Para. 1

A single knoll rises out of the plain in Oklahoma, north and west of the Wichita Range. For my people, the Kiowas, it is an old landmark, and they gave it the name Rainy Mountain. The hardest weather in the world is there. Winter brings blizzards, hot tornadic winds arise in the spring, and in summer the prairie is an anvil's edge. The grass turns brittle and brown, and it cracks beneath your feet. There are green belts along the rivers and creeks, linear groves of hickory and pecan, willow and witch hazel. At a distance in July or August the steaming foliage seems almost to writhe in fire. Great green and yellow grasshoppers are everywhere in the tall grass, popping up like corn to sting the flesh, and tortoises crawl about on the red earth, going nowhere in the plenty of time. Loneliness is an aspect of the land. All things in the plain are isolate; there is no confusion of objects in the eye, but one hill or one tree or one man. To look upon that landscape in the early morning, with the sun at your back, is to lose the sense of proportion. Your imagination comes to life, and this, you think, is where Creation was begun.

Para. 1

1. What is the role of the first paragraph?

The opening paragraph of the essay is a lyrical description of the author’s ancestral land, which plays a key role in his exploration of his Kiowa identity. The land is crucial for Momaday because the migration of his people took place here. The land is the visible embodiment of the tribal history. The old days are gone forever. The Kiowa warriors are dead. The culture has almost disappeared. What remains is the land which is the visible embodiment of their people’s past. By directly involving himself with the landscape of his ancestors, the author is able to identify more closely with them and relive their experiences in his imagination more vividly.

2. A single knoll rises out of the plain… the Wichita Range.

(1) Translate the sentence in to Chinese: 一座孤零零的小山拔地而起。

(2) Knoll: a hillock

(3) Wichita Range: Wichita Mountains, located in south Oklahoma.

(4) Here the word range means a series of connected mountains considered as a single system.

3. Landmark:

A landmark is any prominent feature of the landscape, such as a tree, a hill or a building, serving to identify a particular locality. Rainy Mountain is where the author’s grandmother lived and died. She is buried with the author’s grandfather and many other Kiowa warriors.

4. The hardest weather in the world is there.

What specific detail does the author use to prove this statement?

Winter blizzards, hot tornadic winds in spring, the prairie like an anvil’s edge in summer, brittle and brown grass, steaming foliage writhing in fire, etc.

Blizzard: A violent snowstorm with winds blowing at a minimum speed of 35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour and visibility of less than one-quarter mile (400 meters) for three hours. 暴风雪; A very heavy snowstorm with high winds. 大风雪

5. And in summer the prairie is an anvil’s edge:

(1) Explain the meaning in your own words: In summer the earth of the prairie is extremely hot and hard.

(2) An anvil is a heavy block of iron or steel with a smooth, flat top on which metals are shaped by hammering. Here the word anvil is used metaphorically.

6. The grass turned brittle and brown…

(1) Translate the sentence into Chinese: 草变得枯黄，又脆又黄。

(2) Brittle: easily broken and cracked because it is hard and inflexible.

(3) Both brittle and brown begin with the sound “b”. This rhetorical device is called alliteration, which is the repetition of an initial sound, usually of a consonant in two or more words of a phrase, a line of poetry, etc. In the same paragraph there are willow and witch haze, and great green-and-yellow grasshoppers. There are many examples of alliteration in this essay. The frequent use of alliteration shows the author’s special interest in the sound of language, the rhythm of language, how words sound to him and the reader.

7. There are green belts…witch hazel.

Express the idea in your own words: the rivers and creeks are lined with groves of green hickory, pecan, willow, and witch hazel.

8. At a distance in July or August...almost to writhe in fire:

(1) Translate this sentence into Chinese: 从远处望去,七八月里的树叶热的冒烟,犹如在火中挣扎。

(2) foliage: (uncomfortable) the leaves of a plant

(3) to writhe: to twist and turn the body as in agony. Example: He lie on the floor writhing in pain.

(4) Note the use of words like steaming and fire. The author uses steaming, fire, writhe figurative to show how hot and dry the place is.

9. ... popping up like corn to sting the flesh…:

(1) Translate to the phrase into Chinese: 像玉米花一样爆裂开, 刺得人痛。

(2) popping up like corn: When a grasshopper hops, it pops up, making a sudden movement like corn being roasted.

