Exam practice

• a.In many Hindu families in Nepal, the body is washed, wrapped in white or yellow cloth and carried to a ghat by a river, where it is cremated (burned) on a wooden pyre; the eldest son usually lights it. For thirteen days the family mourns: they wear white, eat simple food without salt, and perform rites for the dead person every day. On the thirteenth day a ceremony ends the mourning. Other communities have their own rites: many Buddhist families read prayers for forty-nine days, and Kirat, Muslim and Christian families usually bury their dead.
• b.Death rituals help the family say goodbye and live through their grief. They bring relatives and neighbors together, so no one is alone with the loss, and they give people something to do in the first days, when they feel most helpless. For believers, they are also a way to help the person who has died on to the next life.

a. profound b. frenzy c. gruesome d. forbidden e. omen f. fascination g. engrossed h. pulverize (spelled pulverise in British English; both are right)

• a.False (outsiders are mostly forbidden from watching)
• b.True (“on the side and no photos”)
• c.False (it took 15 minutes at most)
• d.True
• e.True (he was busy with the iPad, playing Minecraft the whole time: the iPad was his “toy”)
• f.True (his wife Catherine, his two sons of six and eleven, and his daughter of thirteen)

He went to look at the site where sky burials happen. He had been told that foreigners were not allowed to watch the ritual, so he expected to see only the place.

He saw a hilltop covered in Tibetan prayer flags, a stone slab, about 100 vultures sitting and waiting, and what looked like a body bag on the slab; he also heard Tibetan nuns chanting.

To keep him busy playing games, because at six he was too young to watch a body being cut up and eaten by vultures.

He wore a thick, dark scarlet coat with a black hood, and carried a butcher’s knife in his hand.

He pulverized the bones (beat them into powder) with a mallet, mixed the powder with yak butter and barley flour, then walked into the middle of the vultures and threw the mixture high in the air for them. Then he left.

It is considered a bad omen if the vultures don’t eat the body, or if even small bits are left.

He was proud of his two older children: they chose to stay, watched calmly and seemed to understand the ritual as an ancient culture giving meaning to a life. He was proud of their maturity and intelligence.

I found the Japanese tea ceremony, which is in one of the pictures at the start of this unit, very interesting. It is called chadō, “the way of tea”. A host makes matcha, a bright green tea powder, by whisking it with hot water in a bowl, and serves it to a few guests in a quiet room with straw mats. Every movement is fixed: how the bowl is cleaned, how it is turned before it is offered, how the guest holds it and drinks. A guest even turns the bowl so as not to drink from its front. It grew up with Zen Buddhism, and its aim is to make a simple act, sharing tea, calm and beautiful. It made me think of how we welcome guests at home with tea, but in Japan they have turned it into an art.

• May I go out, please?
• Can I bring my doggie to the party?
• Do you think I could have a look at your photo album?
• Could I taste that hot spicy dish?
• Do you mind if I use your protractor for a while?
• Is it OK if I ask you something on Ecology?
• May I sit here for a while?
• Can I sit here with you?
• Could I use your protractor for a while?
• Is it OK if I bring my doggie with me?
• Do you mind if I sit here?
• Can I ask you something?
• May I taste that hot spicy dish?
• Is it OK if I go out for a while?

Not every combination works: could have a look fits only after Do you think I (the others already contain their own may, can, could or if), and with you fits sit here, not bring my doggie (bring my doggie with me).

• a.A: I’ve got a sore throat. May I go to see the doctor? B: Sure.
• b.A: I have a bad headache. Could I go home early? B: Yes, please do. Rest well.
• c.A: I’ve got a blister on my foot. Can I go to the clinic? B: Sure, go ahead.
• d.A: It’s time for the news. Is it OK if I turn on the radio? B: Of course, go ahead.
• e.A: What a view! Can I borrow your camera to take some photos? B: No problem.
• f.A: Do you mind if I use your telephone to call my friend? B: Please feel free.
• g.A: Excuse me, may I use your toilet? B: Well, I’d rather you didn’t. It’s very dirty right now. There’s a clean one at the tea shop next door.
• h.A: Could I have a day off tomorrow? B: No. You can’t. Tomorrow is a very busy day for us.

