[Culture ★]

(P1) One morning, John Sullivan found himself walking along a street downtown. He could not explain what he was doing there, or how he got there, or where he had been earlier. He didn’t even know what time it was.

(P2) He saw a woman walking toward him and stopped her. “I’m afraid I forgot my watch,” he said, and smiled. “Can you please tell me the time?” When she saw him, she screamed and ran.

(P3) The he noticed that other people were afraid of him. When they saw him coming, they flattened themselves against a building, or ran across the street to stay out of his way. “There must be something wrong with me,” John thought. “I’d better go home.”

(P4) He hailed a taxi, but the driver took one look at him and sped away. “This is crazy!” he said to himself.

(P5) John did not understand what was going on, and it scared him. “Maybe someone at home can come and pick me up.” he thought.

(P6) He found a telephone and called home, expecting his wife to answer. Instead, a strange voice answered. “Is Mrs. Sullivan there?” he asked. “I’m sorry, she isn’t,” the voice said. “Her husband died a few days ago in a horrible car crash, she’s at his funeral.”

WORDS: 211

SOURCE: http://www.halloweenishere.com/ghost_stories3.html

VOCABULARY: downtown, notice, flatten, expect, crash

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

If you found the passage difficult to read or had problems understanding specific words or idiomatic expressions, please discuss them with your tutor. The following discussion questions should be answered in your own words and with your own arguments.

1. Briefly, summarize the content of the article in your own words.
2. Do you enjoy listening to or reading scary stories?
3. Share the scariest story you know.
4. Are you scared of ghosts? Why or why not?

READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS:

1. What did John Sullivan try to do?
2. What were other people’s reaction?
3. What did the strange voice over the phone say?
4. What do you think happened?

EXPRESSIONS or PHRASES:

What do the following expressions or phrases mean?

• walk along (P1)
• stay out of someone’s way (P3)
• I’d better … (P3)
• speed away (P4)

[Culture ★★★]

(P1) You may already think that Halloween is a pretty bizarre holiday: What other celebration could inspire both a Sexy Olaf costume and spooky drones? Chances are you really have no idea just how weird Halloween truly is, so here are some facts to fix that…

1. Originally, you had to dance for your “treat.”

(P2) In some early versions of trick-or-treating, men paraded door-to-door, and boys often followed, begging for coins. Most of these early trick-or-treaters were poor and actually needed the money, but wealthy children also joined in the fun. Door-to-door “begging” was mostly stopped in the 1930s, but re-emerged later in the century to distract kids from pulling Halloween pranks.

2. Halloween is more Irish than St. Patrick’s Day.

(P3) Halloween’s origins come from a Celtic festival for the dead called “Samhain.” Celts believed the ghosts of the dead roamed Earth on this holiday, so people would dress in costumes and leave “treats” out on their front doors to appease the roaming spirits. The Irish Celts were the ones who invented the jack-o’-lantern.

3. If you’d been around for the earliest Halloween celebrations, you might have worn animal skins and heads.

(P4) According to ancient Roman records, tribes located in today’s Germany and France traditionally wore costumes of animal heads and skins to connect to spirits of the dead. This tradition continued into modern day celebrations of Samhain, the Celtic holiday that inspired Halloween in America. On this day, merry-makers often dressed as evil spirits simply by blackening their faces. The leader of the Samhain parades wore a white sheet and carried a wooden horse head or a decorated horse skull (a modern Welsh version of this costume is shown above). Young people also celebrated by cross-dressing.

4. Jack-o’-lanterns were once made out of turnips, beets and potatoes — not pumpkins.

(P5) The jack-o’-lantern comes from an old Irish tale about a man named Stingy Jack. According to folklore, Stingy Jack was out getting sloshed with the Devil when Jack convinced his drinking partner to turn himself into a coin to pay for the drinks without spending money. Jack then put the Devil, shaped like a coin, into his pocket, which also contained a silver cross that kept the Devil from transforming back. Jack promised to free the Devil as long as the Devil wouldn’t bother him for a year, and if he died, the Devil could never claim his soul.

(P6) When Jack finally died, God decided he wasn’t fit for heaven, but the Devil had promised never to claim his soul for hell. So Jack was sent off to roam Earth with only a burning coal for light. He put the coal into a turnip as a lantern, and Stingy Jack became “Jack of the Lantern” or “Jack o’ Lantern.” Based on this myth, the Irish carved scary faces into turnips, beets and potatoes to scare away Stingy Jack or any other spirits of the night.

WORDS: 484

SOURCE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/24/halloween-weird-facts_n_5948456.html

VOCABULARY: bizarre, prank, roam, appease, folklore, beet

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

If you found the passage difficult to read or had problems understanding specific words or idiomatic expressions, please discuss them with your tutor. The following discussion questions should be answered in your own words and with your own arguments.

