A
By tradition land in Luapula is not ownedby individuals, but as in many other parts of Africa isallocated by the headmanor headwoman of a village to people of either sex, according to need. Sinceland is generally prepared by hand, one ulupwa cannot take on a very largearea; in this sense land has not been a limiting resource over large parts ofthe province. The situation has already changed near the main townships, andthere has long been a scarcity of land for cultivation in the Valley. In theseareas registered ownership patterns are becoming prevalent.
B
Most of the traditional cropping inLuapula, as in the Bemba area to the east, is based on citemene, a systemwhereby crops are grown on the ashes of tree branches. As a rule, entire treesare not felled, but are pollarded so that they can regenerate. Branches are cutover an area of varying size early in the dry season, and stacked to dry over arough circle about a fifth to a tenth of the pollarded area. The wood is firedbefore the rains and in the first year planted with the African cereal fingermillet (Eleusinecoracana).
C
During the second season, and possibly fora few seasons more the area is planted to variously mixed combinations ofannuals such as maize, pumpkins (Telfiriaoccidentalis) and other cucurbits,sweet potatoes, groundnuts, Phaseolus beans and various leafy vegetables, grownwith a certain amount of rotation. The diversesequence ends with vegetablecassava, which is often planted into the developing last-but-one crop as arelay.
D
Richards (1969) observed that the practiceof citemene entails a definitedivision of labour between men and women. A manstakes out a plot in an unobtrusive manner, since it is considered provocativetowards one’s neighbours to mark boundaries in an explicit way. The dangerouswork of felling branches is the men’s province, and involves much pride.Branches are stacked by the women, and fired by the men. Formerly women and mencooperated in the planting work, but the harvesting was always done by the women.At the beginning of the cycle little weeding is necessary, since the firing ofthe branches effectively destroys weeds. As the cycle progresses weeds increaseand nutrients eventually become depleted to a point where further effort withannual crops is judged to be not worthwhile: at this point the cassava isplanted, since it can produce a crop on nearly exhausted soil. Thereafter theplot is abandoned, and a new area pollarded for the next citemene cycle.
E
When forest is not available - this is increasinglythe case nowadays - various ridging systems (ibala)are built on small areas, tobe planted with combinations of maize, beans, groundnuts and sweet potatoes,usually relayed with cassava. These plots are usually tended by women, andprovide subsistence. Where their roots have year-round access to water tablesmango, guava and oil-palm trees often grow around houses, forming a traditionalagroforestry system. In season some of the fruit is sold by the roadside or inlocal markets.
F
The margins of dambos are sometimes plantedto local varieties of rice during the rainy season, andareas adjacent tovegetables irrigated with water from the dambo during the dry season. Theextent of cultivation is very limited, no doubt because the growing of crops underdambo conditions calls for a great deal of skill. Near towns some of thevegetable produce is sold in local markets.
G
Fishing has long provided a much neededproteinsupplement to the diet of Luapulans, as well as being the onesubstantial source of cash. Much fish is dried for sale to areas away from themain waterways. The Mweru and Bangweulu Lake Basins are the main areas ofyear-round fishing, but the Luapula River is also exploited during the latterpart of the dry season. Several previously abundant and desirable species, suchas the Luapula salmon or mpumbu (Labeoaltivelis) and pale(Sarotherodonmachochir) have all but disappeared from Lake Mweru, apparentlydue to mismanagement.
H
Fishing has always been a far moreremunerative activity in Luapula that crop husbandry. A fisherman may earn morein a week than a bean or maize grower in a whole season. I sometimes heardclaims that the relatively high earnings to be obtained from fishing induced an‘easy come, easy go’ outlook among Luapulan men. On the other hand, someone whosecures good but erratic earnings may feel that their investment in aneconomically productive activity is not worthwhile because Luapulans fail tocooperate well in such activities. Besides, a fisherman with spare cash willfind little in the way of working equipment to spend his money on. Better spendone’s money in the bars and have a good time!
I
Only small numbers of cattle or oxen arekept in the province owing to the prevalence of the tsetse fly. For the fewherds, the dambos provide subsistence grazing during the dry season. Theabsence of animal draft power greatly limits peoples’ ability to plough andcultivate land: a married couple can rarely manage to prepare by hand-hoeing.Most people keep freely roaming chickens and goats. These act as a reserve forbartering, but may also be occasionally slaughtered for ceremonies or forentertaining important visitors. These animals are not a regular part of mostpeoples’ diet.
J
Citemene has been an ingenious system for providingpeople with seasonal production of high quality cereals and vegetables inregions of acid, heavily leached soils. Nutritionally, the most seriousdeficiency was that of protein. This could at times be alleviated when fish wasavailable, provided that cultivators lived near the Valley and could find themeans of bartering for dried fish. The citemene/fishing system was well adaptedto the ecology of the miombo regions and sustainable for long periods, but onlyas long as human population densities stayed at low levels. Although populationdensities are still much lower than in several countries of South-East Asia,neither the fisheries nor the forests and woodlands of Luapula are capable,with unmodified traditional practices, of supporting the people in asustainable manner.
Overall,people must learn to intensify and diversify their productive systems while yetensuring that these systems will remain productive in the future, when evenmore people will need food. Increasing overall production of food, though avast challenge in itself, will not be enough, however. At the same time storageand distribution systems must allow everyone access to at least
a moderate share of the total.
Questions1-4
Complete thesentences below with words taken from Reading Passage 1. Choose NO MORE THANTWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 1-4 onyour answer sheet.
1 In Luapulaland allocation is in accordance with need
2 Thecitemene system provides the land with (the) ashes where crops are planted.
3 During thesecond season, the last planted crop is (vegetable) cassava
4 Undersuitable conditions, fruit trees are planted near houses
Questions5-8
Classify thefollowing items with the correct description.
Write youranswers in boxes 5-8 on your answer sheet. A fish
B oxen
C goats
5 be used insome unusual occasions, such as celebrations. C
6 cannotthrive for being affected by the pests. B
7 be thelargest part of creating profit. A
8 be soldbeyond the local area. A
Questions9-12
Do thefollowing statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? Inboxes 9-12 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if thestatement agrees with the information
FALSE if thestatement contradicts with the information
NOT GIVEN ifthere is no information on this
9 Peoplerarely use animals to cultivate land. TRUE
10 When itis a busy time, children usually took part in the labor force.NOTGIVEN
11 The localresidents eat goats on a regular time. FALSE
12 Thoughcitemene has been a sophisticated system, it could not provide enough protein.TRUE
Questions 13
Choose thecorrect letter, A, B, C or D.
Write thecorrect letter in the box 13 on your answer sheet.
What is thewriter’s opinion about the traditional ways of practices? B
A They cansupply the nutrition that people need.
B They arenot capable of providing adequate support to the population.
C They areproductive systems that need no more improving.
D They willbe easily modified in the future
题型：判断+配对
答案：
1.need
2.the ashes
3.(vegetable) cassava
4.houses
5.C
6.B
7.A
8.A
9.TRUE
10.NOT GIVEN
11.FALSE
12.TRUE
13.B
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