The Art of Paper
Chen Zijiang is a paper-cutting expert whom I interviewed for my article on Chinese Art. Paper-cutting is something that he learned to do from an early age.
"It is a Chinese folk art with a long history," Mr. Chen told me, "Paper cuts of animals have been found in tombs(坟墓).
Paper cuts for decoration are often seen on windows and gates.
Paper cuts for religious purposes are often found in temples.
The third kind of paper cuts are those used to make patterns on clothing. They are also sometimes used to decorate jewellery boxes.
| A．They are usually put up during holidays to bring good luck. |
| B．They are also used as offerings to the dead. |
| C．Dragons are very popular patterns for these designs. |
| D．They can date back to the time of the Northern and Southern Dynasty. |
| E．Mr. Chen went on to explain that there are three types of paper cuts which people still make. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】In general, the more Westernized (西方化的) the place is, the more likely you will be expected to leave a tip (小费). To make your trip a little easier, here’s a guide to tipping across some Asian countries.
Bangkok If you’re staying at one of Bangkok’s five-star hotels, you should tip the porter (行李员) 20 to 50 baht (泰国货币单位), depending on how many bags you have. Taxis are now metered in Bangkok. Local custom is to round the fare (车费) up to the nearest five baht. |
Hong Kong If the service is good, add another 10% to the bill, up to HK $100 in an especially nice restaurant. For HK $10 hotel porters should do it at all but the nicest hotels where a new HK $20 bill may be more acceptable. When in a taxi, round up (凑整数) to the nearest dollar. |
Kuala Lumpur If you are at a hotel restaurant, expect a 10% service charge. But at local restaurants, there’s no need to add a tip. At five-star hotels, one or two ringgit (马来西亚货币单位) will content a porter. Like Bangkok, many taxis are now metered so you can just round up to the nearest ringgit. |
Seoul If you’re at a Korean barbecue joint (烧烤处), there’s no need to add anything extra. But a nice Italian restaurant may require a 10% contribution. If you’re at a top-end hotel, so expect to pay 500～1000 won per bag. Taxi drivers don’t accept a tip. Keep the change for yourself. |
| A．Bangkok. | B．Hong Kong. | C．Kuala Lumpur. | D．Seoul. |
| A．charge | B．baht | C．won | D．ringgit |
| A．Hong Kong | B．the west | C．Asian countries | D．Bangkok |
| A．10% of service charge. | B．One ringgit. | C．Half a ringgit. | D．Two ringgit. |
| A．to tell the readers how to travel | B．to ask the readers to go on a travel to Asian cities |
| C．to give the readers some advice on how to tip | D．to make the trip more pleasant |
【推荐2】Different cultures have different ideas about why people catch colds. For example, in the United States, some people think that you can catch a cold if your feet get cold. So, mothers tell children to wear warm boots in the winter. In other places, including parts of the Middle East, some people believe that strong winds cause colds. So, on trains and buses, people usually don’t like to sit next to open windows. In parts of Europe, some people think that wearing wet clothes will give you a cold. They say that after you go swimming. you should quickly put on dry clothes.
Today, scientists know that colds are caused by a virus (病毒). But the old ideas are still very strong, and many people still follow them to avoid (避免) getting ill.
1. In the United States, people think you can catch a cold if ________.| A．you wear wet clothes | B．you sit next to the window |
| C．your feet get cold | D．you go swimming in summer |
| A．Bad food | B．Wet clothes | C．A virus | D．Strong winds |
| A．scientists | B．old ideas | C．colds | D．dry clothes |
| A．You should take of your health in winter. |
| B．Colds are the biggest health problem in the world. |
| C．Some people think that strong winds cause colds. |
| D．People still believe old ideas about why they catch colds. |
| A．There are many different ideas about how people catch colds. |
| B．Scientists don’t know how people catch colds. |
| C．Some people think that wearing wet clothes gives you a cold. |
| D．In the US, many children wear boots in winter. |
【推荐3】The Richmond family left their home in Cardiff two years ago. They went to live in Los Angeles. We asked them about the differences between their old life in Britain and their new life in the USA.
When we lived in Cardiff, I used to go to work by bus, and the kids used to walk to school. Now we go everywhere by car. Mrs. Richmond |
I didn’t use to be interested in baseball, but everyone is crazy about it here. I used to be a football fan, but now I watch baseball every Saturday. Mr. Richmond |
In Britain, we used to wear a school uniform. We don’t have to wear uniform here. It’s great. What else is different? Well, I didn’t use to swim much, but the weather is better here so I often go swimming now. And I never went roller-blading(轮滑), but it’s really popular here. Holly, aged 13 |
I used to think the English language was the same everywhere. But it isn’t. For example, I used to wear trainers(运动鞋). Here I wear sneakers. We used to eat biscuits. Now we eat cookies. Crisps are called potato chips in the USA and chips are called fries. Seb, aged 15 |
