2021-2022学年度高一第38期总第868期 (4版)
Age more than a number (Page 4)
吉林毓文中学  赵传彦

I. Lead-in
When is your birthday? How old are you today exactly? How do you calculate your age?
How many ways to calculate age are there in China? What about in South Korea?

II. Prediction
What will the text be about, according to the title?

Where? Why? What else does age mean?
Age more than a number
                不仅仅        数字

III. Skimming
Read the passage quickly and try to summarize the main idea of the passage.
* In South Korea, people tend to use their “social age” rather than their “legal age”, which causes problems when people interact with the government. Age is “far more important” in South Korea than elsewhere. Besides protecting minors, South Korean people talk and behave based on their age.

IV. Reading.
1. Read the text and answer the questions.
Q1: Why does this article begin with a question?
A1: In order to attract the readers’ attention and introduce the topic discussed in this article.

Q2: If you were born on Dec 31, 2005, what would your “social age” and “legal age” be on Jan 1, 2022 in South Korea?
A2: If you were born on December 31, 2005, your “social age” on Jan 1, 2022 would be 18 years old and your “legal age” would be 16 years old.

Q3: What is the relationship between the fourth and fifth paragraph?
A3: The fifth paragraph uses a quotation and an example to support the opinion in the fourth paragraph, explaining why and where “social age” causes problems when people interact with the government.
quotation, example (para 5) → opinion (para 4)

Q4: Why do people ask other people’s age when meeting them for the first time in South Korea?
A4: Besides protecting minors, South Korean people talk and behave based on their age. This includes friends and family. Every person has a specific title depending on who is oldest in a given relationship.

Q5: Is the author South Korean?
A5: No. The author taught English in South Korea.

2. Read for structure.
Divide the text into different parts.
Age more than a number
Part 1: Paras 1-2 (South Korea wants to standardize the way a person’s age is counted.)
Part 2: Para 3 (South Koreans calculate both “social age” and “legal age” .)
Part 3: Paras 4-5 (“Social age” causes problems when people interact with the government.)
Part 4: Paras 6-9 (South Korea has a unique age culture.)
Part 5: Para 10 (The new system is expected to be put into effect in a year.)

3. Read for writing
The author develops the text mainly by...
Para 1: rhetorical question
Para 3, 5: examples

V. Language study.
Can you translate the following expressions into Chinese?
1. additionally                此外
2. due to                      由于
3. economic costs            经济成本
4. a simple fix                一个简单的解决方案
5. based on                    基于……
6. depend on                    取决于……
7. in a given relationship        在一段指定的关系里

VI. Culture.
In fact, there are three age calculation methods in South Korea. In addition to social age and legal age, there is a third method.
The process involves adding another year to a person's age on New Year's Day, regardless of their actual birthday, while also considering a person to be "zero years old" at birth.
除了“韩国年龄”计算体系和国际公认的根据生日来计算年龄的方法，韩国人还有第三种计算年龄的方式。按照这种计算方式，一个人无论何时过生日，在新年第一天就会增加一岁，但是出生时算作“0岁”。
这三种体系并存在本质上意味着一个在2020年12月出生的人从严格意义上来讲将有三种不同年龄。根据“韩国年龄”体系这个人现在是3岁，按照国际年龄计算体系这个人是1岁，而按照韩国的第三种年龄计算方法这个人是2岁。

The three co-existing age-counting systems led to an administrative debacle in which people who did not meet the required age to get their COVID-19 jabs were still required to show proof of vaccination.
这三种并存的年龄计算方式引发了行政管理危机，有一些没有达到接种新冠疫苗年龄标准的人仍被要求出示疫苗接种证明。

Age culture in Korea
This is a kind of "social contract", which can reflect the order of honor, social status and intimacy between speakers of different ages.
这是一种“社会契约”，通过年龄可以体现出说话人之间的尊卑顺序、社会地位、亲疏程度。

VII. Discussion.
What is your attitude toward this policy?
It is a good thing.
There will not be much change, especially for the Korean culture of "ranking by age".
Changing the way ages is calculated may also change people’s titles in relationships, or confusions may arise.