4.
阅读理解
Hawaii is a truly beautiful
place. Most people know Hawaii for its lovely beaches. However, Hawaii is also a
land full of legends(传奇). One of the oldest legends
tells of a special dance called the hula, which started here around 300 years ago.
One hula teacher tells
the story of how the dance started. "The hula started, as far as the legend
tells it, when Hi'iaki and her good friend Hopoe went down to the beach. And then,
when they were there, they noticed the waves(波浪)…and
they imitated the waves. And then started to use their hands…like showing
the waves. That is how the hula started."
However, not everyone has
always liked the hula. In 1820,some religious(宗教的) people
from Western countries came to Hawaii. The visitors were shocked by the hula because
the dancers were not wearing many clothes. So they asked the local government to
ban(制止) the dance.
After that, most Hawaiians
were not allowed to perform the hula in public for almost 60 years. But that did
not mean the dancing stopping. Many dances still performed the hula in secret. The
dance was always there.
Things have changed. At
the moment, people of all ages want to study the old culture. They want to learn
how to dance the hula. As a result, more and more people are attending halaus. Halaus
are special schools that hula in the traditional way.
Kumano is a hula teacher.
For him, the dance is a way to bring the best of old Hawaii culture to people today.
Kumano says that the dance is not really about the body. He feels that it is more
about the mind. He explains this feelings,"…the hula is more… not so much a
physical thing, but more of a mental thing. For new dances, the dancing means very
little, because for Hawaiians today, many of them don't speak the Hawaiian language.
So, what I try to do is to mind the real thing they see today."