1. What does the underlined word “ it” refer to?
| A．Baseball. | B．Basketball. | C．Football. | D．Swimming. |
| A．She often went swimming in Cardiff. |
| B．She dislikes wearing school uniforms. |
| C．Roller-blading is very popular in Cardiff. |
| D．The weather in Cardiff is better than that in Los Angeles. |
| A．clothes | B．food | C．sports | D．language |
【推荐1】More than 2,000 years ago, Emperor ( 皇 帝 ) Wu's favourite wife of the Han Dynasty died of illness. The emperor missed her so much that he didn't want to do anything. One day, a minister (大臣) saw children playing with dolls. The shadows on the floor were interesting. The smart minister had an idea. He made a puppet of the emperor's favourite wife and painted it. As night fell, he asked the emperor to watch a puppet show behind a curtain. The emperor was very happy and became interested in it. In this way, puppet shows began.
Shadow puppets were first made of paper, later from the hides of donkeys (驴皮). That's why their Chinese name is pi ying. Shadow puppet plays were very popular during the Tang and Song dynasties in many parts of China.
Today, shadow puppet plays face extinction like other traditional art forms such as Nuo Drama. We should do something to protect them. Shadow puppet plays in Shaanxi are the most famous. The Academy Gate Cultural Street in Xi'an is a wonderful place for you to buy shadow puppets. There you can choose from hundreds of figures (人物) in different sizes and poses (姿势).
1. What or who helped the minister have the idea of shadow puppets?| A．His wife's painting. | B．A movie behind a curtain. |
| C．The shadows of some trees. | D．Children playing with dolls. |
| A．To make the emperor happy. | B．To remember Emperor Wu. |
| C．To celebrate New Year. | D．To make his life interesting. |
| A．will save | B．will disappear | C．will begin | D．will be popular |
| A．Make their own shadow puppets. | B．Enjoy the delicious traditional food. |
| C．Buy shadow puppets. | D．Know more traditional art forms. |
| A．To let us enjoy shadow puppet plays. | B．To show what shadow puppets were made of. |
| C．To show how shadow puppets were made. | D．To introduce an ancient Chinese art form. |
【推荐2】The Forbidden City（紫禁城）, or the Palace Museum, has been considered a great old museum for a long time.
Since 2007, the Palace Museum has come up with more than 9,600 products. The products include notebooks with embroidery（刺绣）covers and dolls of emperors and empresses（皇后）.
Besides the products, the Palace Museum also created an app called A Day of an Emperor.
Several years ago, a documentary（纪录片）called Masters in Forbidden City became popular online.
根据材料内容，从下面五个选项中选出能填入文中空缺处的最佳选项，使短文意思通顺、内容完整。
| A．The products can bring much profit（利润）. |
| B．It is such an interesting app that it has lots of users. |
| C．In China, some other museums also learned from the Palace Museum. |
| D．Lots of people enjoy watching the documentary, especially the young people. |
| E．Nowadays, the Palace Museum has designed some cultural and creative products. |
【推荐3】There is a Chinese saying that says, “The whole year’s work depends on a good start in spring”. There are 24 solar terms(节气) in a year, including 6 solar terms in spring.
Start of Spring | On this day, Chinese people have a custom of “biting(咬) spring”. Usually they eat carrots or spring cakes. |
Rain Water | With its arrival, the temperature rises slowly, wild geese move from south to north and trees and grass turn green again. |
Insects Awaken | After it, insects sleeping in winter are awakened by spring thunder. It’s the key time for spring farming activities. |
Spring Equinox | It signals the equal length of the day and night time. Standing an egg upright is a popular game during it. |
Pure Brightness | It is the only solar term which is also a traditional Chinese festival—Qingming Festival. Sweeping tombs and flying kites are common activities during it. |
Grain Rain | It is the last solar term of spring. With the rain, all the crops are starting to grow. In southern China, people drink tea on this day to prevent bad luck. |
| A．Start of Spring | B．Rain Water | C．Insects Awaken |
| A．Biting spring. | B．Standing eggs. | C．Sweeping tombs. |
| A．All Chinese people drink tea on this day. |
| B．It is the last solar term of a year. |
| C．It is a time for crops to grow. |
【推荐1】We’ve talked about snails (蜗牛)and their slow move. But much of the time snails don’t move at all. They are in their shells —sleeping.
Hot sun will dry out a snail’s body. So at the least sign of hot sun, a snail draws its body into his shell. A snail will die in a heavy rain. So when it rains, a snail does the same thing, too. A snail can sleep for as long as it needs to. It spends all the winter months in its shell, asleep.
In the spring the snail wakes up. Its body, about three inches long, comes out from the shell. When hungry, the snail looks for food. Its eyes, at the end of the top feelers, are very weak. But its sense of smell is very strong. It helps the snail to find food and the new greens.
