a correction of a test for a listening comprehension.
Please, try to make pauses and read at a normal speed but not too fast. Thank you :)
I. Stories of happiness
1. « We gave birth with the help of a midwife… »
Explain with your own words what a midwife is.
A midwife is someone who is going to help the Japanese women give birth to their babies. It may be symbolical of the amount of luck they are going to get. If they are left alone it probably means that they'll have to deal with the babies on their own, without anybody's help.
2. Give 4 other examples of stories of happiness in the chapter.
They are no stories of happiness so to speak. At least were they blessed to have a normal baby. It's more or less about the good signs they read while looking at their babies or if they could afford the help of a doctor. The stories around becoming a mother aren't that joyful.
II. Stories of misfortunes
1. What did these women do when they gave birth to twins ?
Superstition was part of their lives and unfortunately when they had twins they had to choose one of them.
2. « We gave birth while our husband was out gambling… ».
What does the word « gambling » mean ? Explain in your own words.
Their husbands couldn't care less about their wives' pregnancy and future children. They were having fun, wasting the hard won money, forgetting about their wives' ordeals.
3. What does « shake it loose » mean ?
Unable to control the number of pregnancies, the Japansese were jumping off rocks and trees in the wild hope of losing the child. It shows how desperate and isolated they were.
4. Give 3 other examples of stories of misfortunes in the chapter.
Most stories evolve around dead babies or dying babies. Either they were already dead in the mother's womb or died in their cribs. Some very unlucky ones were smothered by their mothers when they looked monstruous.
III. Symbols at birth: children’s fate.
1. What did these women believe when their babies had « the umbilical cord wrapped
around [the] neck » ?
Some of the mothers tried to read in their children's attitude when coming into the world. The cord around the neck was a sign of spirituality and that they would become priests.
For me, one of the funniest moments was when Julie Otsuka wrote that one of the babies' faces would have stopped an earthquake.
Made some corrections on this one. I will record another version with the original text.