10. Loneliness is an aspect of the land:

Loneliness is a major quality of this landscape. As we can see, the depiction of the land is injected with the author’s own emotions and imagination, bringing out the spirit of the place. The author emphasizes loneliness perhaps because this quality enables one to concentrate one’s mind on the earth.

11. All things in the plain are isolate; there is no confusion of objects in the eye.

(1) Translate the sentence into Chinese: 平原上的一切都是疏离开的,所见之物不会混杂在一起让人看不清楚。

(2) Note the set phrase “in the eye”, not eyes. The word eye is used in the singular not to mean the concrete organ of sight, but man’s power of seeing or observing. Some other idioms with the word eye in the singular form:

More examples:

• to have your eye on something: to have noticed something

• not to see eye to eye: to disagree with someone

• to my eye: in my opinion

• to have a good eye for something: to be good at recognizing what is attractive and valuable

• more than meets the eye: more complicated than it seems to be at first

12. but one hill or one tree or one man:

The using of “one” instead of an indefinite article “a” emphasizes the fact that there is only one hill, only one tree or only one man.

13. To look upon that landscape - is to lose the sense of proportion:

(1) Translate the sentence into Chinese: 清晨,太阳在你背后冉冉升起,此时观看大地,你会失去平时的比例感。

(2) To lose the sense of proportion means that some objects may seem larger (or smaller) than they really are. Probably, the bright morning sunlight makes objects seem to be out of proportion.

14. Your imagination comes to life… Creation was begun:

(1) Explain the meaning in your own words: The landscape makes your imagination vivid and lifelike, and you believe that the creation of the whole universe was begun right here. Different cultures and religions have different myths about how the universe began.

(2) The Creation, with a capitalized C and the definite article the, is a theological term, meaning the act by God, according to the Bible, of making the universe, including the world and everything in it. Here the author capitalizes the word about omits the article the, perhaps to show that he’s talking about the creating of the universe as a Kiowa imagines. Later in the essay he talks about the emergency of his people according to the Kiowa myth.

Para. 2

I returned to Rainy Mountain in July. My grandmother had died in the spring, and I wanted to be at her grave. She had lived to be very old and at last infirm. Her only living daughter was with her when she died, and I was told that in death her face was that of a child.

15. What is the function of Paragraph 2?

In the second paragraph the author explains his purpose of his visit to Rainy Mountain: to be at his grandmother’s grave. This paragraph serves as a transitional link between the description of the land in the first paragraph and the narration of his grandmother’s and his people’s stories in the following paragraphs.

16. infirm: weak or ill especially because one is old

17. I was told that in death her face was that of a child:

In death, she was peaceful and free from all earthly worries and miseries. Her face looked like that of a child. Only in death can one return to childhood innocence and peacefulness. The word “child” is repeated in the first sentence of the next paragraph: I like to think of her as a child. Structurally the two paragraphs are smoothly connected. In meaning, the author seems to say that life is but a circle---one begins as a child and ends like a child, and in death one returns to where one begins.

Para. 3

I like to think of her as a child. When she was born, the Kiowas were living the last great moment of their history. For more than a hundred years they had controlled the open range from the Smoky Hill River to the Red, from the headwaters of the Canadian to the fork of the Arkansas and Cimarron. In alliance with the Comanches, they had ruled the whole of the southern Plains. War was their sacred business, and they were among the finest horsemen the world has ever known. But warfare for the Kiowas was preeminently a matter of disposition rather than of survival, and they never understood the grim, unrelenting advance of the U.S. Cavalry. When at last, divided and illprovisioned, they were driven onto the Staked Plains in the cold rains of autumn, they fell into panic. In Palo Duro Canyon they abandoned their crucial stores to pillage and had nothing then but their lives. In order to save themselves, they surrendered to the soldiers at Fort Sill and were imprisoned in the old stone corral that now stands as a military museum. My grandmother was spared the humiliation of those high gray walls by eight or ten years, but she must have known from birth the affliction of defeat, the dark brooding of old warriors.

18. What is the main idea of paragraph 3?

This paragraph sums up the history of the Kiowas as a Plains Native culture – the golden time and the decline in their history.

