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1、 Endangered PeoplesA) Today, it is not distance, but culture that separates the peoples of the world. The central question of our time may be how to deal with cultural differences. So begins the book, Endangered Peoples, by Art Davidson. It is an attempt to provide understanding of the issues affect
2、ing the worlds native peoples. This book tells the stories of 21 tribes, cultures, and cultural areas that are struggling to survive. It tells each story through the voice of a member of the tribe .Mr. Davidson recorded their words. Art Wolfe and John Isaac took pictures of them. The organization ca
3、lled the Sierra Club published the book.B) The native groups live far apart in North America or South America, Africa or Asia. Yet their situations are similar. They are fighting the march of progress in an effort to keep themselves and their cultures alive. Some of them follow ancient ways most of
4、the time. Some follow modern ways most of the time. They have one foot in ancient world and one foot in modern world. They hope to continue to balance between these two worlds. Yet the pressures to forget their traditions and join the modern world may be too great.C) Rigoberta Menchu of Guatemala, t
5、he Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1992, offers her thoughts in the beginning of the book Endangered Peoples. She notes that many people claim that native people are like stories from the past. They are ruins that have died. She disagrees strongly. She says native communities are not remains of the past
6、. They have a future, and they have much wisdom and richness to offer the rest of the world.D) Art Davidson traveled thousands of miles around the world while working on the book. He talked to many people to gather their thoughts and feelings. Mr. Davidson notes that their desires are the same. Peop
7、le want to remain themselves he says. They want to raise their children the way they were raised. They want their children to speak their mother tongue, their own language. They want them to have their parents values and customs. Mr. Davidson says the peoples cries are the same: Does our culture hav
8、e to die? Do we have to disappear as a people?E) Art Davidson lived for more than 25 years among native people in the American state of Alaska. He says his interest in native peoples began his boyhood when he found an ancient stone arrowhead. The arrowhead was used as a weapon to hunt food. The hunt
9、er was an American Indian, long dead. Mr. Davidson realized then that Indians had lived in the state of Colorado, right where he was standing. And it was then, he says, that he first wondered: Where are they? Where did they go? He found answers to his early question. Many of the native peoples had d
10、isappeared. They were forced off their lands. Or they were killed in battle. Or they died from diseases brought by new settlers. Other native peoples remained, but they had to fight to survive the pressures of the modern world.F) The Gwichin is an example of the survivors. They have lived in what is
11、 now Alaska and Canada for 10,000 years. Now about 5,000 Gwichin remain. They are mainly hunters. They hunt the caribou, a large deer with big horns that travels across the huge spaces of the far north. For centuries, they have used all parts of the caribou: the meat for food, the skins for clothes,
12、 the bones for tools. Hunting caribou is the way of life of the Gwichin.G) One Gwichin told Art Davidson of memories from his childhood. It was a time when the tribe lived quietly in its own corner of the world. He spoke to Mr. Davidson in these words: Aslong as I can remember, someone would sit by
13、a fire on the hilltop every spring and autumn. His job was to look for caribou. If he saw a caribou, he would wave his arms or he would make his fire to give off more smoke. Then the village would come to life! People ran up to the hilltop. The tribes seemed to be at its best at these gatherings. We
14、 were all filled with happiness and sharing!H) About ten years ago, the modern world invaded the quiet world of the Gwichin. Oil companies wanted to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Preserve. This area was the place where the caribou gave birth to their young. The Gwichin feared the car
15、ibou would disappear. One Gwichin woman describes the situation in these words: Oil development threatens the caribou. If the caribou are threatened, then the people are threatened. Oil company official and American lawmakers do not seem to understand. They do not come into our homes and share our f
16、ood. They have never tried to understand the feeling expressed in our songs and our prayers. They have not seen the old people cry. Our elders have seen parts of our culture destroyed. They worry that our people may disappear forever.I) A scientist with a British oil company dismisses (驳回，打消) the fears of the Gwichin. He also says they have no choice. They will have to change. The Gwichin, however, is resisting. They t
