Aztec Culture
Hello,
Luis, thanks for your blog about Mexico's drug war. We hear a lot about it in the news, but it's fascinating to hear the point of view of someone who lives there. I went to Mexico two years ago and, as a tourist, I only saw the positive sides of the country: colourful streets, welcoming people and great food (I heartily recommend guacamole with fried crickets).
The ruins were a highlight for me, especially the pre-Aztec city of Teotihuacan which means 'City of the Gods' and contains huge pyramidal structures. I also love stories about Aztec gods -Xiuhtecuhtli, Chalchiuhtlicue, Mictlantecuhtli- though I've never been able to pronounce their names out loud.
It seems the Aztecs also loved gourmet food; they drank a chocolate drink called 'xocoatl' centuries before the Spanish conquistadores arrived, which they flavoured with vanilla. This, along with the fact the Aztecs paid for goods with chocolate -well OK, cocoa beans- gives me a romantic idea of what it used to be like in Aztec Mexico... although the common practice of human sacrifice makes it a bit less appealing!
LUIS'S BLOG - SOME SUGGESTIONS
1) You wrote: what is happening in México with all of those news ...
The word 'news' in English has the letter 's' at the end, but it is a singular noun. Therefore you should write 'this news': The news today is so depressing!
2) You write that: The big mistake of the narco war initiative was not existed the infrastructure, police corps and logistic to win the war in overwhelming.
Here the subject in English (the infrastructure) should be placed BEFORE the verb, so: The big mistake of the narco war initiative was that an infrastructure was not in place, so the police corps were not able to win the war.
In your sentence, 'in overwhelming' is incorrect. 'Overwhelming' is an adjective so you need to use it before a noun: The party was elected by an overwhelming majority.
3) You suggest that: many other hidden operations has made think of Mexican population in the drugs legalization
Here the subject should be placed before the verb 'think': many other hidden operations have made the Mexican population think about the legalization of drugs.
So remember that normally in English, the structure of a sentence is: subject, verb, object.
4) You wrote about the lives of 'the most of Mexican people'
In English you only need 'most' in this case: Most Mexican people... For instance: Most people think English weather is horrible, but I really like our cloudy, moody skies.
HOMEWORK
Complete the story about the Aztec Goddess Coatlicue with these words:
multifaceted / mortals / fertility / depicted / devours / name / skirt
Coatlicue is the Aztec Mother of gods and 1) __________ .
Her 2) __________ means 'Serpent Skirt' and she is represented with serpents on her 3) ___________ and around her head.
Snakes are often seen as a symbol of 4) __________ .
Coatlicue is also 5) ___________ with a necklace of human hearts and skulls.
This Goddess is 6) ___________ : she is a loving mother yet 7) __________ everything that lives.
HOMEWORK ANSWERS
Well done for finding the titles of Beatles songs in my blog... but there are some you missed out! These were the titles I included: 1) Hello, Goodbye 2) Day in the life 3) Across the universe 4) All things must pass 5) Come together 6) Yesterday 7) Help! 8) From me to you 9) The long and winding road 10) Yellow submarine 11) Ask me why 12) Hey Jude 13) Don't let me down
VOCABULARY
heartily - enthusiastically
crickets - a small insect that can jump very high!
ruins - the remains of a building or structure
highlight - most interesting part of something
pyramidal - in the shape of a pyramid
out loud - to speak aloud
gourmet - sophisticated food
conquistadores - Spanish conquerors
appealing - attractive
Comment number 1.
At 29th Jun 2012, Luis Ubaldo wrote:Thank you very much for your comments.
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Comment number 2.
At 30th Jun 2012, Ompputhecat wrote:Hello Rosie,
I have wondered how it can be possible that in different sides the globe some buildings are in the same shape. Pyramids in Egypt and in middle and south America are in the same shape. I think that maybe UFOs are traveled between continents and told how to build a palace for a king or the God. History is facinating.
