利用现代科技珍藏传承传统文化
利用现代科技珍藏传承传统文化

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For hundreds of years, Africans have preserved their history through storytelling. But, some Africans worry that oral traditions will be lost to Internet connections and social media.

This has led one Nigerian woman to create a mobile phone application, or app, as a way to preserve African folk stories. Elizabeth Kperrun is a businesswoman and fashion designer. She calls her mobile app AfroTalez. The AfroTalez app tells children’s stories that teach moral lessons. Ms. Kperrun says she wanted to create the app to preserve some of the stories told to her when she was a child in Nigeria. “Sometimes you can’t teach a child something by telling the child, ‘Don’t do this’. In fact, I think it gave me context. In a story somebody stole something and then something bad happened to them. Alternatively, somebody else did something good and they ended up really happy or really rich.”

AfroTalez is designed for children ages 2 to 10. The voice of “Aunt Liz” narrates the story, while a full-screen animation appears. An arrow signals when it is time to move on. There are also quizzes on object recognition and counting throughout.

Elizabeth Kperrun says she learned life lessons from the folk stories she heard as a child, a tradition she says should be kept alive. Kperrun spoke to her older relatives to help collect stories for the application. The stories come from an ethnic group of about four million people called the Tiv who live in southeast Nigeria and northwest Cameroon. 

AfroTalez is available for Android users and can be downloaded for free in the Google Play store. So far, AfroTalez has more than 50,000 users.

Ms. Kperrun says technology does not have to destroy or replace traditions. She says her goal is to combine both new technology and old traditions to keep African culture alive. “Africa is our home. I think we are so in a rush to become Western that we are forgetting things that are really important, things that should be passed on of who we are, and I don’t think that’s right.”


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1.What made Elizabeth Kperrun set out to create this mobile phone application?

A She set out to create this app for school education.

B She developed the app to meet the need of fashion design.

C She created this app to preserve African folk stories.

D She invented this app in order to preserve her childhood stories.

解析:选C。C 细节理解题。根据文章第二段This has led one Nigerian woman to create a mobile phone application,… to preserve African folk stories可知,非洲民间故事因为互联网的飞速发展,面临消失的境地,这种严峻的形势使得Kperrun女士开发手机应用,对非洲文化遗产进行保护。

2.What does the underlined word narrates most probably mean in the third paragraph?

A Tell.

B Enjoy.

C Paint.

D Print.

解析:选A。A 词义猜测题。根据句子前面的voice,结合第五段的download可知,narrate意为“讲述”的意思,故选A。

3.What can we infer from the passage?

A Technology is able to take the place of traditions.

B The process of becoming Western causes loss of traditions.

C Modern technology can be destructive to social development.

D Africa is becoming Western very quickly.

解析:选B。B 推理判断题。根据文章最后一段I think we are so in a rush to become Western that we are forgetting things that are really important可知,现代化的步伐过于仓促,结果导致民族文化传统的遗失。

4.What is discussed in the passage?

A African oral traditions will be lost as modern technology develops.

B An African woman develops mobile phone app to preserve folk stories.

C African people preserved history through storytelling.

D Internet connections and social media affect African traditions.

解析:选B。B 主旨大意题。根据文章第一、二段可知,本文主要介绍了Kperrun女士为了保护非洲民间故事开发手机应用的情况。故选B。