Papercutting is a kind of the traditional folk art in China. Papercutting has a long history of about 1,500 years. Let's learn something about papercutting.

    Wonderful meanings

    Papercutting has some wonderful meanings. Some papercutting means happiness and good luck. In the Spring Festival, people paste(粘贴) "Fu" on doors or windows. At a wedding, people paste "Xi".

    The largest Chinese papercutting

    The largest papercutting was made by Gao Xiaodong. It has an area of about 456 square meters. It is as large as a basketball court.

    Why is it red?

    In the old times of China, people think highly of the sun. Red was the color of the sun. They always regarded red as the symbol of hope and life. Now, we can also see red everywhere in China. The walls of old palaces are red. Lanterns are red. Weddings are always full of red things, too.

    Black papercutting in Shanzhou

    Much of the papercutting is red. But papercutting in Shanzhou, Henan Province is black. Black is the best color there. Shanzhou is a dry place. People make black papercutting and wish for rain.

My English name is Wendy. I am an actress (演员), but I am also a middle school student in Beijing. We have a school show on October 10th every year. There are some clubs in our school, like the music club, the art club and the sports club. The students from the clubs usually show their talents (才艺) at the show. 

Today, it's October 8th, the first school day after a long vacation (假期). Some students from Class Three are talking about the school show this year. Jim says, "I can play the drums. Jiang Meng, you can play the piano. And Sam, you can play the guitar. I want to sing with you two." 

 "OK," says Jiang Meng. "And Lin Han can do kungfu. We can ask him to show with us. "All of them say, "Great!"

 "And I can sing, too, says Sam. "So I want to sing when playing the guitar. I also want to ask my English teacher Ms. Green to dance when I sing. What about you, Liu Yang?" 

 "Music isn't my favorite," says Liu Yang. "But I like drawing. I want to draw to your music, OK?" 

 "Sure," says Sam. 

They all think the school show will be very interesting. 

When I was in the third grade，I watched a video that showed the discovery of King Tutankhamen's tomb（陵墓）.I remember Carter，going through a narrow hole in the tomb with a candle.A workman asked what he could see."Wonderful things!"Carter said.From that moment，I knew what I wanted to do with my life.

So I decided what I wanted to be at the age of nine，and I made it happen.Seems easy，right？Not quite!The road wasn't easy!I did my studies—university（博士）.But along the way I was told many things，"Shawki was too young and she had no experience.She should get married and have kids".I also needed money（申请补助金）.The first five replies I got said no.Six months later the last reply came and I was excited about it.Finally，I could start my own digging.

Today，I'm lucky to work as an archaeologist（考古学家）.I study the lives of people who lived in Egypt's Nile Delta（埃及的尼罗河三角洲）

For anyone thinking about a job，I would say：Never give up.If you want to do something.keep trying.If people tell you"no"，use that—it will push you.At the beginning

Second，focus on your goals.You don't have to follow people.If they say something has never been done，make it happen.You may be the first to do it!There are always challenges