Captions (Part 2)

You can see a sacred tree called “bodaiju”. I went to Sri Lanka this summer. These pictures were taken at ශ්‍රී දළදා මාළිගාව; Sri Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Tooth). Local people gather around this tree and sit spending their time. The tree must have seen the elephant, the rooster, the chickens, the running boy, the little sister, the dog, people over the fence, the cleaning boy, and me taking photographs.

Captions (Part 1)

I saw an elephant in a town. People are watching him or her. A big animal attracts people. It looks like a zoo, but it is a temple.

I found a brown rooster behind motorbikes. It looks like a male because of the shape of its head. I wonder why he stays in such a narrow space.

I entered the temple and saw two white chickens running around. They are very active even in the glaring sunshine. It is a very hot summer day.

I heard cheerful voices. A boy and a girl who seem to be a family are laughing. They are chasing the two white chickens. At another moment, I saw the two chickens chasing that brown rooster out of the place.

A dog is sleeping in the shade of a tree. The tree gives comfort, but if I were this dog, I would not sleep in such an open space. Dogs seem to be able to sleep anywhere.

Inside the temple, I am closer to the elephant than people talking over the fence.

A boy is cleaning in front of the stairs. Could you see sandals or shoes beside the stairs? He goes barefoot. People need to go barefoot here. What could you see upstairs?

OVER THE TOP

  “Over The Top” is a movie starring Sylvester Stallone. I saw it in a movie theater in 1987, when I was about to be a high school student. As a teenage boy, I had my longing for strength.

  Today I watched “Over The Top” on TV. Remembering the days when I had tried to get strength, I checked the HP of World Armwrestling League. I found an interesting passage.

  Arm-wrestling as a sport is one of the most universal forms of competition in the country: virtually everyone in America has put their elbow on a table and gripped up with a friend or rival. It's the world’s most popular method of score-settling and a universal test of strength used around the globe. Arm-wrestling combines grit, tactics and mettle in a highly-accessible format that draws competitors from all walks of life, from school teachers to oil rig workers. But when you’re in The Pit, it’s not about what you do or where you come from, it’s about one thing: what you’re made of.

  I made a question for my high school students.

  Choose the best title of this passage from four choices.

    ①AMERICA IS STRONG　　②THE EVERYMAN'S SPORT

    ③THE GENTLEMEN'S SPORT　　④WHAT DO YOU DO?

  The title represents the American way of thinking.

Alphabet Letters

stand on a building in Sri Lanka.