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Burning boats

PHOTO: AP

It may be hard to see, but the thing in the middle of this picture is actually a ship.

This ship was not made to be taken out on the water. People built this ship just so they could burn it.

The people in this picture are from Scotland (蘇格蘭). A thousand years ago, the part of Scotland where they live used to be part of a culture that used ships like the one in this picture. These people were called Norsemen.

Today, the culture is very different. But still, every year people get together to celebrate the way they used to live. They dress like Norsemen used to dress, walk through the streets and burn a boat like this one to remember their past.

Do you know? VIKING FUNERAL A group of Norsemen, called Vikings, used to sail to far-away places on ships like this one and fight the people there for power and money. Often, when a Viking leader died, other Vikings would put his body in his ship and set fire to it. That's why these people are burning this ship.

The words of the day ship n. 船 (chuan2) culture n. 文化 (wen2 hua4) Although there are sometimes big differences between cultures, many things are the same. 雖然不同的文化有其相異處，卻也有許多相同的地方。

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