Cambridge International Catalogue 2024 - Final - Flipbook - Page 27
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Reading
7
7 ALL AROUND THE WORLD
Reading
Spotlight on: cultural
context
Texts have cultural
context. Culture refers
to a particular way
of life, including the
customs and traditions,
beliefs, knowledge
and behaviours of a
particular group of
people at a particular
time.
Extract 1: A short story set in the USA
Reading
Speaking and listening
H Excerpts from short stories
and novels from the USA,
Africa and Thailand
H Poems from Jamaica and
Japan
H Discuss cultural context in
texts
H Talk about your own
traditions and culture
Read the following story told by Meimei, a girl who was born in America.
Her parents, however, emigrated to the United States from China.
Author: Amy Tan
Amy Tan
All around
the world
Key skills
Writing
H A friendly letter
H A haiku
Reading
All around the world
H Word attack skills
H Spelling rules: i before e
H Punctuation: direct speech
H Parts of speech:
prepositions
H Standard and non-standard
English
LET’S TALK
Culture is all around us – it’s in the language we speak, the clothes we wear,
the food we eat, the music and songs we listen to, the games we play, and the
movies we watch.
n How does our culture influence the n What texts or stories have your
way we use language?
read that are from another culture?
n Why do we read literature from
n How do authors use cultural
different parts of the world?
context to better tell their stories?
WORD ATTACK
SKILLS
Use your word attack
skills to work out
the meaning of the
highlighted words by
using the surrounding
words:
✔ benevolently
✔ diminishing
✔ well-tended
EXTENSION
ACTIVITY
Find out more about
the history and rules
of the game of chess.
Explain the rules of the
game to a classmate
who does not know
how to play it.
4
Return to the contents page
Amy Tan was born in America but her parents were
Chinese immigrants. She has written many novels
including The Joy Luck Club.
EXTENSION
ACTIVITY
Find out more about
Chinese good luck
objects and symbols.
Prepare a short
speech to present to
your class.
Rules of the Game
On a cold spring afternoon, while walking home from school, I detoured
through the playground at the end of our alley. I saw a group of old men,
two seated across a folding table playing a game of chess, others smoking
pipes, eating peanuts and watching. I ran home and grabbed Vincent’s
chess set, which was bound in a cardboard box with rubber bands. I also
carefully selected two prized rolls of sweets called Life Savers. I came back
to the park and approached a man who was observing the game.
Spelling
‘Want to play?’ I asked him. His face widened with surprise and he grinned
as he looked at the box under my arm.
1 Which letters
are silent
in these
highlighted
words?
• unwrapped
• wrinkling
• knight
• knock
• eight
2 What is the
spelling rule
for these
highlighted
words?
• society
• piece
‘Little sister, been a long time since I play with dolls,’ he said, smiling
benevolently. I quickly put the box down next to him on the bench and
displayed my retort.
Lau Po, as he allowed me to call him, turned out to be a much better player
than my brothers. I lost many games and many Life Savers. But over the
weeks, with each diminishing roll of candies, I added new secrets. Lau
Po gave me the names. The Double Attack from the East and West Shores.
Throwing Stones on the Drowning Man. The Sudden Meeting of the Clan.
The Surprise from the Sleeping Guard. The Humble Servant Who Kills the
King. Sand in the Eyes of Advancing Forces. A
Double Killing Without Blood.
There were also the fine points of chess etiquette.
Keep captured men in neat rows, as well-tended
prisoners. Never announce ‘Check’ with vanity,
lest someone with an unseen sword slit your throat.
Never hurl pieces into the sandbox after you have
lost a game, because then you must find them
again, by yourself, after apologising to all around
you. By the end of summer, Lau Po had taught
me all he knew, and I had become a better chess
player.
5
6
Answer these questions about Extract 1.
A small weekend crowd of Chinese people and tourists would gather as
I played and defeated my opponents one by one. My mother would join
the crowds during these outdoor exhibition games. She sat proudly on the
bench, telling my admirers with proper Chinese humility, ‘Is luck.’