19. I like to think of her as a child.

Why does the author like to think of her as a child? His grandmother was born (around 1880) at a time when the Kiowas were still living in their golden time or to be more exact, the last moment of their golden time. Starting from the third paragraph the author links his grandmother with the history of Kiowas. This narrative structure will continue in the following parts of the essay.

20. …the open range from the Smoky Hill River… Cimarron.

This large and open area covers most parts of the central and western Kansas and Oklahoma states.

Range: a large, open area of land.

21. The Red: The Red River: 2,090 km long, it is the southernmost of the large tributaries of the Mississippi River.

22. Headwaters: The beginning of a large steam or river.

23. The Canadian: The Canadian river (1, 458 km) rises in New Mexico, and flows through east through northern Texas and central Oklahoma into the Arkansas River in Oklahoma.

24. fork: The point where a river is divided into two or more branches, or where branches join to from a river.

25. The Arkansas: The Arkansas River (2, 330 km) rises in the Rocky Mountains and flows southeast across the plains to the Mississippi River.

26. The Cimarron: The Cimarron River. It rises in New Mexico and flows east to the Arkansas River.

27. The Comanches: An American Indian tribe. North American Indians, who adopted a plains culture. They were excellent horsemen and extremely warlike. The effectively prevented white settlers from passing safely through their territory for more than a century.

28. …they had ruled the whole of the southern Plains.

The Indians of the Great Plains inhabited two major sub-regions. The northern Plains, from Dakota and Montana southward to Nebraska, were dominated by several large tribes who spoke Sioux languages, as well as by the Flatheads, Blackfeet, Crows and some other Indian tribes. The so-called Five Civilized Tribes pursued an agricultural life there. In western Kansas lived the Pawnees. Surrounding these were the truly nomadic tribes of western Kansas, Colorado, eastern New Mexico, and Texas – the Comanches, Kiowas, and Arapahos.

29. But warfare for the Kiowas… rather than of survival…

(1) Explain the meaning of your own words: Warfare was important for the Kiowas more because of their militant tendency than because of their need for survival. The Kiowas often fought just because they were good warriors, because they fought out of habit, character, nature, not because they needed extra lands or material gains for the sake of surviving and thriving.

(2) preeminently: much more important

(3) disposition: a particular type of character which makes someone more likely to behave or react in a certain way; temperament; an inclination, tendency. The word disposition is used to refer to the normal or prevailing aspect of one’s nature. Examples: 1) He had a cheerful disposition. 2) He had a disposition to quarrel.

a matter: a decision, a situation, etc.

(4) a matter of disposition: 出于本性,由于习惯

a matter: a decision, a situation, etc.

Some phrases with the word matter. Note the different meaning of the word matter in these phrases:

• A matter of opinion: a question of different views

• A matter of life and death: an extremely serious or dangerous situation the could end in death.

• A matter of time: used to say that something will definitely happen sooner or later

• A matter of taste: depending on your taste, your judgment

• A matter of seconds: only a few seconds

30. ....they never understood the grim, unrelenting advance of the U.S. Cavalry.

(1) The Kiowas didn’t know why the U. S. Cavalry kept advancing toward them so cruelly and relentlessly.

(2) Grim: fierce; cruel; savage.

(3) Unrelenting: relentless, refusing to yield; inflexible.

(4) Why didn’t Kiowas understand the grim, unrelenting advance of the U. S. Cavalry?

Wars were common among different Indian tribes. The cause of war was simple. Most often, they fought for the simple necessity of survival: food, pastures, etc. When a group won a battle, they would typically stop advancing upon their defeated enemy and they would celebrate their victory. Yet, the U. S. Cavalry seemed different. They never gave up advancing even when they won. This puzzled the Indians. The truth is that the U. S. Cavalry was sent to accompany and protect the non-Indian, mostly white settlers. In the 19th century, the American frontier kept moving westward. This westward expansion brought constant conflicts between the Native Americans and non-Indian newcomers. When such conflicts occurred, the U. S. Government and Army would invariably be on the side of the latter. For more information, read the additional background in Part II.

31. ill-provisioned: without adequate supplies, especially, food

32. In Palo Duro Canyon they abandoned… but their lives.

(1) store: when used in the plural form, the word means supplies, especially food, closing, arms, etc.

