3.5. BELIEFS, SUPERSTITIONS AND DREAMS

3.5. BELIEFS, SUPERSTITIONS AND DREAMS

3.5.1

Preparation

Answer the questions and check your score.

How imaginative are you?

1. If you were expecting a friend to come round to your place and he/she was late, would you:

a. assume something ordinary had happened to delay him/her, and not worry?

b. feel slightly worried?

c. think he/she must have been in an accident?

2. When other people tell you about their troubles, do you:

a. feel very upset? b. feel bored? c. feel some sympathy?

3. When you look at clouds, do you:

a. see pictures in them? b. feel thoughtful? c. think about the weather?

4. When you first meet somebody who attracts you, do you:

a. think sensibly about your chances?

b. think he/she is the most wonderful person in the world, and imagine you living together?

c. tell yourself not to lose your head?

5. While staying in an old house, you are woken up by strange noises. Do you think of:

a. water pipes? b. burglars? c. ghosts?

6. Do you get an idea that you think would make a good book, film, or song?

a. never b. often c. sometimes

7. Do you daydream:

a. often when you should be thinking about other things?

b. sometimes? c. hardly ever?

8. Can you imagine yourself doing something that would cause you to go to prison?

a. not at all b. with difficulty c. easily

9. When you talk about something that has happened to you, do you:

a. give all the details? b. change things to make it more interesting?

c. just give the main points?

10. Which of these kinds of book or magazine article do you like most?

a. biography/history b. fiction (novels, stories, etc.)

c. practical (information about how to do things)

Your score:

1. a-1 b-2 c-3

2. a-3 b-1 c-2

3. a-3 b-2 c-1

4. a-2 b-3 c-1

5. a-1 b-2 c-3

6. a-1 b-3 c-2

7. a-3 b-2 c-1

8. a-1 b-2 c-3

9. a-2 b-3 c-1

10. a-2 b-3 c-1

Total 10 – 16: You are a practical, down-to-earth person. You don’t usually let your imagination run away with you, and you are not afraid of very much. But you may sometimes have trouble understanding other people’s feelings.

Total 17 – 23: You have an average amount of imagination, and you are quite good at understanding how other people feel. Sometimes you live too much inside your own head, but your common sense usually keeps you in touch with reality.

Total 24 – 30: Your imagination is your greatest strength and your greatest weakness. On the other hand, you live a rich interior life, and you experience the pleasures and excitement of the true creative artist. However, you often suffer from irrational fears and superstitious beliefs. And you must be careful not to spend so much time watching the ‘cinema’ inside your own head that you completely lose touch with the real world.

3.5.2

Vocabulary

What is the origin of superstitions? Read the

text and learn the words in bold.

Many of our superstitions probably have their origin in the religious rites and ceremonies of early human settlements. Primitive people needed to make some sense of all the adversities they were subject to – hurricanes, droughts, floods, etc. They believed that there was a connection between such events and some supernatural being or beings. To keep these ‘gods’ happy they invented a series of rites, which evolved through the various civilizations. In modern times, when salt is actually considered dangerous for health we perhaps forget just how important it was for our ancestors. The word ‘salary’ comes from the Latin ‘salarium’ from the word ‘sal’ meaning salt. The Roman soldiers and civil servants were in fact paid in salt rations and other necessities. The fifth century Goth administrator Cassiodorus said: ‘It may be that some seek not gold, but there lives not a man that does not need salt.’ In Leonardo da Vinci’s picture of theLast Supper, you can see that Judas has accidentally knocked over the salt cellar.

In Roman mythology men had a kind of guardian angel, known as a genius, that looked after their fortunes and determined their character. The genius only existed for men, women had their Juno. Another belief was that everyone had two genii (good and evil), and bad luck was caused by the evil genius.

Reading

Read the short texts below and match the

questions with the answers.

