Stories and Art of Chinese Fans

    You may think you cannot live through summer without air conditioners. But in ancient China, hand fans were almost the only ones to help people keep cool.

    Chinese people started to use hand fans over 2,000 years ago. The fans came in different shapes, such as round and square. They were also made from a11 kinds of materials. Palm leaf fans were cheap and easy to make. Feather fans(羽毛扇) showed the owner's high status. Sandalwood(檀香)fans could send out a sweet smell.

    Later, hand fans became far more than just something that could cool you down. They developed into art works, in which tuanshan (round fans)and zheshan(folded fans)were the most common.

    In the shape of a full moon, tuanshan was usually made of silk. They had beautiful birds and flowers on them. Women especially those in the imperial palace(皇宫),liked to use them. Meanwhile, men, especially the literati(文人), used zheshan. The literati liked them because zheshan were usually made of paper and they could paint and write poems on them. It was a way for them to show off their ability in literature, painting and handwriting. Almost anything can be painted on zheshan.

    Today, Chinese people still use these fans, only not many people write or paint on them any more. Next time when you are waving a fan, you may think of the stories behind it.

    There was a little boy with a bad temper(脾气). His father gave him some nails(钉子)to drive into the fence(栅栏)when he lost his temper.

    The first day the boy drove 37 nails into the fence. Then it began to become less. He found it was easier to control his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

    Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy should now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to control his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

    The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but you look at the fence. It will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar(伤痕)just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound(伤口)is still there. A verbal(言语)wound is as bad as a physical one. It is important to practise self-control.

    Students generally find it difficult to prepare for a speaking test because they have nobody to practise    (A)    or correct their mistakes. But that doesn't mean you can't test yourself.

    Whether you're taking an end-of-course test or an official (官方 ) exam like PET or IELTS, there's one great tool you can use: your mobile phone. Nearly every smartphone these days has an inbuilt recording feature (内置录音功能) which you can use to test your speaking skills. You can record yourself speaking, play the recording back, and correct your own mistakes.

    I practised this way in Italian. I chose some speaking questions from PET and did the exercise three times. The first time, I made a few grammar mistakes and didn't speak for long enough. The second time was a bit better, and the third time was nearly perfect.

    All in all, I made a real improvement with my grammar, pronunciation and how long I spoke. Also, recording myself put me under the pressure (压力) I would experience during an important speaking test.

    Many students found this method    (B)   . Nelia, from Brazil, said that she could hear her mistakes when she listened to her voice. She was mainly using the wrong verb tense (时态) and using prepositions(介词) incorrectly. When she tried the exercise again, she got its right! Donghyeon, from South Korea, said that the exercise helped him to improve his English skills in general.

    One day, a strong cowboy was traveling on his horse when he saw a bar (酒吧). {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Then he tied his horse outside the bar, walked into the bar and ordered two bottles of beer. This cowboy was new in town. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} He guessed that they might play some tricks on him, but he said nothing and continued to drink. After drinking, he walked out of the bar and found his horse lost.

    However, he kept calm (平静的), came back into the bar, and said to the others slowly, "I don't know what you did to my horse there, but I'm leaving in five minutes. And by then if my horse isn't back, I will have to do here what I did in Texas!" The cowboy added, "{#blank#}3{#/blank#}" After hearing these words, the others seemed a little bit afraid.

    The cowboy went back to his seat and ordered another two bottles of beer. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} He was very happy. Just as he was leaving, the boss of the bar came up and asked what he did in Texas. The cowboy turned to the boss and replied in a low voice, "{#blank#}5{#/blank#}"