• a.A: It’s so hot in here. Do you mind if I open the window? B: No, not at all. Go ahead.
• b.A: I’ve lost my pen. Could I borrow yours for this class? B: Sure, here you are. I have another one.
• c.A: I didn’t understand today’s lesson very well. Is it OK if I ask you about it after school? B: Of course. Let’s go over it together in the library.
• d.A: I can’t hear anything. Can I have the remote for a moment, to turn it up? B: Here you are. But not too loud: Grandmother is sleeping.
• e.A: You look great in that dress. May I take a photo of you? B: Sure! Wait, let me fix my hair first.
• f.A: I’ve left my phone at home, and I must call my parents. Could I use your phone, please? It’ll only take a minute. B: Of course. Here, it’s unlocked.

a – v, b – iv, c – ii, d – i, e – iii

• a.Is it raining?
• b.Does Harish play football?
• c.Is the bus on time?
• d.Did Ramesh go to the market yesterday? (or, to Ramesh himself: Ramesh, did you go to the market yesterday?)
• e.Is it Tuesday today? (or Is today Tuesday?)
• f.Did you open my letter? (to the teacher; to someone else: Did the teacher open my letter?)
• g.Has my brother gone to sleep? (to your brother: Have you gone to sleep?, a joke if he answers!)
• h.Will there be a food party?

• a.ii. Yes, I am. (a full short answer; Yes, busy has no subject or verb)
• b.ii. No, I’m fine, thanks. The question is really “Are you comfortable?”, so the polite answer is about you. (No, it isn’t is correct grammar, but it sounds cold.)
• c.ii. No, I didn’t steal your money. The question is in the past, with did; won’t is the future. (The short answer No, I didn’t is just as right; repeating the words makes the denial stronger.)
• d.ii. It’s all right, thanks. It is an offer, so you refuse it with thanks; No, you can’t answers a request for permission, and here it would sound rude.

• a.Has the family got three mobile phones? (or Does the family have three mobile phones?)
• b.Does Januka work at the supermarket?
• c.Is Anita learning English?
• d.Will the meeting be held next Tuesday?
• e.Did Tanka switch off the computer?
• f.Did he go to the cinema yesterday?
• g.Is everyone ready?
• h.Is it raining outside?
• i.Has Vicky lost her credit card? (Vicky’s = Vicky has)
• j.Had she done the work on time? (She’d done = she had done)

Some answer keys give Did she do the work on time? for j. That is the question for She did the work on time; She’d done is the past perfect, so its helping verb had moves to the front.

Introduce Nepal’s variety of peoples and languages. Then a paragraph each on festivals, on food, dress and arts, and on heritage sites; then a paragraph on the threats to culture and what we can do. End by saying why it is something to be proud of.

Our Culture, Our Pride

Nepal is a small country, but its culture is enormous. The 2021 census counted 142 castes and ethnic groups and 124 mother tongues, from Sherpa and Thakali in the mountains to Tharu and Maithili in the Tarai. Each has its own way of life, and together they make us who we are.

Our festivals bring this variety to life. Dashain and Tihar unite families across the country, while Lhosar, Chhath, Sakela, Maghi and Eid each fill their own communities with music and color. At every festival, elders bless the young, food is shared, and neighbors become family.

Our culture is also in what we eat, wear and make. Dal-bhat, momo, dhido and yomari, the Dhaka topi and the gunyu-cholo, Newar wood carving, Mithila painting and the madal are known far beyond our borders. The Kathmandu Valley’s seven monument zones and Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha, are World Heritage Sites.

However, our culture faces new dangers. Young people move to cities and abroad, mother tongues are spoken less, and old crafts and dances are forgotten. We can keep them alive by speaking our languages at home, learning from our grandparents, and joining our festivals with pride.

In conclusion, our culture is our identity. It connects us to our ancestors and to one another, and it is our duty to pass it on to the next generation.