Why do some people throw spilt salt over their shoulders?
What is the origin of the phrase ‘touch wood’?
Where does the practice of a ‘housewarming gift’ come from?
Why are black cats supposed to bring bad luck?
Why are horseshoes meant to bring good luck?

a. In Greek mythology, when human beings needed assistance, they called on their gods, who would then turn them into trees so that they would be protected from their enemies. In Britain certain trees (particularly oak, hawthorn and willow) were supposed to have sacred powers and these were touched if you wanted to avert bad luck.

b. This originates from a time when a human sacrifice was made if a new building was being constructed. The victim was buried in the foundations of the building and left to die. Later generations used animals rather than humans, and later still objects were buried rather than animals. In modern times we now bring presents, to keep happy both the owners and the genius who presided over that particular plot of land.

c. Thor, the Norse god of thunder, was very fond of iron, and this practice grew in the hope that it would stop him getting angry. Iron was also supposed to have power to keep witches away; in the 17^th century nearly all houses had a horseshoe nailed over the threshold.

d. Salt has always been an essential item. In fact many expressions from languages all over the world contain references to salt – ‘the salt of the earth’, ‘he’s not worth his salt’; the Russian term for hospitality is ‘bread-salt’, and for the Arabs, eating a man’s salt creates a sacred bond. Salt was needed for preserving food so to spill it was a terrible waste and an unlucky omen. This led to the idea that the devil must be standing behind your chair when you spilt the salt. To avert his evil influence the best thing was to throw a pinch of the salt over your left shoulder and into his eye so that he wouldn’t be able to see what he was doing.

e. Black cats have always been associated with witches, they are also difficult to see and are thus associated with devil.

Practice

Using some of the words in bold, speak about

other superstitions you know or believe in.

D Working in pairs, invent around 5 or 6 questions for

the quiz ‘How superstitious are you?’

3.5.3

Interaction

Read the passage and suggest some ideas of

how the article might have continued.

Folklore

We are often amazed at the incredible things our ancestors believed in, but we rarely stop to think about the things we ourselves now believe in. Stories of pet baby alligators being thrown down toilets in New York homes and then reappearing in other people’s bathrooms were repeated throughout Europe from the 1960s to the 1990s, with rats taking the place of alligators. Thousands of people swore that they had friends who had been bitten while sitting on the toilet; but these were all merely variations of the same story.

But probably the most universal of folklore beliefs are those associated with the miraculous powers of cola. Those may have been inspired by the secrecy surrounding cola’s magic formula.

B Discuss whether you agree with the stories about

cola Su and Al tell each other.

Su: You know if you keep on drinking that stuff you’re gonna burn your stomach; it’ll give you spots too.

Al: Oh don’t be ridiculous! I’ve been drinking cola for years and it’s never done me any harm.

Su: Well, I had a friend at school and she drank so much it made her throat transparent and split her tongue in two.

Al: Yeah right. And I use it to remove the oil from my car.

Su: No seriously. Look, you try putting this coin in your glass, leave it there overnight, and I bet next morning it’ll look like new.

Al: Ooh! I suppose you use it to remove your nail varnish.

Su: How did you guess? I do, really. It’s also brilliant for removing stains out of clothes; you can even clean your jewellery too.

Al: I remember when I was at college we used to mix it with aspirin, it was supposed to be an aphrodisiac.

Su: Did it work?

Al: Well, I never had much luck, no.

Su: Yeah, well I wouldn’t blame that on cola.

Opinion

Read the following extract from a newspaper article

and express your opinion on what is said.

According to an old superstition, you will dream of your husband-to-be if you -

Wear your nightie inside out

Or sleep with a mirror under your pillow

Or count nine stars each night, for nine nights

Or rub your bedposts with a lemon

Or eat 100 chicken gizzards

Or fill your mouth with water and run three times round the house.

The first man you see as you run will have the same name as your future spouse.

If you don’t believe me, ask researcher Alvin Schwartz. He’s about to publish a book called Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat – a collection of the superstitions and customs people use to help them through life.

And he has found that we’re just as anxious to court Lady Luck as any other generation. We don’t just believe old wives’ tales – we’re busy making up new ones.

Mr Schwartz says: ‘We rely on superstitions for the same reasons people always have. When we are faced with situations we cannot control – which depend on luck or chance – superstitions make us feel more secure.’ (John Hill, Sun)

Interaction

Make up a dialogue of your own discussing

examples of folklore from our country.

