This material is taken from a brochure of a youth hostel (青年旅社) at Oxford, UK.

“Have you checked the oil in the car, Ted?” my father used to say to me. Sometimes our phone calls would begin and end with an only inquiry(询问) about the oil, without asking anything else. Fathers have lots of love to give, but it’s often provided through useful advice. In my experience, it’s mostly about the car.

Why can’t fathers just say “I love you” or “It’s great to see you”? Why can’t the sentences “I care about you” and “You made my life better from the moment you were born” be heard? Because fathers tend to express their true feelings indirectly. You just have to understand the language—Fatherlish(父亲式语言).

When I was 17 years old, I went on my first road trip in that old car. My father stood on the corner on a cold early morning to say goodbye. “Roads are dangerous,” he said, “so don’t try driving faster than a horse. And remember to take a break every two hours. And every time you stop for gas, you really should check the oil.” At the time I thought his speech was pretty funny and old.

Dad’s long gone now. But after all these years, I realize that if I had owned a copy of the Fatherlish-to-English dictionary, I would have understood that the speech that I always laughed at was simply Dad’s way to express love and care.

Chinese ancient poetry was the heart and soul of Chinese ancient literature. Poems and songs have been the means of entertainment of men from the earliest times. Chinese ancient poetry was primarily written to be chanted or sung.

The poetic persona (表面形象) is a feature of classical Chinese poetry. The persona appears when the poem is written from the viewpoint of some other person. Some poems are comments on the contemporary society and life. Chinese ancient poems, although apparently simple in the first reading, have deeper and greater meanings when read intensively.

The earliest Chinese ancient poetry begins with The Book of Songs which is a collection of 305 poems. It was the first comprehensive compilation(辑)of Chinese ancient poems. Each poem in The Book of Songs was set to music and could be sung. Folk songs made up the most part of the book! Confucius, the great ancient philosopher, was fond of this book. It was also the accepted textbook of the Confucian school.

Chinese poetic history is extremely long and colorful. The Tang dynasty, the golden age of Chinese ancient poetry, produced many famous poems. Three Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty, was compiled by Heng Tang Tui Shi(蘅塘退士) of the Qing dynasty. This was used for very many years to teach primary students.

Almost everything is the subject of Chinese ancient poetry including marriage, agriculture, courtship(求爱), sorrow and joys, romance, heroic deeds and so on. Generally, each poem is usually composed of lines of four, five or seven syllables. Translations of Chinese ancient poems are available in books and also online. Now these beautiful poems have attracted readers all over the world.

A new study suggests some of America’s favorite Independence Day fireworks can give out lead and copper (铜), which are used to give fireworks their vivid colors, and also damage human cells and animal lungs.

Led by researchers at NYU, the study showed poisonous levels of lead in the fireworks. Experiments showed that lung exposure to particle emissions (颗粒排放物) from five types of fireworks significantly increased oxidation (氧化), a chemical process in the body that can damage or even kill cells.

The researchers say the new study is believed to be the first to examine the effects of firework exposure in human cells and living animals, and to test for particles of common firework metals thrown into the atmosphere.

“While many are careful to protect themselves from injury from explosions, our results suggest that inhaling firework smoke may cause, longer-term physical damage, a risk that has been largely ignored,” says study senior author Terry Gordon, a professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine.

Gordon and his team also analyzed 14 air quality samples taken at dozens of sites across the US throughout each year. They found that levels of poisonous metals were higher in samples taken on Independence Day and New Year’s Eve celebrations than at any other time of the year. Along with lead, copper and other poisonous metals are commonly found in fireworks. “Our research shows that although we are only exposed to these poisonous substances for a short time each year, they are much more poisonous than the pollutants we breathe every day,” says Gordon.

Gordon cautions (警告) that the current investigation is the first step, only addressing the potential effects of one-time exposure to the firework metals. He says repeated exposure is likely a larger concern. Nevertheless, he is planning to share his findings with local health officials, firework producers, the Environmental Protection Agent, and other regulatory agents to alert them to the potential for harm.

Learn how to improve spoken English with our five quick tips.

Repeat the language!

Repeat words and sentences over and over again until you can say them really fluently.     16    The more you say it, the more it becomes fixed in your brain, and then later when you’re speaking, it’ll come out naturally.

    17    

First, write out in note form the story you want to tell, and then using those notes, practise telling the story. Now this story could be something that happened to you or from a magazine. Just choose whatever you want, and practise telling it.

Memorise language!

    18     You can do this by writing them out, or by speaking them out loud so that you’ll be speaking normally.

And the more you do this, the more they’ll stick in your mind.

Simultaneous (同步的) speaking!

Simultaneous speaking--it sounds difficult but it’s quite easy. And it’s something as easy as, you take an audio file(音频文件), and you listen along to it, and as you listen to it, you read it at the same time.     19     So, you’re trying to copy the intonation (语调), the pronunciation, the word stress(重音), and the sentence stress.

Practise forming questions!

Look at a sentence and see if you can change that into a question.    20    So, for example, when seeing the sentence, “She’s seen the film,” you need to change it into the question, “Has she seen the film?” And the more you do this, the more fluent and quicker you’ll get at making questions.

While I was riding bike, I noticed a man about a half mile in front of me. He was traveling at a lower speed. I decided to _________ him. I had about one mile to go on the road before turning around.

I started to ride faster, and every block, I _________ closed the distance. Finally, I _________ him and passed him. He was not even _________ that we were in a race, but I felt like a _________.

After 1 made it, I _________ that I had been so focused on competing against him that 1 had _________ my turn, and that I had gone nearly six blocks past it and had to turn around.

Isn’t that what _________ in life? We spend most of our time competing with neighbors, friends and family, trying to beat them or trying to be more _________ than them—while in fact there was __________ a competition.

We spend most of our time and energy competing with others instead of reaching our __________, and we miss out on our own paths to our destinies(命运) as a result.

__________ competition is a continuous process, a never-ending cycle a race of life. No matter what you do, someone will always be __________ you: someone with a better job. a nicer car and more money.

Feel __________ for what life has offered you. Stay focused on your __________ and live a healthy life. There is no competition in destiny. Run your own race of life and wish others well!

The tea egg is boiled with tea and marinade (卤汁). It is one of     36     most famous snacks in China, especially in Nan Jing, the capital of Jiangsu Province. However,     37    （it）exact origin is unknown.

Tea eggs are fresh-cooked and sold and they can be     38     (easy) found in streets and alleys, so you can enjoy them at any time. Tea eggs taste really delicious with various seasonings (调料)     39     them.

The time of     40     (boil) has a strong influence on the flavor. Ancient Chinese people    41    (believe) that “the time for burning four sticks of incense (香)”，meaning four hours a day, would be the perfect time     42     (make) delicious tea eggs. However, there are no such rules today as there are more changeable factors today.

During the Spring Festival, some families will prepare a lot of tea eggs. At this time, these tea eggs    43    (call) “ingot eggs ” by old people. When Chinese people visit     44     (relative) and friends, they will be given two tea eggs,     45     means “wish you a great new year.”

I’m glad to receive your letter asking for my advice on learning Chinese.

Best wishes!

Yours,

Li Hua