(2) pillage: the act of plundering

(3) but their lives: except their lives

33. My grandmother was spared the humiliation of those high gray walls by eight or ten years…

(1) Explain the meaning in our own words: Luckily, my grandmother did not suffer the humiliation of being put into a closure for holding animals, for she was born eight or ten years after the event. The Kiowas were humiliated because they were treated like animals.

(2) spare: to save or free a person from something (e. g. to spare someone trouble)

(3) those high gray walls: walls of the stone corral

34. …but she must have known... old warriors.

(1) From her early childhood, she must have heard what had happened from her parents and grandparents. Therefore she must have known the great pain and distress brought by defeat, and she must have seen how they had kept thinking about their defeat in a gloomy and hopeless way.

(2) to brood: to keep thinking about something in a distressed or troubled way. The Kiowas kept thinking because they were unable to forget the past wrong done to them, because the humiliation was too deep for them to forget.

Para. 4

Her name was Aho, and she belonged to the last culture to evolve in North America. Her forebears came down from the high country in western Montana nearly three centuries ago. They were a mountain people, a mysterious tribe of hunters whose language has never been positively classified in any major group. In the late seventeenth century they began a long migration to the south and east. It was a journey toward the dawn, and it led to a golden age. Along the way the Kiowas were befriended by the Crows, who gave them the culture and religion of the Plains. They acquired horses, and their ancient nomadic spirit was suddenly free of the ground. They acquired Tai-me, the sacred Sun Dance doll, from that moment the object and symbol of their worship, and so shared in the divinity of the sun. Not least, they acquired the sense of destiny, therefore courage and pride. When they entered upon the southern Plains they had been transformed. No longer were they slaves to the simple necessity of survival; they were a lordly and dangerous society of fighters and thieves, hunters and priests of the sun. According to their origin myth, they entered the world through a hollow log. From one point of view, their migration was the fruit of an old prophecy, for indeed they emerged from a sunless world.

35. What is the main idea of paragraph 4?

This paragraph is about how the Kiowas migrated from western Montana and how the migration transformed the Kiowas. Like Paragraph 3, this part uses the author’s grandmother’s story as a focal point，but quickly moves on to the story of the Kiowa people. The use of words like “she belonged to the last culture” and “her forebears” smoothes the transition.

36. ... the last culture to evolve in North America.

Before the arrival of the Europeans，there had been numerous Native Indian cultures that had existed for a long, long time in North America. After the Kiowas’ migration to the Great Plains from Montana three centuries ago, they acquired horses and the Sun Dance culture. They changed their old ways of living and developed their new culture gradually. The author says that this was the last culture to evolve in North America.

37. ... whose language has never been positively classified in any major group.

The Native Indian languages are classified mainly geographically, not linguistically. Perhaps because of the migration of the Kiowas, their language has never been definitely classified in any major group of the Native Indian languages.

38. It was a long journey toward dawn... golden age.

(1) Explain the meaning of the sentence in your own words: They moved toward the east, where the sun rises, and also toward the beginning of a new culture, which led to the greatest moment in their history.

(2) The word “dawn” has two meanings: the beginning of daylight; daybreak and the beginning of something. Both meanings suit the context here in that the Kiowa people not only moved toward the sun, but also toward the beginning of a new era in their history.

39. Along the way the Kiowas were befriended by the Crows...

Indian wars were frequent in history. Yet, in the process of their migration, the Crows helped the Kiowas by giving them horses and the religion of the Plains, both of which were essential for the transformation of the Kiowas from a mountain people to a plains people.

The Crows: A Native American Indians who called themselves “bird people”, formerly inhabiting an area of the northern Great Plains between the Platte and Yellowstone rivers, now located in southeast Montana. The Crow became nomadic buffalo hunters (hunting tribe) after migrating west from the Missouri River in North Dakota in the 18th century.

40. …and their ancient nomadic spirit was suddenly free of the ground.

(1) nomadic: of, characteristic of nomads, who are members of a tribe or group of people having no permanent home, but moving constantly in search of food, pasture, etc.

(2) What does “free of the ground” mean?

As a nomadic people, they had no permanent home and were constantly on the move. When they lived in the mountains in Montana, they had no horses and therefore they had to walk on foot all the time. In a sense they were tied to the ground, or they were not free of the ground. Now they were able to gallop on horseback. This gave them a new freedom of movement, thus completely liberating their ancient nomadic spirit.

