Dr Margaret Mead was a
famous anthropologist. She led an exciting life. An anthropologist studies
people and their culture. Culture includes their languages, beliefs,
customs, food, games, and way of life. Dr. Mead travelled to many parts of the
world. She also worked at the
Margaret
Mead was born in the city of
Margaret
saw that the only real way to learn about a people is to live with them. But
modern ways of living were spreading. There were few primitive peoples left. Primitive
people live as people did in early times. Margaret was afraid she would be too
late to find a group of these people to study. She chose a village in
Margaret
worked hard to get ready to go to
After
a time Margaret went to live in a primitive village. The chief had agreed to
let her come and stay. She learned many
things from Samoan people. She always made notes and records. At night she
always sat by fire working on her records. She tried hard to get the older to
tell tales of the past.
After
time Margaret move to a more primitive village. There she lived with an
American family. But she met with the Samoan young people every day. She used
her notes to write her first book, coming of Age in
Margaret
Mead made field trips to many parts of the world. She studied and wrote about
primitive ways of life that would soon be gone. She said “I have spent most of
my life studying the lives of other peoples, faraway peoples, so that Americans
might better understand themselves. I have lived with other people who
had neither writing nor records except their own words.”
Nelle Dederick,
Esther Lindop, Ernest W. Tiegs,
Fay Adams. The People: People and Their Heritage. Ginn
and Company. 1983.
COMPREHENSION
1. Below is a list of sentences that
tell the story of Dr. Margaret Mead. Write them in order in which they happened
and number them.
o She went back to South Pacific.
o Margaret went to live in a primitive
village.
o She lived with an American family.
o Margaret Mead was born in the city
of
o Margaret spent some time working at
the
o In college, she took a class in
anthropology.
o She learned many things from Samoan
people.
o She studied languages that might be
like that of the Samoan people.
2. Define the following terms
according to the text
a. Anthropologist :…………………………………………………………………………………...
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
b. Culture : …………………………………………………………………………………...
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
c. Primitive people : …………………………………………………………………………………...
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
d. Taboos : …………………………………………………………………………………...
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
3. Answer the following questions in
your own words as far as possible.
a. What had Margaret done before she went to the Samoan village?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
b. What was the title of Dr Mead’s first book?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4. Tick the appropriate meaning of
the words in bold.
a. She tried hard to
get the older to tell tales of the past. (Paragraph 5, Line 3)
q Short letters sent to clients.
q Stories about imaginary
people or events.
q Important meetings.
b. She learned about
their homes, their food, their ceremonies…
q Public buildings where
people can look at paintings and other works of arts.
q Formal public events with
special traditions actions, or words.
q Buildings where you pay to
go and watch a film.
5. Find in the text the antonyms of
the following words:
a. Excludes (Paragraph 1) :………………………………………….
b. Traditional (Paragraph 3) :………………………………………….
c. Close (Paragraph 7) :………………………………………….
6. What do the underlined words in
the text refer to ?
a. Their (Paragraph 1) :………………………………………….
b. This (Paragraph 2) :………………………………………….
c. Their (Paragraph 4) :………………………………………….
d. This book (Paragraph 6) :………………………………………….
e. Themselves (Paragraph 7) :………………………………………….