The Chinantec lifestyle
Over 104,000 Chinantec people live in northern Daxasa, Mexico, mostly in small villages where their traditional languages are spoken. Some temporarily move to Mexico city to work but most return home afterward. Most Chinantecs farm maize and beans. They also produce coffee, timber and chili peppers as well as pottery and baskets. Most of them no longer wear traditional clothing except on special occasions, but they may make and sell it.
The whistled language is mostly used by men, and while women usually can interpret it, they don't "speak" it.
A threatened lifestyle
Chinantec whistling has ancient roots, but can it survive in a changing world? Modern inventions like cellphones are replacing whistling as a form of long-distance communication. And the Chinantec languages themselves may be in danger. As Spanish becomes more and more prevalent, even within Chinantec communities, some fear that traditional languages will disappear. Linguists are studying this unique and fascinating language while they have the chance. Yet they hope that Chinantec whistles will fly over the mountains for years to come.
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Teaching Topic: Quantifiers
Quantifiers are, as the name suggests, words that express the quantity of something.
They're different from numbers in that they don't give a precise amount, they're approximate.
Some of the most common quantifiers are "all," "some," "much," and "most."
And quantifiers normally come before nouns.
In today's lesson, our author writes, "Most Chinantecans farm maize and beans."
"Most" is the quantifier here, and it modifies the noun Chinantecan.
And so, we learn that not all Chinantecans are farmers who raise maize and beans.
Quantifiers can sometimes act as pronouns, though.
Let's look back to the previous sentence for an example.
OK. In it we read, "Some temporarily move to Mexico City to work, but most return home afterward."
Here, the quantifiers, "some" and "most," are acting as pronouns.
OK. Finally, we should know that certain quantifiers only work for certain kinds of nouns.
Right. The quantifier "most," for example, works for both uncountable nouns, like maize, and countable nouns, like beans.
Others, like "a little," work only with uncountable nouns: a little maize.
Well, other quantifiers, like "each," work only with countable nouns: each bean.
Now, the best way to keep quantifiers straight: practice.
quantifier n.數量詞、量詞
1. 代表大約的數量
such as "all", "some", "much", "most", "a little", "each", "any", "a lot of"...etc.
2. 量詞有時可當代名詞
- Some temporarily move to Mexico city to work but most return home afterward.
some, most 都是代名詞
3.a little只可用來修飾不可數名詞
- There is a little time left.
4.each可修飾可數名詞
- My technique improved with each lesson.
Language Lab
temporarily adv.暫時地、短暫地
/ˌtɛmpəˈrerəli/
continuing for a limited amount of time : not permanent
- Sherry is staying with her sister temporarily, and then she will get her own place.
Sherry現在暫時和妹妹住，然後她會找自己的住處
temporary adj.
/ˈtɛmpəˌreri/
- Timothy needs a temporary job to earn money for his tuition.
Timothy需要一份暫時的工作來賺取學費
chili pepper 墨西哥紅蕃椒
a small pepper with a very hot flavor —called also chili pepper
- Daniel loves to put chopped up chili peppers on his pizza.
Daniel喜歡在他的披薩上放切碎的紅番椒
red pepper 紅辣椒
a hot pepper that is red and that is added to food to make it spicy ; also [noncount] : cayenne pepper
- The chef used some red peppers to decorate the dish.
主廚用紅辣椒來裝飾這道菜
prevalent adj.普遍的、盛行的
/ˈprɛvələnt/
- Addiction to computer games is prevalent among teens.
沉迷電腦遊戲在青少年中是常見的
prevalence n.
/ˈprɛvələns/
[noncount] formal — usually + of
- The campaign fights against the prevalence of smoking among young people.
這個宣傳活動就是要遏止年輕人抽菸的普遍問題
fascinating adj.迷人的、極好的
/ˈfæsəˌneɪtɪŋ/
very interesting or appealing
-The plot of the hit movie was so fascinating that a lot of viewers went back to see it a second time.
這部電影的情節太棒了，因此許多觀眾回來看第二次
- The fascinating view of the lake captured our eyes.
這座湖泊的美景吸引我們的視線
fascinate v.
/ˈfæsəˌneɪt/
to cause (someone) to be very interested in something or someone [+ obj]
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