• a.Yes. In our Newar community in Bhaktapur, a girl of five to nine goes through Ihi, a ceremony in which she is “married” to a bel fruit, a symbol of the god Shiva.
• b.It is unique because almost no other community in the world has a ceremony like it. Because the bel fruit stands for a god who never dies, people say that a Newar woman can never truly become a widow.

a. propensity b. etiquette c. bartenders d. contort (contorting in the text)

• a.False (they point with their lips)
• b.True (the text says tipping is “rather mandatory” at most restaurants; in fact it is expected, not required by law)
• c.True (slurping without twisting the noodles first is “naturally noisier” than twisting them)
• d.True
• e.True

Some answer keys give False for c. Read the sentence again: slurping the noodles without contorting them is noisier than the former, the former being twisting them first. So twisting is the quieter way, and the statement is true.

Its customs and traditions, especially its code of etiquette (rules of polite behavior) and its sense of identity.

In Nicaragua people point with their lips, puckering them toward something nearby, instead of pointing with a thumb or finger.

It gives waiters and waitresses an incentive to provide better service.

To show that they are really enjoying the noodles; some scientists also say slurping draws air into the mouth and enhances the noodles’ flavor.

When an adult approaches, Yoruba young people go down to the ground as a sign of respect and deference: women kneel, and men lie prostrate.

I found the Yoruba greeting the most interesting. Lying flat on the ground in front of an elder looks extreme at first, but when I thought about it, it is not so far from what we do at Dashain, when we bend down and touch our heads to our grandparents’ feet. Both say the same thing: you are older and wiser than me, and I respect you. I also liked that the custom tells the Yoruba apart from their neighbors. It shows that a simple greeting can carry a whole people’s values.

• a.Yes. They are common at Hindu weddings in Nepal: the panche baja band that plays as the groom’s party arrives, while people dance; mehendi, the henna painted on the bride’s hands; and sindur, the red powder the groom puts in the parting of the bride’s hair, which shows that she is married.
• b.In my community, a wedding takes several days. The groom comes with his janti (the groom’s party) and a band to the bride’s house. The priest leads the rituals by the sacred fire, the bride’s parents give her away, and the groom puts sindur in her hair and a necklace of green beads, the pote, round her neck. Then there is a big feast for relatives and neighbors, and the bride leaves with the groom for her new home, which is a sad moment for her family.

a – iii (Ghana), b – iv (Cuba), c – ii (India), d – i (China)

a. Jewish b. evil spirits c. profitable (custom) d. henna paste e. lucky colour (the speaker says red is “a strong and lucky color”) f. cocktail dress
Custom is left over: it belongs with profitable in c, “a highly profitable custom”.

Painting the hands with henna is the most similar to my own. At my cousin’s wedding in Janakpur last year, the women of the family gathered the evening before and painted the bride’s hands and feet with mehendi, singing songs late into the night. The designs took hours, just as the recording says, and the bride’s hands stayed dark orange for weeks. The red dress is similar too: Nepali brides usually wear red, though we wear it for the whole day, not just the first part.

a – v, b – iv, c – ii, d – i, e – iii
Notice c: a passive question (Has the book been translated) keeps its passive in the report, one tense back: whether the book had been translated. And e: should doesn’t change.

• a.Rahul asked me if I had watched the cricket match on TV the night before (or the previous night).
• b.He asked me if I was coming home with him.
• c.The prince asked him if he really came from India.
• d.The judge finally asked the prisoner if he had anything to say. (If you were the one being asked: The judge finally asked me if I had anything to say.)
• e.She asked me if he was at home.
• f.Usha asks me if I can solve the problem. (The reporting verb says is present, so asks, and the tense stays.)
• g.Badri asked Asmita if she would visit him in Australia.
• h.Radhika asked Rebecca if she had heard the noise.
• i.He asked me if I had seen his hat.
• j.He asked me whether he came or not.
• k.Rohan asked me if I had spilled (British spilt) the milk on the floor.
• l.The pilot asked the air hostess if the passengers had fastened their seatbelts.

When the direct speech doesn’t say who was asked (b, c, d, i), add a listener that fits (me, him, the prisoner) or leave it out: He asked if I was coming home with him is also right.
Some answer keys give Usha asked if I could solve the problem for f. That reports it as if she had said it in the past. With says, keep the present: Usha asks if I can solve the problem.

