Children born into a Bushman society of South

Africa are completely dependently on their family for

food. While they are very young, their mother's milk

will be the primary mean of nourishment (营养). Later 【S1】__

their fathers, uncles, and brothers will supply them by 【S2】__

meat, and their mothers, aunts and sisters with wild

plant foods. Not until the children are five or six,

perhaps more older, will they contribute to the group's 【S3】__

subsistence(生存，口粮).

Children live in the camps of their parents until

their many. In the interim(期间) they learn the

roles which rules they must live. To survive, they must 【S4】__

listen well to the elders who have experienced nature and

their rewards and punishments. 【S5】__

Then children grow and develop. They learn that is 【S6】__

the job of the males to provide the camp with meat.

Skill in hunting is developed by children's games and by

watching and hearing to fathers and uncles. They boys 【S7】__

aslo learn that it will be their responsibility as adults

to protect their groups off the wrongdoings of other 【S8】__

groups.

The children learn that the females are the

gathers. Roots, nuts, berries, stems, and leaves are

collected and brought back for the day's meal. It is the

men who supply the camp with the majority of the food. 【S9】__

Their gathering activities account up to 80 percent of the 【S10】__

food by weight. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas gives a

vivid description of the gathering of Bushman women in

his book The harmless People.

【S1】