Native Americans from the southeastern part of what is now the United States believed that the universe in which they lived was made up of three separate, but related, worlds, the Upper World, the Lower World, and This World. In the last there lived humans, most animals, and all plants.
This World, a round island resting on the surface of waters, was suspended from the sky by four cords attached to the island at the four cardinal 'points of the compass. Lines drawn to connect the opposite points of the compass, from north to south and from east to west, intersected This World to divide it into four wedge - shaped segments. Thus a' symbolic representation of the human world was a cross within a circle, the cross representing the intersecting lines and the circle the shape of This World.
Each segment of This World was identified by its own color. According to Cherokee doctrine,' east was associated with the color red because it was the direction of the Sun, the greatest deity of all. Red was also the color of fire, believed to be directly connected with the Sun, with blood, and therefore' with life. Finally, red was the color of success. The west was the Moon segment; it provided no warmth and was not life - giving as the Sun was. So its color was black. North was the direction of cold, and so its color was blue (sometimes purple), and it represented trouble and defeat. South was the direction of warmth, its color, white, was associated with peace and happiness.
The southeastern Native Americans' universe was one in which opposites were constantly at war with each other, red against black, blue against white. This World hovered somewhere between the perfect order and predictability of the Upper World and the total disorder and instability of the Lower World. The goal was to find some kind of halfway path, or balance, between those other worlds.
1. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
(A) One Civilization's View of the Universe
(B) The Changing of the Seasons in the Southeast
(C) The Painting of Territorial Maps by Southeastern Native Americans
(D) The War Between Two Native American Civilizations
2. In line 3, the phrase "the last" refers to
(A) all plants (B) This World (C) the universe (D) the Upper World
3. The author implies that This World was located
(A) inside the Upper World (B) inside the Lower World
(C) above the Upper World (D) between the Upper World and Lower World
4. According to the passage, southeastern Native Americans compared This World to
(A) waters (B) the sky (C) an animal (D) an island
5. According to the passage, lines divided This World into how many segments?
(A) Two (B) Three (C) Four (D) Five
6. According to the passage, southeastern Native Americans associated red with all of the following EXCEPT
(A) fire (B) trouble (C) blood (D) success
7. According to the passage, which of the following colors represented the west for southeastern Native Americans?
(A) Blue (B) While (C) Black (D) Purple
8. The shape of This Word is closest to that of which of the following?
(A) A circle (B) A triangle (C) A square (D) A cube
kunci jawaban:
0 Komentar untuk "Reading 25"