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Read the following story by Pichaya Svasti from the Bangkok Post. Then, answer the questions that follow.
At Sung Men Temple in Phrae province, monks and local villagers are busy scanning the temple’s old manuscripts into a computer.
LET’S WORK TOGETHER
The same activity is happening at several temples throughout the North, including Phra That Si Chom Thong Temple in Chiang Mai and others in Lamphun and Nan.
Begun by a German professor, the efforts of digitising and conserving ancient manuscripts have caught on among the enthusiastic locals. At Monthian Temple in Nan’s Muang district, academic Somjet Wimolkasem has encouraged villagers in Ban Thung Noi to work together to conserve old palm-leaf manuscripts after a flood.
At Nam Chan Temple and Nong Nguak Temple in Chiang Mai, Direk Inchan, a researcher at Chiang Mai Rajabhat University’s Palm Leaf Studies Centre, has coordinated the conservation project by using survey and categorising forms designed by the German project. He has also supported local villagers who cleaned and wrapped old manuscripts in white cloth to conserve them.
DIGITAL AGE
These local initiatives were inspired by the Preservation of Northern Thai Manuscripts Project (PNTMP) and the subsequent digitisation of microfilm and direct digitisation of manuscripts funded by the German Foreign Office’s Cultural Preservation Programme since 1987. These projects are the fruits of over four decades of hard work by Prof Harald Hundius, the Digital Library of Northern Thai Manuscripts’ (DLNTM) local project leader.
Centuries-old manuscripts in several northern temples - including Phra Singh Temple, Chedi Luang Temple, Phra That Si Chom Thong Temple and Duang Dee Temple in Chiang Mai, as well as Sung Men Temple in Phrae and Lai Hin Temple in Lampang - have been registered and conserved. The DLNTM project was presented on March 28 this year in the presence of German ambassador Peter Prugel.
“We are very proud that with this long-time intervention by German Prof Hundius and his team, we were able to contribute to the establishment of the Digital Library of Northern Thai Manuscripts. It contains more than 6,000 formerly inaccessible documents now digitised on the Internet, so that researchers and the general public can access them from their smartphones or computers around the world,” he said.
SAVING HISTORY
The German Cultural Preservation Programme (CPP) was established in 1981 to promote the preservation of cultural heritage across the world, focusing on providing assistance to countries where there is an immediate threat to cultural property and heritage sites. The CPP has supported 2,750 projects in 144 countries with a total of about €70 million (2.7 billion baht).
Thailand has been a privileged partner of this programme on a large variety of projects, including the compilation of Lanna stone inscriptions, the restoration of Suthat Temple, the publication of traditional Thai literature, a workshop on crafting musical instruments and consultancy on ceramics pottery as well as the Ratchaburana Temple Safeguarding Project in Ayutthaya.
“The German government has been supporting the project since 2013 and we are proud to have contributed to its successful completion. It is the last chapter in a long history of German assistance in support of research and preservation of northern Thai literary heritage, beginning more than 400 years ago,” the ambassador said.
Section 1
Read through the story and answer the following multiple-choice questions.
1. What is the article about?
a. A workshop on manuscripts.
b. Preservation of manuscripts.
c. How to write manuscripts.
2. Who leads the DLNTM project?
a. Harald Hundius.
b. Peter Prugel.
c. The abbot of Sung Men Temple.
3. When was the German Cultural Preservation Programme established?
a. In 1987.
b. In 1985.
c. In 1981.
4. How many projects has the programmed supported?
a. 144 projects.
b. 2013 projects.
c. More than 2,700 projects.
5. Which of the following best describes the word “manuscript”?
a. A piece of writing inscribed on a stone.
b. A document or book written by hand before printing was invented.
c. A book containing facts about many different subjects, or containing detailed facts about one subject.
6. Which of the following isn’t mentioned in the story?
a. The establishment of the Digital Library of Northern Thai Manuscripts.
b. The fund granted by the German Cultural Preservation Programme.
c. A workshop on manuscripts founded in Germany.
7. Which of the following statements is NOT true, according to the article?
a. Germany’s government has supported the Ratchaburana Temple Safeguarding Project since 2013.
b. The CPP programme is aimed at preserving cultural heritage in Europe.
c. Somjet Wimolkasem encouraged villagers at Ban Tung Noi to conserve manuscripts after a flood.
Section 2
Specify whether each of the following words is used in the story as verb, noun, adjective or adverb.
8. pottery
…………..
9. conserve
…………..
10. literary
…………..
11. successfully
…………..
12. total
…………..
Section 3
Read the following passage. Then, fill in the blanks with the correct words from the choices given.
Harald Hundius is …..13….. with the project. “Since 1992, we …..14….. thousands of old manuscripts. Those manuscripts have been …..15….. , digitised and added to the website LannaManuscripts.net. David Wharton, the …..16….. director and manager of the project, …..17….. that the …..18….. project took 31 months …..19….. involved 6,000 manuscripts at 40 temples across the north.
13.
a. contented
b. contention
c. content
14.
a. are digitising
b. have digitised
c. digitise
15.
a. preserving
b. preserve
c. preserved
16.
a. technical
b. technically
c. technique
17.
a. recalled
b. recall
c. recalling
18.
a. recently
b. recent
c. recentness
19.
a. and
b. or
c. but
Section 4
Rearrange the following groups of words to form grammatically correct sentences in the space provided.
20. manuscripts/I/am/categorising/to/give/advice/on/willing
…………………………………………..……………………
21. The/anywhere/project/allows/people/to/Buddhism/study
…………………………………………..……………………
22. teachings/The/manuscripts/Buddha’s/contain/the/Lord
…………………………………………..……………………
23. museum/A/manuscript/will/the/opened/be/in/future
…………………………………………..……………………
24. language/The /villagers/study/the/Lanna
…………………………………………..……………………
Answers
Section 1
1. b.
2. a.
3. c.
4. c.
5. b.
6. c.
7. b.
Section 2
8. Noun.
9. Verb.
10. Adjective.
11. Adverb.
12. Noun.
Section 3
13. c.
14. b.
15. c.
16. a.
17. a.
18. b.
19. a.
Section 4
20. I am willing to give advice on categorising manuscripts.
21. The project allows people to study Buddhism anywhere.
22. The manuscripts contain the Lord Buddha’s teachings
23. A manuscript museum will be opened in the future.
24. The villagers study the Lanna language.
SCORE
21-24: Excellent!
17-20: Good.
13-16: Fair.
12 or fewer: You'll do better next time!
