums up and ends with a thought or a call to act. The task gives the plan as clues: what junk food is; its causes (advertising, lack of awareness); its harm to health; its cost; its effects on social life and study; and a conclusion.

A phobia is a strong, unreasonable fear of something; a mania is a wild craze or longing for something. Both endings come from Greek: phobos means fear, mania madness. The first part of each word names the thing:

Word	From	Meaning
agoraphobia	agora, a marketplace	abnormal fear of crowds, public places or open spaces
bibliophobia	biblion, a book	hatred, fear or mistrust of books
acrophobia	akron, the top or peak	abnormal fear of being in high places
bibliomania	biblion, a book	a craze for collecting books, especially rare ones
balletomania	ballet	great enthusiasm for the ballet
anglomania	Angl-, English	a craze for the English language and English customs
dipsomania	dipsa, thirst	an extreme, uncontrollable desire to drink alcohol

Once you know the parts, you can work out new words: hydrophobia (hydro, water), claustrophobia (claustrum, a closed place, from Latin), pyromania (pyr, fire: an urge to set fires), kleptomania (kleptes, a thief: an urge to steal).

Practice on this unit in the style of the final exam. Try each one as in the exam, then open the answer.