I came to China as an exchange student in 2008. I have worked in China for six years. Now I am ________ in Chinese culture.

I fell in love with it all by accident. One day, I saw some people writing Chinese characters with ink brushes. It was so amazing. Later I came to ________ many Chinese calligraphers, such as Wang Xizhi of the Jin Dynasty.

I joined a ________ class four years ago. The teacher showed me many of his calligraphy(书法) works. I told myself that I would ________ hard and try to become as good as him.

At first, I followed the teacher carefully. As soon as the teacher wrote a character, I ________ one. Before long I could write many characters. I was happy and believed that I have the ________ to learn the Chinese calligraphy well.

However, the teacher pointed out a problem in my calligraphy. He told me that Chinese calligraphy is a (n) ________ that comes from the heart and is not just about copying. He said that the ________ of doing it well is that the writer should think carefully about what he wants to show before writing.

I’m not sure if I ________ understood the teacher. But ________, I have spent a lot of time thinking and practising. I hope one day I can know the essence(精华) of Chinese calligraphy.

In 1977, Greg Pearson was 19 years old. He lived in Los Angeles with his parents and two brothers and studied at California State University.

One day, while riding his bike, he was hit by a car. When he woke up in hospital, his family found that he had lost his memory. He couldn’t recognize his parents, his brothers or his girlfriend, Nina.

Everyone was worried and wondered how come he couldn’t remember anything. What was worse, his girlfriend left him. Greg’s parents were sad. Before the accident, Greg could speak English, French and even a little bit of Spanish（西班牙语）. After the accident, he could speak only English. Unluckily, even his English wasn’t as good as it used to be. There was one thing, however, that Greg did not forget— his favorite basketball. He was a great player on the university basketball team. After the accident, he couldn’t recognize the other players or his coach（教练）but he knew all the skills.

Today, Greg still remembers almost nothing about his life before the accident. But he thinks he should look forward to the future. Now he lives in New York with his wife, Linda, and their three children. He works as the basketball coach of a local team and enjoys every minute of his life.

Do you know any left-handers? Their special day is on August 13th. It is the International Left-Handers Day! Only about 10 percent of people are left-handers.

Why are some people left-handed?

Scientists are still looking for the answer. DNA might be one reason. The second reason is how people hold and throw things at an early age. This can also affect (影响) people’s later hand use. Another reason may be that some people might hurt their right hand. Then they begin to use their left hand more often.

Some people say left-handers are smarter than right-handers. Is it true?

Scientists say that left-handers don’t have higher IQs than right-handers. They just use different sides of their brain. As study shows, the left side of our brain is good at language and writing. While the right side of our brain is good at creativity and feelings.

Some Dutch scientists did over 30 studies which included over half a million people. They found there was no connection between handedness (用手习惯) and language ability. Moreover, right-handers do have better space ability than left-handers.

Another recent study on tens of thousands of people. Actually found that left-handedness was more common among people with very low IQ.

The history of books is very interesting. In ancient times, there were no books, and people passed on their knowledge by telling stories.     26    With paper, people began to write down their stories. They wrote each word by hand.     27    

Then printing appeared and changed the world. With modern technology, it was possible to print books quickly.     28    

Recently, computers and the Internet have changed the world again. Information travels faster and farther. A new kind of book appeared： the electronic book（e-book）. E-books are quickly changing people’s reading habits.     29     More and more people like reading online.

    30     No matter what you have, a computer, a tablet, a laptop, an e-reader or a real book, keep on reading!

46. 假如你是李华，你班的外国交流生David询问你学好中文的方法。请你根据以下提示写一篇短文，给 David 提供你的建议。

I’m very glad that you’re interested in learning Chinese. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I hope my suggestions will help you learn Chinese well.