2021年1月23日发(作者：惊叹号)
LESSON 1
Birthday Customs Around the World

Ready to Go
1

Check the gift you’d most like to receive on your next birthday.

●
□

1. concert tickets
□

2. wireless headphones
□

3. an electronic guitar
□

4. a surprise birthday party
□

5. a high-end smartphone
□

6. chocolate and flowers
□

7. a photo album with photos of memory
□

8. some adventure sports
□

9. a customized photo frame
□

10. other(s): _____________________
2

What would you like to do on your next birthday?
●

Reading
What do you usually do on your birthday? Do you follow the western
custom
1
of
sharing a cake with
lit
2
candles
3
on it? Maybe you receive cards and gifts, or just go
out and have fun with a group of friends. There are many ways you can
celebrate
4
the
date of your birth. This year, you could
try out
some
amusing
5
birthday customs.
Perhaps you
prefer
6
the Taiwanese
tradition
7
of having a meal of noodles with
pork
knuckles
.
Why
pork
knuckles?
The
idea
is
that
the
feet
of
a
pig
are
big
and
strong
enough
to
hold
up

its
large
body,
so
Critical Thinking
eating the feet brings health and
strength
8
. Also,
Do you think noodles with pork
noodles
are
associated
9

with
long
life.
A
knuckles will still be a popular
traditional
birthday
wish
is
to
live
a
long
and
birthday dish twenty years from
healthy life, so pork knuckles with noodles is the
now? Why or why not?
ideal
10
birthday dish.
If you travel to
Germany
, you might
come
Critical Thinking
across
the surprising sight of a man sweeping the
German people make fun of a
steps of the
city hall
as a group of people watch
birthday boy while he sweeps
him.
In that case
, you can guess he is single and
the town hall steps. In your
that it is his thirtieth birthday. The old tradition
opinion, what is the most likely
is
for
such
men
to
sweep
the
steps
while
their
reason behind this custom?
friends
make
fun
of

them.
This
custom
also
1

serves the
useful
purpose of
letting local women know the man is
available
11
.
In
Italy
, there is a tradition that on children’s birthdays their friends pull on their
ears once for each year they have lived. This could be because of a
belief
12
that the
ears
are
closely
connected
to
memory
13
.
Pulling
them
might
make
the
person
remember
things
better.
Another
possible

explanation
14

is
that
because
earlobes
grow as a person grows, pulling them might be to wish him or her a longer life.
An
interesting
tradition
can
be
found
in
eastern
Canada
,
where
birthday
boys
and girls might get their noses “
greased
.” Friends or family members hold them down
and
apply
15
a
dab
of butter to the nose. The reason for this is that a greased nose
is
supposed
to

make
the
child
too
slippery
16

for
bad
luck
to
catch
him
during
the
coming year. The birthday child, however, might not
consider
17
himself lucky at the
time!
These
days,
a
lot
of
old
birthday
customs
are
dying
out
.
Many
younger
Canadians have never heard of nose greasing, for example. Around the world, more
and
more
people
are
following
the
western
practice
18

of
eating
cake
and
singing
“Happy
Birthday”
in
English
or
their
own
language.
Unique
19

cultural
20

traditions
are
worth
21
keeping, however. Remember that on your next birthday, and enjoy that
tasty bowl of pork knuckles with noodles.
—
by Eugene Oxford


Reading Skills
Identifying the Topic of Each Paragraph
Identifying the topic of a paragraph means finding out what the paragraph is about.
After reading a paragraph, ask yourself what its topic is.

Practice
Read through each paragraph in the reading again and match it with one of the topics
below.

A

Sweeping steps on someone’s birthday

●
B

Pulli
ng someone’s ears on his/her birthday

●
C

Old birthday customs as they exist today
●
D

Applying butter to the nose of the birthday boy/girl
●
E

A birthday dish for a long and healthy life
●
F

Common ways of celebrating birthdays
●

Paragraph 1 _______
Paragraph 4 _______



Paragraph 2 _______
Paragraph 5 _______
2


Paragraph 3 _______
Paragraph 6 _______
You Know What?
Here is a comic about traditional Chinese birthday foods.
1

2

3

●
●
●

Longevity noodles are
recommended for Chinese
birthdays.

Cutting the noodles is

Peach-shaped buns and
boiled eggs are also
common birthday dishes.
regarded as cutting one’
s
life short.

Reading Matrix
Go through this reading again and choose the main idea of each paragraph from the
list at the bottom. Then fill the blanks with appropriate words from the text.

Paragraph 1
In addition to the _______ custom of sharing a _______ on a birthday, there are many
other amusing birthday customs.

Paragraph 2
Taiwan
main idea: _______
in hope of ...
health, _______,

and a long _______

Paragraph 3
Germany
main idea: _______
in hope of ...
notifying local _______

that you are still _______

Paragraph 4
Italy
main idea: _______
in hope of ...
a _______, memory and

a _______ life

Paragraph 5
Canada
main idea: _______
in hope of ...
avoiding bad _______

Paragraph 6
Many old birthday customs are _______ out. However, _______ cultural traditions
are _______ keeping.

3

(A) A birthday boy/girl has his/her ears pulled by his/her friends.
(B) A birthday boy/girl eats noodles with pork knuckles.
(C) A birthday boy/girl has his/her nose greased.
(D) A 30-year-old single man sweeps the steps of the city hall on his birthday.

Reading Comprehension
According to the reading, choose the best answer to each question below.



1. What is the main idea of the passage? Gist
(A) Eating birthday cakes is popular in every country.
(B) A birthday is a special day that is worth celebrating.
(C) People no longer celebrate birthdays in traditional ways.
(D) People in different places celebrate birthdays in different ways.