My friend Phulmaya met me after two years, and she asked me lots of questions.

• a.She asked me if I was fine.
• b.She asked me how my family was.
• c.She asked me if I had had breakfast.
• d.She asked me what I was doing then.
• e.She asked me whether I was playing chess or not.
• f.She asked me if I needed any good books.
• g.She asked me if I could share my future plan.
• h.She asked me why I didn’t come to meet her.

b, d and h are wh-questions: they keep how, what, why, with no if, but the order and tense change just the same. In c, have had goes back to had had: two hads are correct.

One paragraph for the introduction, then follow the outline: when, why it matters (its story and meaning), who celebrates it, what people do (the most vivid part: what you see, hear and taste), what you think of it, and a short conclusion. About 200 words.

Bisket Jatra

Every April, the old streets of Bhaktapur fill with drums, crowds and two huge wooden chariots. This is Bisket Jatra, the festival that welcomes the Nepali New Year.

It is celebrated around the first of Baisakh, in mid-April, when the old year ends and the new one begins.

Bisket Jatra has deep historical and cultural value. People tell old legends about how it began, one of them about two serpents that were killed and hung from a tall pole. It also shows how a city works together: the whole town has its part to play.

The festival is observed mainly by the Newar community of Bhaktapur, Madhyapur Thimi and Bode, though visitors come from all over Nepal and the world.

The most exciting activity is the pulling of Bhairav’s chariot. The people of the upper town (Thane) and the lower town (Kone) pull it in a tug-of-war, and the winners take it to their side of the city. A smaller chariot carries the goddess Bhadrakali. A tall wooden pole, the yosin (lingo), is raised a few days before and pulled down on the eve of the new year. The next day, in Bode, a man pierces his tongue and carries a frame of burning lamps through the town.

In my opinion, Bisket Jatra is one of the most thrilling festivals in Nepal, because a whole city plays a game together, as it has for generations.

In conclusion, Bisket Jatra is more than a festival: it is Bhaktapur’s living history, and we must keep it alive.

• a.False (he had come only to see the site, thinking foreigners couldn’t watch)
• b.True
• c.True
• d.True
• e.False (women kneel; men lie prostrate)

• a.if (a yes/no question)
• b.had (have finished → had finished, after the past asked)
• c.where she was going (a wh-question: statement order, tense back)
• d.whether
• e.could (can → could)

• a.Does Muna sing at the temple every morning?
• b.Had the vultures eaten the whole body?
• c.The writer asked the driver if the monastery was far from there.
• d.Sabina asked me if I had seen the chariot the day before.
• e.My uncle asks me if I like momo. (a present reporting verb: the tense stays)
• f.No, they aren’t. (or No, they’re not.)

Chhath: Thanks to the Setting Sun

On a cool evening in October or November, the ponds and riverbanks of the Tarai fill with women in bright saris standing in the water, holding baskets of fruit toward the setting sun. This is Chhath, one of the most beautiful festivals of my community.

Chhath falls six days after Tihar’s Laxmi Puja, in the month of Kartik. It is a festival of the Sun, which gives light, warmth and harvests, and of Chhathi Maiya, the goddess believed to protect children.

It is observed mostly by the Maithil, Bhojpuri and Tharu communities of the Tarai, and now in Kathmandu too, at the ponds of Kamal Pokhari and Gahana Pokhari and the banks of the Bagmati.

The festival lasts four days. The women who keep it, and some men, eat only once on the second day, then fast without even water for about a day and a half. On the third evening, the family goes to the water, and the fasting women offer thekuwa (sweet wheat cakes), sugarcane, bananas and coconuts to the setting sun. Before dawn the next day, they return to offer prayers to the rising sun, and only then do they break their fast.

I love Chhath because it is so clean and calm: the ghats are scrubbed, the songs are gentle, and the whole neighborhood helps.

In short, Chhath teaches gratitude to nature, and it brings families together.

a. narrative (a true personal story) b. persuasive (an argument: why… needs) c. expository (explains a process) d. descriptive (paints the festival with the senses)