Si Guniang Mountain by Nancy, Gaxi Zuoma, 陈银婷      My hometown is located in Xiaojin, Aba prefecture, Sichuan province. It is a very beautiful place. Si Guniang Mountain is an especially stunning area there. It is a snow-covered mountain. It attracts a lot of tourists. The natural beauty, rich resources, blue sky, and green grass form beautiful scenery.    It is said that Si Guniang Mountain is a group of Tibetan girls. A long time ago during a cold winter, the girls escaped from their home in order to avoid a disaster. They came to Xiao Jin. After running for several days, they were too cold and too hungry to run anymore. They realized they were going to die. They decided to make offerings to area. One girl's hair became the green grass, one girl's clothes became the streams, and one girl's eyes became the rare resources.    People say that one day an old man was looking for his sheep on the mountain. The dark was drawing near, and he was tired and hungry. The old man fell into a deep lake. The water was so cold, but he tried his best to get out the water. He swam and swam. After several minutes, he gave up. At this time, a beautiful Tibetan girl appeared. She smiled and said, "Come on. I can help you."    "No, you can't!" cried the old man.    "Stand up," said the girl.    In the end, the old man was out of the water. The old man didn't know what had happened. When he turned to look for the girl, she had already disappeared.     Words and Expressions 词和表达 མིང་དང་ཚིག stunning (adj) 净艳 ཧ་ལས་དགོས་པའི།  rare (adj) 罕见 ཤིན་ཏུ་དཀོན་པའི། attract (v) 吸引 ཡིད་དབང་འཕྲོག་པ། draw near (v) 临近 ཉེ་མོར་བྱས་པ། avoid (v) 避免 གཡོལ་བ། disappear (adj) 消失 མེད་པར་འགྭར་བ།  stream (n) 小河 ཆུ་ཆང་ཆང་།       English Language Exercises 英语学习材料  བསྐྱར་སྦྱོང་གི་རྒྱུ་ཆ།   Part A. Each sentence has a mistake. Fix it, and then check with the story. 1. A long time ago during a hot summer, the girls escaped their home. 2. One’s girl hair became the green grass, one girl’s clothes became lakes, and one girl’s eyes became rare resources. 3. The sun was rising and the old man was tired and hungry. 4. The old man fell into a deep lake. The water was warm. 5. In the end, the old man was still in the water. 6. When he turned to look for the girl, she had sat down beside the lake.   Part B. Write the correct form of the verbs onto the lines. Sometimes two words are needed. It is ___________ (say) that Si Guniang Mountain is a _________ (group) of Tibetan girls. A long __________ (time) ago during a cold winter, the girls ____________ (escape) from their home in order to __________(avoid) a disaster. They __________ (come) to Xiao Jin. After ____________ (run) for several days, they ____________ (be) too cold and too hungry to ___________ (run) anymore. They ________ (realize) they _________(be) ___________ (go) to ___________ (die). They ____________ (decide) to __________ (make) ___________ (offer) to area. One girl's hair __________ (become) the green grass, one girl's __________ (clothe) ___________ (become) the ___________ (stream), and one girl's ___________ (eye) ___________ (become) the rare resources. People ___________ (say) that one day an old __________ (man) ________________( look) for his sheep on the mountain. The dark ______________ (draw) near, and he _________(be) and hungry. The old man ______________ (fall) into a deep lake. The water _________(be) so cold, but he _________(try) his best to ___________ (get) out the _____________ (water). He ___________ (swim) and ___________ (swim). After several minutes, he _____________ (give) up. At this time, a beautiful Tibetan girl ______________ (appear). She ____________ (smile) and ___________ (say), "__________ (come) on. I can ___________ (help) you."   Part C. Correct the mistakes, then check with the story. The number in parenthesis show how many mistakes are in the line. 1. (2) It is a snow-covered mount.It attracts a lot of tourists. 2. (3) my hometown is located in xiao Jin AB prefecture. 3. (3) When he turned to the girl, but she disappreard. 4. (2) She smiled and said “come on. I can help you.”   Part D. Write words from the story onto the lines. 1. The flowers here _____________ a lot of bees. 2. There are not many wild mushrooms on the mountains at this time of year. They are quite ______ now. 3. Look! There are a lot of small fish in this _____________! 4. Very few people speak this language anymore. In the future, it might ________________. 5. They haven’t met in a long time. They are _____________ each other.   Part E. Answers in Part D. 1. attact  2. rare  3. stream  4. disappear  5. avoiding   Contributors 编写者 ལེགས་སྐྱེས་འབུལ་མཁན།   Nancy, Gaxi Zuoma, 陈银婷 Wrote story, edited story and provided photos, 05/2010. Jon Lambert Helped edit English edition of story, 05/2010. Made English language exercises, 08/2010.   Notes: Siguniang mountain is called Shen Shan by local people. Its Tibetan name is Nei Ri. The writer's grandmother told her the stories recorded in this composition. The production of these English language exercises was influenced by texts including the Folktale Reader by Klu rgyal tshe ring, Klu rgyal, Sandra Benson and Kevin Stuart and Tibetan-English Folktales by Allie Thomas, Kevin Stuart, dPal ldan bKra shis and ‘Gyur med rgya mtsho.