The Pilgrims, who set sail from Plymouth, England on a ship called the Mayflower on September 6, 1620, were fortune hunters, bound for the resourceful 'New World.'
The Mayflower was a small ship crowded with men, women and children, besides the sailors on board. Aboard were passengers comprising the 'separatists', who called themselves the "Saints", and others, whom the separatists called the "Strangers".
After land was sighted in November following 66 days of a lethal voyage, a meeting was held and an agreement of truce was worked out. It was called the Mayflower Compact. The agreement guaranteed equality among the members of the two groups. They merged together to be recognized as the "Pilgrims." They elected John Carver as their first governor.
Although Pilgrims had first sighted the land off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, they did not settle until they arrived at a place called Plymouth. It was Captain John Smith who named the place after
the English port-city in 1614 and had already settled there for over five
years. And it was there that the Pilgrims finally decided to settle.
Plymouth offered an excellent harbor and plenty of resources. The local
Indians were also non-hostile.
But their happiness was short-lived. Ill-equipped to face the winter on this estranged place they were ravaged thoroughly. Somehow they were saved by a group of local Native Americans who befriended them and helped them with food.
Soon the natives taught the settlers the technique to cultivate corns and grow native vegetables, and store them for hard days. By the next winter they had raised enough crops to keep them alive.
The winter came and passed by without much harm. The settlers knew they had beaten the odds and it was time to celebrate.
They celebrated it with a grand community feast to which the friendly native Americans were also invited. It was kind of a harvest feast, like the Pilgrims used to have in England. The recipes included "corn" (wheat, by the Pilgrims usage of the word), Indian corn, barley, pumpkins and peas, "fowl" (especially "waterfowl"), deer, fish. And yes, of course the yummy wild turkey.
However, the third year was real bad when the corn got damaged. Pilgrim Governor William Bradford ordered a day of fasting and prayer, and rain happened to follow soon. To celebrate, November 29th of that year was proclaimed a day of thanksgiving. This date is believed to be the
real beginning of the present Thanksgiving Day.
But Thanksgiving Day is presently celebrated on the fourth Thursday of every November. This date was set by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 (approved by Congress in 1941). Earlier it was the last Thursday in November as was designated by President Abraham Lincoln. But sometimes the last Thursday would turn out to be the fifth Thursday of the month. This falls too close to Christmas, leaving the businesses even less than a month's time to cope with the two big festivals. Hence the change.
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2. What was the name of the ship called that arrived in the "New World"?
3. Thanksgiving is now celebrated on the fifth Thursday of every month. T-F.
4. What does it mean to be unable to cope? If something is copacetic, is that good or bad?
5. What's the opposite of a feast?
6. Name some other feasts, in Taiwan or elsewhere.
7. President Franklin D. Roosevelt started the first Thanksgiving. T. F.
8. The law-making body in America is called the a)judiciary, b)congress.
9. What does the writer mean by "Native Americans"?
10. What kind of corn is very painful and cannot be eaten?
11. When someone says a movie is corny, what does that mean?
12. What is one's native languge?
13. When something is called "lethal," what does that mean? What's a one-word synonym for lethal? What's a lethal weapon?
14. When something is yummy, does it mean it's good or bad?
15. Is a tummy ache good or bad? What's a one-word synonym for tummy?
16. If you call your boyfriend or girlfriend a dummy, does that mean you think s/he's smart?
17. What's a dummy in a department store? What is a department store dummy usually used for? In entertainment, what's a dummy?
18. When you settle down someplace, what does that mean?
19. What's a one-word synonym for cultivate, as in the phrase, "He's cultivating grapes." "Cultivated" can also be used intransitively; that is, without an object, as in, "He's very cultivated." Does that mean he lives in a garden? What does it mean?
20. How can you damge your teeth? Hearing?
21. What American holiday follows Thanksgiving?
22. Should a person be arrested for beating the odds? What does it mean to beat the odds?
23. Who befriended the first European settlers in North America?
24. Is the opposite of "real bad" "unreal bad"? What is a one-word synonym for "real" in "real bad"?
25. What's a one-word synonym for "pilgrim"?
26. Using a form of the word "pilgrim," what do you call it when you make a visit to a special place, like a shrine or religious location?
27. What do you feel thankfulfor, apart from taking my class?
28. What does it mean when your application has been approved? To apply for a job? To apply yourself to something?
29. Name a person whose fame was short-lived.
30. What's a one-word synonym for "designate" as it is used in the essay (5th sentence from the bottom)?
31. What does it mean when a child is estranged from her parents?
32. What is the name of the Pilgrim governor who ordered a day of fasting and prayer after the corn got damaged in the 3rd year of the Pilgrim settlement?
33. If Thanksgiving falls on the last Thursday of November, what is the day after Thursday called?
34. What was the truce between the Strangers and the Saints called?
35. Where did the Pilgrims first decide to settle?
36. What foods were included in the first Thanksgiving feast?
37. What does it mean to proclaim a holiday? Does it mean to praise a holiday?
38. What's a famous port city in Taiwan?
39. How would you settle a dispute between two feuding neighbors?
40. What kind of woman is a fortune hunter?
41. Why do you pay shipping costs on purchase of something?
42. When someone says, "Don't crowd me!" what does he mean?
43. When a conductor shouts "All aboard!" what does he mean?
44. The word "saint" comes from a Latin word meaning "holy." Another form of the word appears in the name of a famous person who wears a red suit and travels around the world once a year. What's his name?
45. Name some kinds of fowl.
46. What is foul language? A foul ball in baseball?
47. When a movie is called a "turkey," does that mean it's very good or very bad?
48. What recent movie have you seen that you would call a turkey?
50. What kind of music did the pilgrims like?
51. Why did they let the turkey join the band?
52. What did the mother turkey say to her disobedient children?
53. Where did the first corn come from?
54. Why didn't they take the turkey to church?
55. Can a turkey jump higher than the Empire State Building?
56. Why did the police arrest the turkey?
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