A person’s final passage is death. Every culture has rituals in which the person and his or
her family make this transition. In Thailand, a Buddhist country, people believe that after death,
the person is born again, in another body. Everything the person did in life – both good and bad –
determines whether the next life will be a good one or not. Of course, family members and friends
want to achieve a good rebirth for the deceased, and this is a major goal for a Thai funeral.
As a Thai person is dying, the family members encourage him or her to think about
Buddhist scriptures holy writing – or to repeat one of the names of the Buddha. Then, after the
person dies, the family takes the deceased to the temple. They lay the body down, cover him or
her, and place one hand outside of the blanket. The family and friends show respect by washing
the hand of the deceased. Then they put the body in a coffin. People burn candles and sweetsmelling incense around the coffin, and Buddhist monks come to chant – recite prayers. In the next
step, perhaps three days, one week, or 100 days later, friends, relatives, and monks take the coffin
to the cemetery for the cremation, at which there is more chanting. The coffin is placed on a funeral
pyre. At this point, people come up to it with white paper flowers, candles and incense. One by
one, they light the pyre, and the body is burned. It is believed that when the body still exists, the
spirit can benefit from the chanting; however, when the body is cremated, the spirit is cut off from
the world. After the cremation, people go home. The family usually takes some of the ashes home,
but some families keep the ashes at the temple.
Summary: Fill each gap with a suitable word from the text.
In Thailand, where people are (1) ___________, it is believed that a person will be reborn
in another body after (2) _________. Therefore, during a (3) __________ the family members and
friends of the deceived aim at achieving a good rebirth for the dead person. When a Thai person is
dying, he or she is encouraged to think about Buddhist holy writing or repeat the names of the
Buddha. As the person passes away, he or she will be taken to the (4) _________, where they
corpse is covered with one (5) __________ outside of the blanket. The family members and friends
wash it and then they put the body in a coffin. Sweet-smelling incense and (6) _________ will be
burned around the coffin and Buddhist monks come to say prayers. After that the body will be
taken to the (7) _________ for the cremation. It is after the corpse is (8) __________that people
believe the spirit is cut off from the world. When the cremation is finished, people take some of
the (9) __________ home, but some families keep the ashes at the temple.
PASSAGE 2: What Was the Silk Road?
Along the famous Silk Road, cultures have influenced each other from ancient times,
although it was not truly one continuous road. Instead, it was a 5,000-mile series or network of
trails that connected East Asia to the Mediterranean. In ancient times, it was never called the “Silk
Road”. The term Silk Road was coined in the 19th century by a German explorer. He was thinking
of one of the goods that people in the West found especially desirable – silk fabric from China.
For centuries, the Chinese kept as a secret the way in which silk is produced. They exchanged this
fabric for Mediterranean glass, whose production was also kept secret by the Romans. However, merchants also moved many other goods along these trade routes: spices (such as cinnamon),
musical instruments, tea, valuable stones, wool, linen, and other fabrics. Ideas and knowledge also
moved along the Silk Road. Travelers to foreign regions took with them ideas about art,
architecture, styles of living, and religion.
In a sense, there were two Silk Roads – the literal, historical one and the figurative one.
The historical network of trails was used from approximately 100 B.C.E until the 16th century
C.E. Almost nobody actually made a complete trip from one end to the other. Instead, merchants
used to carry goods along one section of the road and sell them to other merchants at an oasis in
the desert or a town in the mountains. These merchants, in turn, took the goods to the next stop,
and so on. The figurative Silk Road is a symbol of the cross-cultura1 exchange of knowledge. This
continues even today. In short, the Silk Road was the way that goods and ideas, moved across a
vast area of Asia and south eastern Europe.
Summary: Fill each gap with a suitable word from the text.
It was not until the 19th century that “Silk Road”, a (1) __________ invented by an (2)
__________ appeared. That was a network of trails that connected East Asia to the Mediterranean.
For centuries, the Chinese (3) ___________ exchanged their silk for Mediterranean glass, a secret
by the Romans. Merchants also traded in other goods along these routes. Not only (4) _________
but also ideas and knowledge also moved along the Silk Road by merchants and (5) __________.
Therefore, the Silk Road means the exchange of products and also the cross-cultural exchange of
knowledge between Asia and south eastern Europe.
PASSAGE 3: The Art of the Body
Three common types of body decoration are mehndi, tattooing, and scarification. Mehndi
is the art of applying dye (usually dark orange or dark brown) to the skin of women in India,
Islamic cultures, and Africa. The dye comes from the henna plant and is applied in a beautiful
design that varies from culture to culture – fine, thin lines in India and large flower patterns in the
Arab world, for example. A tattoo is also a design or mark made with a kind of dye (usually dark
blue); however, unlike henna, it is put into a cut in the skin. In scarification – found mainly in
Africa – dirt or ashes are put into the cuts instead of dye; the result is a design that is unique to the
person’s tribe. Three lines on each side of a man’s face identify him as a member of the Yoruba
tribe of Nigeria, for example. A complex geometric design on a woman’s back identifies her as
Nuba (from Sudan) and also makes her more beautiful in the eyes of her people. In the 1990s,
tattooing became popular among youth in urban Western societies. Unlike people in tribal cultures,
these young people had no tradition of tattooing, except among sailors and criminals. To these
young people, the tattoos were beautiful and were sometimes also a sign of rebellion against older,
more conservative people in the culture. These days, tattooing has become common and is usually
not symbolic of rebellion.
Summary: Fill each gap with a suitable word from the text.
Mehndi, tattooing and scarification are three popular ways by which people decorate their
(1) __________. In India, Islamic cultures and Africa, women put dark orange or brown (2)
_________ on their skin. This is referred to as mehndi. The second kind of (3) __________ of the
human body is tattooing. A tattoo is a design or mark made with a kind of dark blue dye. People
make a (4) __________ into the skin and put this dye into it. The third type of body decoration is
known as scarification. It is similar to tattooing in that people cut into their body. However, they
do not put dye into the cuts. They use dirt or ashes (5) __________. The design made is unique to
the person’s tribe. Among the three types of body decoration, tattooing became popular with young
people in urban Western societies because they considered them as something (6) __________.
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