2.
What is the reason that Chinese people use pigs’ feet in a birthday meal?
Detail
(A) Pigs’ feet are hard to find.

(B) Pigs’ feet are chewy
and tasty.
(C) Pigs’ feet are regarded as giving strength.

(D) The feet are the most expensive parts of the pig.



3. If you see a German sweeping the steps of the city hall with a group of
laughing people watching him, what is probably going on? Inference
(A) The man is performing a civic duty.
(B) A woman is celebrating her birthday.
(C) The laughing people are punishing the man.
(D) They are celebrating the sweeper’s birthday.




4. An Italian girl, Giulia, is having a twelfth birthday party. How many times
will she get her ears pulled? Inference
(A) 1.

(B) 6.
(C) 12.

(D) As many times as possible.



5.
Why do Canadians grease a birthday girl’s/boy’s nose?
Detail
(A) To bring joy to the family.
(B) To protect the nose from getting sunburned.
(C) To bring him/her wealth and fortune in the future.
(D) To make it difficult for bad luck to affect him/her.

Thinking Zone
Below are several reasons for celebrating birthdays. Based on your opinion, label
them from 1 (the most important) to 5 (the least important).
4

A
Families and friends have a great time




●
getting together.

B
People show appreciation for their




●
parents on their birthdays.

C
People reflect on what they have




●
achieved in the previous year.

D
Birthdays give people chances to




●
receive the gifts that they want.

E
A birthday is a time to make new




●
wishes and plan what to do.

Which one is your top choice? And why?

5

Vocabulary
Words for production
1.
custom
[
`kQstEm
]

a common way of doing something; something that someone
does by habit
n.
[C]
習俗，慣例；習慣

●

It is a custom in Taiwan to have a family dinner on New Year’s Eve.

●

It’s Aunt Mary’s custom to send hand
-written letters instead of emails.

2.
light
[
laIt
]

to cause something to start burning; to make a place brighter
v.
[T] (light, lit, lit)
點燃；照亮

●

When you light the fireworks, make sure you stand back to be safe.
●

The lamp was bright enough to light the whole room.
light [
laIt
]
n.
[U]
光；
[C]
燈

●

There are large windows in the apartment so it gets plenty of light.
●

I pressed the switch but the light didn’t come on.


3.
candle
[
`kAnd>
]

a stick or block of wax with string that is burned to produce light
n.
[C]
蠟燭

●

During the power cut I had to light candles to do my homework.

4.
celebrate
[
`sZlE9bret
]

to take part in fun activities in order to mark a special time

v.
[T]
慶祝

●

I plan to celebrate my next birthday with a dinner party.

celebration [
9sZlE`breFEn
]
n.
[U]
慶祝；
[C]
慶祝活動

●

We took Mom to dinner in celebration of
Mother’s Day.

●

In this city, there is a huge and noisy celebration at New Year.

5.
amusing
[
E`mjuzIN
]

entertaining and interesting
adj.
有趣的，好笑的

●

The picnic was a success, with amusing activities.
amused [
E`mjuzd
]
adj.
愉快的

●

The hotel has plenty of activities to keep guests amused.
amuse [
E`mjuz
]
v.
[T]
提供娛樂，使愉快

●

If the rides at Disneyland don’t amuse you, it has some great shows.

amusement [
E`mjuzmEnt
]
n.
[U]
樂趣；
[C]
消遣娛樂

●

John isn’t serious about golf. He only plays the sport for am
usement.
●

The hotel often arranges special events and amusements for its guests.

6

6.
prefer
[
prI`f3
]

to like or want something more than something else
v.
[T] (prefer, preferred, preferred)
寧可，偏好

●

I hate hot weather, and I actually prefer winter to summer.
preference [
`prZfErEns
]
n.
[C]
偏好，偏愛；偏愛的事物

●

Julie’s
preference for bright colors makes her clothes stand out.
●

Annie’s musical preferences are very similar to mine. We both love jazz and rock
music.

7.
tradition
[
trE`dIFEn
]

a way of doing something that has been handed down over
a long time
n.
[C]
傳統，慣例

●

In this area there is an old tradition of singing and dancing during a wedding.
traditional [
trE`dIFEn>
]
adj.
傳統的，慣例的

●

We celebrated Christmas in the traditional way, by giving each other presents.

8.
strength
[
strZNW
]
the physical power of a person; the degree of a feeling or belief
n.
[U]
力氣；強度

●

I don’t have enough strength to move this heavy table by myself.

●

Jack found it difficult to express the strength of his feeling for Joanne.
strengthen [
`strZNWEn
]
v.
[T]
增強；使鞏固

●

This exercise will help you strengthen your leg muscles.
●

Going on vacation together last year strengthened my friendship with Tom.

9.
associate
[
E`soFI9et
]

to form a link between things in your mind
v.
[T]
聯想

●

I always associate this song with a trip I took to Japan.

association [
E9sosI`eFEn
]
n.
[C]
聯想；關連

●

The popular association of Africa with poverty represents a narrow view.
●

Most scientists accept the association between carbon dioxide and climate change.

10.
ideal
[
aI`diEl
]

the best possible or most suitable
adj.
理想的，完美的

●

The island is an ideal place for a relaxing vacation.

ideal [
aI`diEl
]
n.
[C]
理想

●

Studying science at a top university is my ideal, and I’m sure I’ll make it.


11.
available
[
E`velEb>
]

unmarried and not having a boyfriend or girlfriend; having
free time to do something; able to be used or obtained
adj.
沒有交往對象的；有空的；可取得的

7