41. They acquired Tai-me, the sacred Sun Dance doll--- in the divinity of the sun.

(1) Tai-me: the sacred object of warship in their Sun Dance religion, or the Sun Dance fetish of the Kiowas. It is a fetish which is medicine. And it was the most powerful medicine in the tribe. The only time it was exhibited to view was during the Sun Dance.

(2) Sun Dance: The Great Plains Indians worshiped the sun as their god. The Sun Dance was the religious ceremony widely practiced among Native American peoples of the Great Plains, it took place in mid-summer, typically marked by several days of fasting and group dancing and sometimes including ritual self-torture, as in penance or to induce a trance or vision. The dance was attended with symbolic rites. One of the rites was to hang Tai-me, the Sun Dance fetish, and a bundle of medicine from a tree. It was considered to be very festive and sacred.

(3) the object and symbol of their worship: 他们的崇拜物和象征物

(4) Explain the meaning of this sentence in your own words: They came into possession of Tai-me, the object and symbol of their worship - the Sun Dance religion. This object was worshiped by all tribes that: regarded the sun as deity.

42. Not least, they acquired the sense of destiny, therefore courage and pride.

(1) not least: last but not least, equally important

(2) destiny: fate; an inevitable succession of events as determined supernaturally or by necessity, implying a favorable outcome

43. No longer were they slaves to... priests of the sun.

(1) Note the inversion of the sentence order for emphasis.

(2) slave: a person who is completely dominated by some influence, habit, person, etc. Note the preposition used with it is “to”, not “of”. Example: She doesn't want to be a slave to fashion.

(3) lordly: (adj.) haughty, like a lord. The word “lordly” echoes the word “pride”. And it is contrasted with the word “slave”.

(4) priests of the sun: pious believers of the Sun Dance religion

44. According to their origin myth, they entered the world through a hollow log.

(1) their origin myth: myth about the origin of their ancestors, where they originally came from, how they entered the world

(2) a hollow log: a log with an empty space in it

(3) Different cultures have different origin myths. These myths even vary from one Indian group to another. However, many Indian tribes share the same belief that they entered the world from underground.

45. From one point of view... from a sunless world.

(1) from one point of view: in a sense, in a way

(2) What does the old prophecy refer to? It refers to their origin myth.

(3) What does the sunless world refer to?

It refers to the mountains of Montana where they had lived before their migration to the Great Paints. Those mountains were so high and were covered with such dense forests that the sunlight could not penetrate them.

(4) Explain the mean in the sentence in your own words: In a sense, their migration confirmed the ancient myth that they entered the world from a hollow log, for they did emerge from the sunless world of the mountains.

Para. 5

Although my grandmother lived out her long life in the shadow of Rainy Mountain, the immense landscape of the continental interior lay like memory in her blood. She could tell of the Crows, whom she had never seen, and of the Black Hills, where she had never been. I wanted to see in reality what she had seen more perfectly in the mind's eye, and traveled fifteen hundred miles to begin my pilgrimage.

46. What is the role of Paragraph 5?

In this paragraph, the author returns to his grandmother again. Since she is the immediate reason for him to come to Rainy Mountain, she is the link between the author and his ancestors.

47. Although my grandmother... in her blood.

(1) Although my grandmother never left Rainy Mountain in her long life, the immense landscape of the Great Plains lay in her memory as if she had lived there herself.

(2) The continental interior refers to the Great Plains.

48. The Black Hills: See Note 14. Now the Black Hills are a major recreational area of the northern plains. One of the tourist spots there is the famous Mt. Rushmore National Memorial.

49. I wanted to see in reality... my pilgrimage.

(1) Note the contrast between “in reality” and “in the mind’s eye”.

(2) the mind’s eye: in imagination, Aho had never been to places like the Black Hills, but she had seen them quite well in imagination, for she had heard so much about them from the older generations. It is through the oral tradition that the Kiowa cultural heritage has been handed down from generation to generation.

(3) pilgrimage: a journey made by a pilgrim, especially to a shrine or holy place; any long journey to a place of historical interest. For Momaday, the journey is indeed to a holy place, a place where his ancestors lived and thrived in their golden age.