A snail’s mouth is no bigger than the point of a pin. Yet it has 256, 000 teeth! The teeth are very small, and you can’t see them. If you put a snail in a hard paper box, it will eat its way out! And if a snail wears out its teeth, it will grow new ones.
1. In the sentence “A snail draws its body into its shell”, the word “draw” means ________.| A．to make with a pencil | B．to push | C．to pull | D．to move away |
| A．it feels hungry | B．it is put into a paper box | C．spring is coming | D．it rains heavily |
| A．In winter the snail doesn’t eat or move. | B．A snail doesn’t like living under the sun. |
| C．The snail’s teeth can’t be worn out. | D．The snail’s nose helps to find food. |
【推荐2】The Chinese animated film Ne Zha was a dark horse in the film industry in 2019. It broke the opening day record for a Chinese animated film with 138.5 million yuan and earned a total of more than 5 billion yuan, beating Kung Fu Panda 3 to become the highest-earning Chinese animated film of all time.
Different from the classics
Ne Zha often appears in Chinese legends(传奇) and literature(文学) including Journey to the West, one of the four classics of Chinese literature. Yet the new Ne Zha in the film is quite different from the traditional one we learned before.
In 1979, Ne Zha first appeared on the screen. He was good-looking with arrow-shaped eyebrows and large bright eyes and tried to help others without asking for anything in return. Yet in the new animated film, the character has gaps in his teeth and dark circles under his eyes. He makes everything in a mess and always causes trouble.
The film has a score of 8.7 out of 10 on Douban(豆瓣) , making it the highest-scored Chinese animated film in the past thirty years.
Echoes(共鸣) of real life
In the film, Ne Zha is reincarnated(转世) as a demon(恶魔) by mistake. From the very day he is born, people live in fear of the child and require his father to kill him to stop him from causing disasters. Luckily, his parents choose to protect him.
The director Yang Yu said he hopes the film can encourage people to take control of their lives and change people’s bias (偏见) towards them, just like what Ne Zha does in the film. “You are the one to say what kind of person you are. It all depends on the choices that you make, rather than believing so-called destiny.” Ne Zha says in the film.
Unlike other works about Ne Zha, his parents try to love and protect him in the film. This may be the main reason why the film has attracted so many audiences.
With the development of the animation industry in China, more and more young people like Chinese animated films.
1. The underlined word “one” in Paragraph 2 refers to ________.| A．literature | B．journey | C．film | D．Ne Zha |
| A．Ne Zha is loved by everyone when he is born. |
| B．Ne Zha believes he himself can control his life. |
| C．Ne Zha is good-looking with two large bright eyes. |
| D．Ne Zha helps others without asking for anything in return. |
| A．it got the highest score on Douban |
| B．it beat Kong Fu Panda 3 to earn 5 billion yuan |
| C．his parents’ love and protection made people moved |
| D．Na Zha’s appearance was quite different from the old one |
| A．To introduce the animation industry. |
| B．To show different opinions on Ne Zha. |
| C．To explain why the animated film Ne Zha was so popular. |
| D．To compare two films, Ne Zha 1979 and Na Zha 2019. |
【推荐3】Being trapped in an elevator(电梯)can be one of the worst experiences of one’s life. Some people who have such experiences may be afraid to use elevator again. In fact, there are some useful tips to follow when people are in trouble with the elevator.
First, take deep breaths and keep calm. Too much fear will add to your panic(恐慌) and make you too nervous to think clearly. Tell yourself to be patient and believe that nothing is impossible.
Secondly, use the emergency(急救) call inside the elevator or your mobile phone to let people outside know your are struck in the elevator. There is an emergency call on the wall of each elevator. You may use your mobile phone to give light and find it. The phone number can be found around it.
Thirdly, putting op messages on Wechat(微信) is also a good idea to allow more people to find you are in need of help. If help hasn’t come, knock the door to get attention from other people in the building.
Fourthly, move less and try to relax. Even if the workers have known your situation, it may take them a long time to repair the elevator and bring you back to safety. Instead of keeping moving all the time, you are advised to keep still and relax yourself as much as possible, or you will make yourself tired out. Make sure that you are fine when the door is open.
1. According to the passage, when in trouble with an elevator, you should ________ first.| A．shout out for help | B．do nothing but wait | C．Keep calm and think clearly | D．try to break the door open |
| A．tired | B．kept | C．trapped | D．troubled |
| A．their situations can be known by more people | B．they can spend their time easily |
| C．they can become less nervous | D．they can make more friends |
| A．you may fall asleep | B．you may become very tired | C．you may feel bored | D．you may feel lonely |
| A．To introduce hoe to use an elevator. | B．To tell us an elevator often goes wrong. |
| C．To warn us not to take an elevator. | D．To teach us how to save ourselves when trapped in an elevator. |
