4 - 大阪大学世界言語eラーニングサーバ

The central symbol for Canada—and this is based on numerous instances of its occurrence in both
English and French Canadian literature—is undoubtedly Survival, la Survivance. Like the Frontier
and The Island, it is a multifaceted and adaptable idea. For early explorers and settlers, it meant
bare survival in the face of “hostile” elements and/or natives: carving out a place an a way of keeping
alive. But the word can also suggest survival of a crisis or disaster, like a hurricane or a wreck, and
many Canadian poems have this kind of survival as a theme; what you might call “grim” survival as
opposed to “bare” survival. For French Canada after the English took over it became cultural
survival, hanging on as a people, retaining a religion and a language under an alien government.
And in English Canada now while the Americans are taking over it is acquiring a similar meaning.
There is another use of the word as well: a survival can be a vestige of a vanished order which has
managed to persist after its time is past, like a primitive reptile. This version crops up in Canadian
thinking too, usually among those who believe that Canada is obsolete.
E. Canadian National Symbol 2: What It Means
But the main idea is the first one: hanging on, staying alive. Canadians are forever taking the
national pulse like doctors at a sickbed: the aim is not to see whether the patient will live well but
simply whether he will live at all. Our central idea is one which generates, not the excitement and
sense of adventure or danger which The Frontier holds out, not the smugness and/or sense of security,
of everything in its place, which The Island can offer, but an almost intolerable anxiety. Our stories
are likely to be tales not of those who made it but of those who made it back from the awful
experience—the North, the snowstorm, the sinking ship—that killed everyone else. The survivor has
no triumph or victory but the fact of his survival; he has little after his ordeal that he did not have
before, except gratitude for having escaped with his life.
Activities
・パラグラフ A~E をよく 読 んでください。まずは 細 かいところは 無 視 して、「 何 について 書 いてあるか」
を 理 解 するように 努 めてください。
・パラグラフ B、C、D をそれぞれのグループに 割 り 当 てますので、じっくり 読 んでください。 英 語 の 表
現 が 分 かりにくいところや、リサーチの 必 要 な 話 題 にチェックを 入 れておいてください。
・グループで 話 し 合 い、 文 章 をどう 解 釈 するかを 決 めて、 発 表 用 の 原 稿 を 作 成 します。 補 足 の 資 料 が 必
要 な 場 合 は、ウェブ 上 でサーチしてみてください。
・Impress を 使 って、 説 明 用 の 簡 単 な 資 料 を 作 成 します。
・ 各 パラグラフについて、クラスの 前 で 発 表 していただきます。
・ 発 表 で 使 用 した Impress のファイルは、 講 師 に 提 出 してください。
※ 講 師 が 各 グループを 回 りますので、コンピュータの 使 い 方 や 資 料 のまとめ 方 その 他 の 質 問 がありまし
たら、 何 でも 聞 いてください。