Ray Tokuda, a 54-year-old Japanese American, is proud of the title his school has given him. He is a Shifu, a Chinese word literally meaning a master, mentor or senior practioner of martial arts.
Tokuda has reason to be proud. He has been involved with Chinese martial arts for almost four decades. After learning them at the martial arts school in New Mexico State, today he is among the most experienced kung fu teachers of the school.
Practicing martial arts two to three hours and helping students improve their skills have become Tokuda’s daily routine. He expects to practice and teach martial arts for the rest of his life. “I’m still learning. It’s worth more than a lifetime to learn Chinese martial arts,” he said. “Once I started, I just couldn’t stop. I think it’s also the magic of Chinese culture.”
Tokuda was sent to the martial arts school when he was 10. He still remembers how unwilling he was when starting out. “My father had always wanted to learn Chinese martial arts but never got the chance, so he put his kid in,” he said. “I was so afraid at that time because I thought kung fu was all about fighting.”
But things changed after he learned that martial arts were more than punching and kicking.
“One of the things martial arts teach me is overcoming adversity,” Tokuda said. “As a little kid, my first lesson was like, oh, look, this is a thing that I can get through by diligence, perseverance(毅力) and dedication, and that was priceless for my life.”
Learning Chinese martial arts opened a gateway for him to better understand Chinese culture because he could hear a lot of ancient Chinese kung fu-related stories. “It is like in America, where we hear stories about knights in shining armor and King Arthur and noble deeds done,” he said. “I feel martial arts preserve something of ancient China that can’t be found in books. They are sort of an oral history.”
Tokuda has also been invited to various events in his home state to showcase traditional Chinese culture, including the dragon dance and lion dance, which he also learnt at the martial arts school. Because of this, he is now considered a cultural envoy (使者) in the eyes of the public.
1. Tokuda didn’t want to learn kung fu because he had thought it was ________.| A．practical | B．magical |
| C．violent | D．difficult |
| A．He learnt martial arts from his father. |
| B．He is the founder of the kung fu school. |
| C．He learnt from martial arts how to deal with difficulties. |
| D．He is the most experienced kung fu teacher of his state. |
| A．Modest and friendly. | B．Devoted and persevering. |
| C．Talented and humorous. | D．Motivated and considerate. |
相似题推荐
Theater was reborn as liturgical（礼拜式的）dramas. It was written in Latin and dealing with biblical（圣经）stories which would be performed by church members. Then there came local dramas spoken in common language not Latin. They were more wonderful one-act dramas taking place in town squares or other parts of the city. There were three types of local dramas. Mystery or cycle plays were short dramas based on biblical stories organized into historical cycles. Miracle plays dealt with the lives of the great. Morality（道德的）plays taught a lesson through characters standing for good or bad qualities.
1. According to the passage, what does "secular plays" mean here?
| A．Plays that deal with the lives of the great. |
| B．Plays that taught a lesson. |
| C．Plays based on biblical stories. |
| D．Plays that are not connected with the church. |
| A．People were not interested in them any longer. |
| B．The church was not as important as what it had been. |
| C．People liked new plays. |
| D．The stories of religious theatres were outdated. |
| A．People preferred religious theatres to other ones. |
| B．There were no other types of theatres. |
| C．The church played an important part in people’s life. |
| D．The quality of religious theatres was better than that of other theatres. |
| A．European dramas |
| B．Religious dramas |
| C．Religious theatres in the Middle Ages |
| D．Secular dramas in the Middle Ages |
【推荐2】“From wearing silly clothes to holding funny ceremonies, such seemingly bizarre rituals (仪式) can be seen everywhere, and most of them do not seem to serve any obvious purpose,” Dimitris Xygalatas writes at the beginning of his new book Rituals: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living.
Then why are humans still in love with such rituals?
Some of them are intended to unify the participants. The goose steps practised by the soldiers all around the world area great example. When we all perform the same actions in a predictable way, as rituals often require, it can create a sense of togetherness and cooperation, which maybe a matter of life and death in the face of danger.
Many rituals originated when humans started living in ever bigger groups, which exposed them to all kinds of violence, disasters and diseases. To prevent such risks from occurring, humans created various rituals. In regions where violence was common and the threat of disaster and disease was high, societies tended to emphasize strict ritualized behaviors, such as body-washing and sexual purity. Of course, not all of them were effective because they didn’t always understand what was causing the risks they were trying to control.
Most of the rituals just provide psychological comfort. Earlier this month, people around the world participated in one of humankind’s largest gathering to celebrate the New Year. The rituals included fireworks, gifts as well as some practices unique to specific cultures, such as cooking black-eyed peas and greens in the southeastern United States, or eating a grape with each midnight clock strike in Spain. In the face of uncertainty, such rituals give the participants some kind of control, which helps boost confidence and reduce anxiety.
However, the variety of rituals can also separate people, particularly when the valued practices of one culture strike another as strange and can not be clearly explained. “So here’s the surprising lesson we have to learn from such seemingly senseless rituals: Do in Rome as the Romans do since working isn’t the real point,” concludes Dimitris Xygalatas.
1. What does the underlined word “bizarre” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Difficult. | B．Strange. | C．Wonderful. | D．Effective. |
| A．Stressing pure sexual relationship. | B．Practising goose steps in the army. |
| C．Eating grapes on New Year’s Eve. | D．Washing hands before religious rituals. |
| A．Respecting them. | B．Just following the effective ones. |
| C．Reducing the variety. | D．Introducing better replacements. |
| A．To argue against Dimitris Xygalatas. | B．To review a recently published book. |
| C．To show the side effects of some rituals. | D．To explain the origins and impacts of rituals. |
【推荐3】Peace Symbols
The concept of peace is very important in cultures all over the world. There are certain symbols that people in different cultures recognize as representing peace. Let's look at the origins of a few of them.
The dove
The dove has been a symbol of peace for thousands of years in many different cultures. In ancient Greek mythology, it was a symbol of love and the renewal of life. In ancient Japan a dove carrying a sword symbolized the end of war. There was a tradition in Europe that if a dove flew around a house where someone was dying, their soul would then be at peace. But it was Pablo Picasso who made the dove a modern symbol of peace when he used it on a poster for the World Peace Congress in 1949.
The rainbow
The rainbow is another ancient and universal symbol, often representing the connection between human beings and their gods. In Greek mythology, it was associated with Iris, the goddess who brought messages from the gods on Mount Olympus. In Chinese tradition, the rainbow is a common symbol for marriage because the colors represent the union of yin and yang. Nowadays the rainbow is used by many popular movements for peace and the environment.
Mistletoe
The plant generally represents peace and love in many cultures. The well-known tradition of kissing under the mistletoe at Christmas time probably comes from Scandinavian mythology. The goddess Freya's son was killed by an arrow made of mistletoe. So, in honor of him, she declared that it would always be a symbol of peace. It was often hung in doorways as a sign of friendship.
The olive branch
No one knows for sure when or why it began to symbolize peace. There is a connection with ancient Greece. Wars between states were stopped during the Olympic Games, and the winners were given crowns of olive branches. Whatever the history, the olive branch is a part of many modern flags symbolizing peace and unity. One well-known example is the United Nations symbol.
1. How many peace symbols mentioned have a Greek origin?| A．1 | B．2 | C．3 | D．4 |
| A．The dove. | B．The rainbow. |
| C．Mistletoe. | D．The olive branch. |
| A．It was a symbol of love and marriage. |
| B．It was on the flag of the United Nations. |
| C．A famous artist painted it for a global event. |
| D．A goddess used it as a way to memorize her son. |
