ZM: Kathy, would you please explain these interesting sentences?
1. For centuries in the snow-covered North, skis were needed to chase game and gather firewood in winter.
2. Because of long distances between small, isolated communities and the hard, snowy winters, skiing was an important means of keeping in social contact.
3. The word “ski’’ is a Norwegian word which comes from the Old Norse word “skid’’ — a length of split wood.
K: The first sentence tells us that hundreds of years ago, humans worked out a way to move quickly through deep snow in their efforts to hunt animals for food and gather wood to make fire for warmth and cooking.
The second sentence describes how useful skis were for traveling between communities during the snowy winters because there were no roads or because those that existed were covered with deep snow — too deep even for horses!
Sentence three indicates that the word “ski” comes from an Old Norse word “skid” which means “a length of split wood”.