Guacamole with fried crickets sounds quite exotic. Unfortunately I'm allergic to avocado so for me it's healthier to take only a portion of fried crickets. Defenitely worth of trying I think.
- Ompputhecat -
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Comment number 3.
At 30th Jun 2012, tenocht wrote:Hi everybody, the history of Mexico is fascinating, its food is mouth-watering indeed, its leyends are bewitching, let me tell you one of them;
There are two volcanoes near Mexico city, their names are Popocatépetl and IztaccÃhuatl.
Popocatépetl "Smoking Mountain" is an active volcano whereas IztaccÃhuatl "White Woman" or "Sleeping Woman" is not, IztaccÃhuatl bears a striking resemblance to an woman sleeping. There are some legends about them, one of them says that those volcanoes once were humans who were deeply in love each other.
IztaccÃhuatl was a beautiful princess and was in love with a young warrior named Popocatépetl. They both lived in Tenochtitlán ( Today Mexico city )
One day a war broke out and the warriors had to go to fight the enemy.
Time went on and somebody sent a false message saying that Popocatépetl died, IztaccÃhuatl became ill and later she died of sadness. One day later Popocatépetl returned,
he heard about the died of IztaccÃhuatl and became sad. He went out of town with IztaccÃhuatl´s body and walked a long way until he arrived at some mountains.
He knelt down holding a torch and kept watching over her , later he died of sadness too.
The Gods were touched by Popocatépetl´s sacrifice and turned their bodies into great volcanoes. Every now and then the volcano Popocatépetl throws out smoke, when that happens people say that Popocatépetl is still watching over IztaccÃhuatl.
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Comment number 4.
At 2nd Jul 2012, Mahjabeen wrote:Hello Rosie!! You've a beautiful name. It's really great to read about Mexican culture. Well, the answers of your posted h/w is: 1. fertility 2. name 3. skirt 4. devours 5. depicted 6. multifaceted 7. mortals.
Bye for now.
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Comment number 5.
At 5th Jul 2012, Jow SingSing wrote:Hello Rosie,
I am quite your real fan of learning english and don't forget your homework even got some delay. :p
multifaceted / mortals / fertility / depicted / devours / name / skirt
Coatlicue is the Aztec Mother of gods and 1) ___fertility____ .
Her 2) ___name_____ means 'Serpent Skirt' and she is represented with serpents on her 3) ___skirt_____ and around her head.
Snakes are often seen as a symbol of 4) __mortals_____ .
Coatlicue is also 5) ___multifacets____ with a necklace of human hearts and skulls.
This Goddess is 6) ___depicted_____ : she is a loving mother yet 7) ___devours_____ everything that lives.
Your homework remind me of the most difficulty in english learning is vocabulary. I am so wonder how you could remember all the vocabulary even some words is sononym. Have you ever got a time when some people use a word and you don't really know its meaning. Some of the words that you have given for the homework, I cannot find the meaing even I have looked into online dictionery. I love to learn new words but is's so difficult to remember all of them. I would very much appreciate, if you could me some hints of remembering.
Jow
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Comment number 6.
At 8th Jul 2012, Yury_Sh wrote:Hello Rosie,
I'm going to give my answers to the homework questions. Here they are:
1) mortals
2) name
3) skirt
4) fertility
5) depicted
6) multifaceted
7) devours
Yury_Sh
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Comment number 7.
At 9th Jul 2012, Br_Naka wrote:Hello Rosie! This is my first comment here and I hope I can improve my writing. One of my dreams is travel to all world, meet cultures, costumes and different people to share experiences. I'm from Brazil and, like a south american, I can say that Mexico is an awesome country. I really really would like to meet the Mexican culture, mainly to taste the spicy food! Sometimes I have a bad feeling when I saw that horrible news about the Narco war. I can't understand how humans can kill one another when we have beutifull things to share like the friendship and the experiences.
I will try to answer the homework, so here we go:
1 - mortals
2 - name
3 - multifaceted
4 - fertility
5 - depicted
6 - skirt
7 - devours
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