UNIT 3 – Comprehension

The plain Indians and Sitting Bull

The plain Indians

[The Indians of the Great Plains are the most famous of all, and those who fought the longest.
They loved nature and animals. The buffalo was essential to their existence. Buffalo meat was
their main food and they made their clothes, moccasins and tepees from its hide (skin). In fact,
every part of the buffalo was useful to the Plain Indians.] However, when the white man came
west, he was not interested in preserving the buffalo. On the contrary, he killed millions and
millions of them, simply for their hides and his profit.
Sitting Bull

A few years later, almost all the buffaloes were

exterminated by the white men, and the Indian’s main
source of food and clothing had disappeared.

When Sitting Bull, Chief of all the Plains Tribes saw

what was happening, he said to the white men: “I want
to know what you are doing on this road. You scare
the buffaloes away? I want to hunt in this place. This
is where we live. I want you to turn back and go away
from here. If you don’t, I will fight you again.”

And that is what he did. With the Cheyenne and the

Sioux in particular, he fought furious battles to try to
preserve the Indian Territory and way of life. But the
white man was stronger. They had guns and they
didn’t care about Indians because they thought they
were useless and stupid savages.

By 1890, the few Indians who had survived were

forced to live on reservations. These were small pieces
of land reserved for Indians. In fact, they were parked
like animals. The tragedy was that these territories
were arid and there were no wild animals on them.
And it’s still true. The white men have probably
destroyed the Indians’ way of life for ever, and
buffaloes became an endangered species (although it
no longer is the case now).
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Comprehension Worksheet

Tanslation

Vous essaierez de traduire du mieux que vous pourrez le passage entre crochets.

[The Indians of the Great Plains are the most famous of all, and those who fought the
longest. They loved nature and animals. The buffalo was essential to their existence.
Buffalo meat was their main food and they made their clothes, moccasins and tepees from
its hide (*skin). In fact, every part of the buffalo was useful to the Plain Indians.]

Questions

1) Who was Sitting Bull?

 A white man.
 An Indian chief.
 A courageous man.

2) What did Sitting Bull ask the white men to do?

3) Using arrows, match each word with its translation.

Road   Batailles
Hunt   Route (« chemin » / « voie » ici)
Battles   Inutile
To care   Chasser
Useless   Détruire
Land   Espèce en voie de disparition
To destroy   Terre
Endangered Species   S’inquiéter de/Faire attention
 4) Are the following statements true (T) or false (F) ? Tick the correct answer and
justify by quoting from the text.

STATEMENT T F QUOTATION
Reservations are large
pieces of land.

There are lots of

animals in reservations.
The buffaloes are an
endangered species
today.
Sitting Bull
attacked the white men
but didn’t speak to
them.
Native Americans
are stupid.

5) Explique, en français, le plus de choses possible sur cette phrase/le groupe verbal,
etc. Puis donne des exemples similaires.

“A few years later, almost all the buffaloes were exterminated by the white men.”