A man who watched me play in the park suggested that my mother allow me
to play in local chess tournaments. My mother smiled graciously, an answer
that meant nothing. I desperately wanted to go, but bit back my tongue. I
knew she would not let me play among strangers. So as we walked home I
said in a small voice that I didn’t want to play in the local tournament. They
would have American rules. If I lost, I would bring shame on my family.
‘Is shame you fall down nobody push you,’ said my mother. During my first
tournament, my mother sat with me in the front row as I waited for my turn. I
frequently bounced my legs to unstick them from the cold metal seat of the
folding chair. When my name was called, I leapt up. My mother unwrapped
something in her lap. It was her chang, a small tablet of red jade which held
the sun’s fire.
‘Is luck,’ she whispered and tucked it into my dress pocket. I turned to my
opponent, a fifteen-year-old boy from Oakland. He looked at me, wrinkling
his nose.
As I began to play, the boy disappeared, the colour ran out of the room and
I saw only my white pieces and his black ones waiting on the other side. A
light wind began blowing past my ears. It whispered secrets only I could
hear.
‘Blow from the South,’ it murmured. ‘The wind leaves no trail.’ I saw a clear
path, the traps to avoid. The crowd rustled. ‘Shhh! Shhh!’ said the corners of
the room. The wind blew stronger. ‘Throw sand from the East to distract him
distract him.’ The knight came forward ready for the sacrifice. The wind
hissed, louder and louder. ‘Blow, blow, blow. He cannot see. He is blind now.
Make him lean away from the wind so he is easier to knock down.’
‘Check,’ I said, as the wind roared with laughter. The wind died down to
little puffs, my own breath.
My mother placed my first trophy next to a new plastic chess set that the
neighbourhood Tao society had given to me. As she wiped each piece
with a soft cloth, she said, ‘Next time win more, lose less.’
‘Ma, it’s not how many pieces you lose,’ I said. ‘Sometimes you need to lose
pieces to get ahead.’
‘Better to lose less, see if you really need.’
LET’S TALK
Much of the interest
in the full story lies in
the contrast between
the attitudes of the
people of her parents’
generation – which
were shaped by
the Chinese culture
in which they lived
before emigrating to
the United States –
and those of Meimei.
How does the author
show the tensions
and differences
between these
cultures? Give
examples to support
your statements.
Activity
1 What do you think the old man (Lau Po) means when he says, ‘Little
sister, been a long time since I play with dolls’?
2 Explain in your own words the meaning of ‘benevolently’.
3 What do you think Meimei’s reason was for taking the Life Savers with
her and why do you think that she lost so many of them?
4 Explain, using your own words, the meaning of ‘the fine points of chess
etiquette’.
5 Why does Meimei think her mother will not allow her to play in the
chess tournament?
6 Explain as fully as you can how Meimei managed to get her mother to
approve of her playing in local chess tournaments.
7 What does the paragraph beginning, ‘As I began to play, the boy
disappeared …’ tell you about Meimei’s state of mind when she is
playing chess?
8 How does Meimei’s account of the game show that she had learnt from
Lau Po’s teaching?
9 Explain carefully how what her mother says after Meimei had won the
game shows that her mother does not fully understand how the game
is played.
10 Looking at the passage as a whole, explain as fully as you can the
mother’s attitude towards her daughter’s interest in playing chess.
Key skills: Punctuation – direct speech
Direct speech is a quotation of the actual words that someone speaks.
Follow the guidelines to use direct speech:
n Place the actual spoken words within inverted commas “ ” (known as
quotation or speech marks).
n Observe other punctuation rules such as starting a new line for each
change of speaker.
n Use commas, full stops, question marks or exclamation marks within the
inverted commas (according to the meaning of the words).
n Use a comma before the inverted comma to introduce the words that
are quoted.
At the next tournament, I won again, but it was my mother who wore the
triumphant grin.
‘Lost eight piece this time. Last time was eleven. What I tell you? Better off
lose less!’ I was annoyed, but I couldn’t say anything.
EXERCISE
1
Rewrite these sentences, adding the correct direct speech marks.
a Want to play? I asked him.
b Blow from the South it murmured. The wind leaves no trail.
c Check I said, as the wind roared with laughter.
d Better to lose less, see if you really need. Ma, it’s not how many pieces
you lose I said. Sometimes you need to lose pieces to get ahead.
7
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