1. Briefly, summarize the content of the article in your own words.
2. Do you celebrate Halloween in your country? Is there any tradition to scare off ghosts or spirits?
3. Have you ever dressed up on Halloween?
4. Is superstition a big thing in your country?

READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS:

1. What were some of the earlier version of trick-or-treating like?
2. Why is Halloween more Irish than St. Patrick’s Day?
3. Who wore animal heads and skins?
4. Who is Stingy Jack?

EXPRESSIONS or PHRASES:

What do the following expressions or phrases mean?

• trick-or-treating (P2)
• door-to-door (P2)
• jack-o’-lantern (P3)
• merry-maker (P4)
• cross-dressing (P4)
• get sloshed (P5)
• turn someone into~ (P5)

[Culture ★★★★]

(P1) Halloween wasn’t always so scary. It was once less about fright and more about flirtation.

(P2) A century ago, the rituals surrounding the celebration at the end of October emphasized love. Newspapers recommended parlor games that promised to reveal romantic fortune. Even the cast of characters was more oriented toward matters of the heart.

(P3) “Halloween in the early 20th century had far less emphasis on blood, gore and scary monsters, and much more emphasis on courtship, romance and the opportunity for love,” Daniel Gifford, the former manager of museum advisory committees for the Smithsonian National Museum of American History explained in a museum blog post last year.

(P4) “In fact, the image of Cupid was often interspersed among the more familiar black cats, witches and jack-o’-lanterns.” Halloween games and traditions reflected that attention to themes of love, with many offering a peek at what the future holds. For women in a restrictive society, they offered a semblance of control.

(P5) “Given the importance of finding a desirable marriageable man in an era when prim, proper, ladylike behavior was the norm, young women often reveled in chances to participate in well-established and -regarded traditions that might guide them to the spouses of their dreams,” Diane Arkins, the author of the book “Halloween: Romantic Art and Customs of Yesteryear,” from Pelican Publishing, said in an email. Here’s a look at some of those largely forgotten customs.

Snap Apple and Other Games of Love

(P6) Apples played a starring role in many of Halloween’s romantic traditions. One game, Snap Apple, challenged participants to use only their teeth to bite an apple suspended from the ceiling by a string or ribbon, Ms. Arkins writes in her book. The first to succeed would be the first to marry. (In a more dangerous version of the game, the apple is speared by a stick with a lit candle on the opposite end.)

(P7) According to tradition, a successful first attempt at that game — retrieving an apple with one’s mouth from a container filled with water — foretold true love reciprocated, Ms. Arkins writes. Repeated failure suggested that a less-than-ideal match awaited, or perhaps it was a warning to move on.

(P8) Other traditions were simpler. One old custom called for cutting a long strip of apple skin and tossing it over one’s shoulder. The landed peel was said to resemble the first initial of a suitor.

(P9) Another tradition involved eating an apple in front of a mirror to conjure the image of one’s soul mate, just in time for him or her to ask for the last bite. The seeds within offered insight, too, with poems serving as guides to what they predicted. Here is one such poem, reproduced by Ms. Arkins and published in the “Kiddies’ Hallowe’en Book” in 1931:

Fading Superstition

(P10) As varied and popular as the romantic Halloween customs were, they began to lose their hold on the American public in the early 20th century. Women, the traditional party hosts and targets of such games, were gaining greater agency over their lives, eroding the appeal of rituals that underscored their lack of power.

(P11) At the same time, a figure re-emerged in popular culture: the powerful witch. And unlike some modern depictions, she was alluring. “The beautiful witch had both power and attractiveness, and could use both to make her own decisions about romance, suitors and the future of her love life,” Mr. Gifford explained. The witch had no need for fortunetelling games: She could create her own destiny.

Click here to read the entire article

WORDS: 589

SOURCE: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/28/style/halloween-love-romance-history.html?_r=0

VOCABULARY: flirtation, ritual, parlor, gore, courtship, intersperse, prim, retrieve, reciprocate, suitor, alluring

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

If you found the passage difficult to read or had problems understanding specific words or idiomatic expressions, please discuss them with your tutor. The following discussion questions should be answered in your own words and with your own arguments.

1. Briefly, summarize the content of the article in your own words.
2. Why did women in the early 1900s participate in Halloween’s romantic traditions?
3. Do you have such fortunetelling games in your culture?
4. Why did “the powerful witch” re-emerge as a figure in popular culture?
5. Do you celebrate Halloween in your country?

READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS:

1. From which evidence could you tell Halloween was about romance in the early 1900s?
2. Describe Snap Apple. How do you play the game?
3. Describe other traditions that involved apples.
4. What does the witch represent in popular culture according to the article?

EXPRESSIONS or PHRASES:

What do the following expressions or phrases mean?

• offer a peek at (P4)
• less-than-ideal match (P7)
• conjure the image of ~ (P9)
• lose someone’s hold on ~ (P10)