3.5.4

Vocabulary

Read this horoscope from a woman’s magazine

and learn the words and phrases in italics.

Your Horoscope by Lucille Burton

ARIES Your patience could be sorely tested – keep your temper under control. Money matters need be thought through as precipitous action might cause anxiety. A child’s input is surprisingly wise.

TAURUS Neighbours could provide a social life for you if you were not too unfriendly. Someone who’s been critical of you is feeling inadequate herself. If you become defensive, you’ll both feel guilty.

GEMINI A visit from an out-of-town relative needn’t be a burden. Modify your attitudes. Don’t procrastinate with a minor medical problem. A doctor’s visit would relieve your mind.

CANCER Don’t be stubborn; you must listen to a family member’s point of view. A party or social situation will be a good place for making contacts. A financial adviser could mislead you, so get a second opinion before putting money on the line.

LEO Enjoy an expensive purchase. A sermon or conversation may inspire you to deep feelings of serenity. A loved one’s well-meaning advice may be too fear-based, so trust your own instincts.

LIBRA You may be feeling impatient; guard temper and sensitivity. Money matters could be a mixed bag; some balance is coming. You’ll need to be realistic about friendship that has seen better days.

SCORPIO You could be helpful to a neighbour without much effort. Keep better informed about current events if you want to socialize with interesting people. You may meet an old flame by accident. Don’t be surprised if there’s a touch of spark left.

SAGITTARIUS You could be feeling nervous and shattered but this won’t last. Make time for a physical sport you really enjoy. A young person’s open-mindedness is to be commended. Don’t let your fears inhibit you from doing what’s right.

CAPRICON A change of scene would spark your enthusiasm; get away even for a day’s outing. If friendship proves disappointing, focus on other things. Brooding won’t help. Pay bills promptly.

AQUARIUS You’ll be in the limelight and enjoying favourable publicity. You could have trouble with an electrical gadget and would be wise to pay for professional repairs. Don’t be intimidated by a smug female.

PISCES Deep emotion could sweep over you for no apparent reason. It’ll pass and you’ll feel stronger. A pet should be taken to the vet if it becomes lethargic. Wise investment could now pay dividends.

Activate

Answer the questions.

1. Do you believe horoscopes?

2. Do you agree that many people are fond of horoscopes? Why do they read horoscope predictions?

3. What are the most popular topics of horoscope predictions?

4. Do predictions come true?

5. Which star sign is missing from the horoscope above?

C Write the entry for Virgo in the same style as Lucille

Burton. Virgos are supposed to be perfectionists who

want everything to be exactly right.

3.5.5

Reading

Read the text. Do you believe in ‘prophetic’

dreams? Why?

Dreams

The fascination of dreams has been felt by all people at every stage of human history. In primitive societies it is sometimes believed that the soul takes leave of the body during sleep and actually visits the scenes of the dream. In general, however, the view that dreams are illusory experiences is universally accepted.

To the psychologist, the dream is a form of natural expression which occurs only when the activity of the brain is depressed by sleep or by the influence of anaesthetics or drugs. It has much in common with the fantasies and day-dreams of waking life, and differs from them mainly in being expressed in a dramatic form in which the dreamer himself appears to play a part. When dreaming, moreover, one tends to believe in the ‘reality’ of the dream world, however inconsistent or illogical it may be. It is only when one awakes that happenings of the dream dissolve into a half-forgotten fantasy.

The sense of time is often said to be great altered in dreams. There is some evidence that dream happenings, which seem to occupy a very considerable time occur, in fact, within a few seconds.

People differ very much in the frequency of their dreams. Some claim to dream every night, others but very occasionally. Although it is probable that there exist real individual differences in the capability to dream, it must be borne in mind that some people appear to forget their dreams much more rapidly than others and are therefore apt to claim that they seldom dream.

Many superstitions and occult practices have been built round the supposed power of dreams to foretell the future. Instances of dreams, which have later turned out to be ‘prophetic’, have often been recorded.

