第3章 Lesson 3 The Truth About Vikings

When most people think about Vikings, they probably imagine scruffy, violent, blond giants wearing helmets with two horns. However, that's not what Vikings were really like — it's just a stereotype. In fact, historians say that Vikings were almost the opposite of what we thought they were like.

One notable difference is that Vikings didn't wear horned helmets. There is no evidence of any such helmets, and the only Viking helmet ever found did not have horns. Horned helmets were worn by Norse and Germanic priests, but they predated the Vikings by centuries.

Vikings were also not dirty or smelly. Archaeologists have found many personal hygiene implements which belonged to Vikings. These include tweezers, razors, combs, and ear cleaners. Vikings also apparently bathed at least once a week, which is more than other Europeans of the same period.

Furthermore, the main occupation of Vikings wasn't sailing off to war, but rather farming! They grew barley, rye, and oats, and raised cattle, goats, pigs, and sheep on small, family farms.

Finally, although we tend to think of the Vikings as one society, they were not. It simply refers to the Scandinavian people who went overseas. There were, in fact, many different tribes of people living on the land that we now know as Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. And these various tribes sometimes fought against each other.

I. Word List

scruffy: messy, not clean

stereotype: an idea that many people have about a group that is often wrong, or only partly true

predated: came before

occupation: job

tribes: groups of related people

II. Answer the following questions.

1. What are some stereotypes about Vikings?

___________________________________________________________.

2. How do we know that the stereotypes about Vikings are mostly wrong?

___________________________________________________________.

3. Where do the Vikings live?

___________________________________________________________.

4. What are some stereotypes that you know about another group of people?

___________________________________________________________.

5. Do you think stereotypes can hurt people? How?

___________________________________________________________.

III. True or False—Read these sentences carefully. Write T (true) or F (false) for each one.

___ 1. Vikings refers to one group of people.

___ 2. Vikings are not European.

___ 3. The stereotypes about Vikings are mostly correct.

___ 4. Vikings never wore helmets.

___ 5. Vikings were all from one country.

IV. Fill in the blanks—Read these sentences carefully. Complete the sentences with words from the reading.

1. The main job of Vikings was f _ _ _ _ _ _.

2. Vikings did not wear h _ _ _ _ _ helmets.

3. Vikings b _ _ _ _ _ about once a week.

4. Vikings are S _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ people.

5. Some Vikings are from D _ _ _ _ _ _.