必修二 Units 4-5 EXTENSIVE READING-《英语周报》高一上学期期末复习题新教材人教课标版（2019）

必修二Units4-5 EXTENSIVE READING A The unique tradition of cormorant fishing Words:about 390;Time:6.5 minutes 主题语境：人与社会—历史、社会与文化 The history of fishing goes back a long way and many methods of fishing have been recorded in history.Among all these methods,one stands apart.That is the practice of cormorant fishing. As you might guess,cormorants are fish eaters.Because of their biological (need to rapidly move under the water,cormorants have short wings,and thus they are not the best fliers in the bird world.But it is exactly this combination of characteristics that made them a focus of a rather unique method of fishing. Fishing with the help of cormorants is an ancient tradition,and has been documented in several parts of the world,with a particular emphasis (on China and Japan.However,the method is documented in Greece and Macedonia as well,with some minor use in regions of Britain and France too. For the Chinese,this method of fishing has been known since the earliest periods of their history.It is believed that it is from here that the practice began and spread to neighboring Asian countries. The main development of cormorant fishing in China was centered on the Li Jiang River Located near Guilin in Guangxi,the river is home to true traditional cormorant fishermen of China, where this tradition was passed down for countless generations.It is said that the Li Jiang River fishermen have been involved in this tradition for thousands of years,and some of them still depend on this old method of fishing. In Japan,the cormorant fishing tradition is well-documented.It is stated that the historic beginning of the Japanese cormorant fishing was the year 813 CE,but several sources mention that this tradition is much older.One historical report,titled Kojiki,is dated to 712 CE,almost a century earlier,and mentions this practice in detail. This fishing method was established in 13 cities across Japan,and is traditionally called kai. But one of the central regions which preserves