Do animals dream? Unfortunately we cannot be sure of the answer. Everyone knows that a sleeping dog often behaves as though he were dreaming, but it is impossible to tell whether it is really dreaming. By analogy with human experience, however, it is reasonable to suppose that at least the higher animals are capable of dreaming.

Vocabulary

Find the words related in meaning from lists 1 and 2.

a. 1. to foretell, to occur, to record, to dissolve, to play a part, to behave, to accept

2. to forecast, to adopt, to take place, to play a role, to act, to disintegrate, to register

b. 1. occult, inconsistent, reasonable, illusory, considerable, apt, unfortunate

2. supernatural, sensible, likely, deceptive, unlucky, contradictory, large

c. 1. drug, soul, influence, evidence, happening, instance, fascination, stage

2. narcotic, control, spirit, phase, event, example, charm, data

d. 1. seldom, therefore, as though, much more, moreover

2. that’s why, rarely, as if, far more, besides

3.5.6

Meaning

Fill in the blanks with the words from the box.

1. In my dream I had a _____ of flying.

2. She had neither ____ of right or wrong nor any common _____ .

3. We can only perceive through our five _____.

4. Try to be calm and logical and not over-_____al.

5. I have made my _____ perfectly clear.

6. She never let herself get carried away with _____.

7. In order to get the secret from him, she played on his _____.

B Complete the sentences with the following words.

I’ve always found the buzzing of bees has a very _____ attraction.
I think the _____ thing to do would be to stop now and get a good night’s sleep.
In one _____ I think you’re right, but not completely.
It’s ______ trying to argue with him; he never listens to a word anybody says.
She’s very _____ on the subject of her beliefs, so be careful what you say.
I felt a _____ of ‘déjà vu’ when I was passing by this strange place.
Some people think about purely _____ pleasures neglecting their souls.

3.5.7

Definition

There are more than five senses, aren’t there?

Have a look at this short conversation. Try to

explain the words and expressions in bold.

A: Something tells me you could do with another drink.

B: You must be psychic. Thanks.

A: I can sense that you probably love tea. Is that so?

B: Great. You must have extra-sensory perception.

A: And I feel it in my bones that it’s China tea. Am I right?

B: Fantastic. We must be telepathic.

A: My intuition says it’s green tea.

B: What an instinct you have!

A: A small cup, is it?

B: No, a large one, please.

Word Use

A hundred British people were asked to complete the

phrase a sense of. These were the most popular choices.

Complete the sentences with an appropriate phrase.

1. a sense of proportion

2. a sense of fairness

3. a sense of discipline

4. a sense of duty

5. a sense of adventure

6. a sense of fun

7. a sense of power

8. a sense of timing

9. a sense of balance

Having a little red button not far from his desk must give a President an enormous … .
Without a … you’ll never be able to hit the ball correctly.
Some people become too greedy or arrogant because they lack a … .
He went ahead and arrested his uncle through a … .
One of the major tasks of parents should be to give their children a … .
His inborn … led him to the slopes of the Himalayas.
At high altitudes one is apt to loose one’s … .
His … is so strong, he protests to umpires on behalf of his opponent.
Personally, I don’t call putting dead fish in friend’s beds a sign of a healthy … .

Activate

Give your opinion on the following:

What are the five basic senses? Which would you call the least important?
What evidence have you heard of people who are deprived of one sense having unusually well-developed other senses?
Do you belief in a sixth sense?
Have you heard of any cases of ESP (extra-sensory perception)?

3.5.8

Translation

Translate into Russian.

It was thought that human soul left the body during sleep and traveled about, visiting other people in their dreams.
It is supposed that higher animals are capable of dreaming.
Though our dream world may seem illogical and strange, it reflects the realities of our waking life.
However deeply our subconscious troubles and thoughts may be buried in waking life, they always come up in dreams.
When dreaming people sometimes remember half-forgotten incidents of their past.
People usually have their most vivid dreams during a personal crisis.
Dreams in which you are being chased by someone generally refer to a member of the opposite sex.
External influences can change one’s dreams while one is actually dreaming.
Sigmund Freud, the famous psychologist, considered that dreams were messages from the dreamer’s subconscious self. Freud’s theory is known to explain a great deal in the mechanism of dreams.
Yung, one of Freud’s students, believed that it was impossible for a psychiatrist to understand a stranger’s dream. Certain symbols were the same in all dreams, but the clue to the dreams was hidden in the dreamer’s own personality.

Synonyms

Substitute the words in bold with synonyms.

Dreams still a secret

What are dreams? Volumes have been written on the subject, but the real dreams mechanism is still an enigma and many laboratories around the world seek to unveil it. A special electronic unit watching and registering the eye movements of a sleeping person has been tested at the University of Texas. The results proved among other things, that dreams affect a person’s entirebody, which reacts with slight muscle movement.

3.5.9

Speaking

Dreams: facts and tidbits. Try to find out more

information about dreams. Give your own opinion

of the issue.

One third of our lives is spent sleeping.
In your lifetime, you would have spent about 6 years of it dreaming. That is more than 2,100 days spent in a different world.
Dreams have been here as long as mankind. Back in the Roman Era, striking and significant dreams were submitted to the Senate for analysis and interpretation.
Everybody dreams. Everybody! Simply because you do not remember your dream does not mean that you did not dream.
Dreams are indispensable. A lack of dream activity can mean protein deficiency or a personality disorder.
We dream on average for one or two hours every night. And we often even have 4-7 dreams in one night.
Blind people do dream. Whether visual images will appear in their dreams depends on whether they were blind at birth or became blind later in life. But vision is not the only sense that constitutes a dream. Sounds, tactility, and smell become hypersensitive for the blind and their dreams are based on these senses.
Five minutes after the end of the dream, half the content is forgotten. After ten minutes, 90 % is lost.
The word ‘dream’ stems from the Middle English word ‘dreme’, which means ‘joy’ and ‘music’.
Men tend to dream more about other men, while women dream equally about men and women.
Studies have shown that our brain waves are more active when we are dreaming than when we are awake.
People who are giving up smoking have longer and more intense dreams.
Toddlers do not dream about themselves. They do not appear in their own dreams until the age of 3 or 4.
If you are snoring, then you cannot be dreaming.
Nightmares are common in children, typically beginning at around age 3 and occurring up to age 7-8.
In a poll, 67 % of Americans have experienced Déjà vu in their dreams, occurring more often in females than in males.

3.5.10

Discussion

Discuss the following:

Why do dreams fascinate people at every stage of human history? Does it prove that ‘prophetic’ dreams really exist?
What may a definition of a dream be?
In what way does a dream differ from fantasy and day-dreaming?
What differs the ‘reality’ of a dream world?
How is the sense of time affected by the dream?
Are there individual differences in people’s capabilities to dream?
Why are dreams so closely connected with various superstitions and occult practices?
Are animals capable of dreaming?
They say, Abraham Lincoln dreamed about his assassination a few days before it happened. How could you explain this fact?
Have you ever had meaningful (or ‘prophetic’) dreams?

3.5.11

Writing

Read the following notes and write some of

the missing descriptions.

If you dream about …

… climbing

If you climb stairs, hills or mountains in your dreams, you’re ambitious and don’t let people get in your way. If you dream that you are falling, this can mean that you say too much to the wrong people at the wrong times. Think before you open your mouth.

… flying

You’re fed up with your problems, and want to rise above them. If it’s easy to fly, you’ll get what you want. If not, you’re doing something wrong – it’s time for a different approach to the person or thing that is causing the trouble.

… dancing

Fast mad dancing – you’ll be lucky in love. Slow dreamy dancing means you want love and peace. Dancing by yourself – what do you think?

… teeth falling out

If you lose teeth in your dreams, it means you are having trouble with personal relationships. If you spit teeth out, you haven’t got any money. A filling in a tooth means you’ll get some.

… travel ______________________________________

… being chased ________________________________

… fire ________________________________________

… water _______________________________________

… animals _____________________________________

B Choose one of the topics below for your essay.

* Superstitions help people to survive.

* Horoscopes spoil people’s life.

* The dream that came true.