A Brief Introduction to Gandhi

Mohandas Gandhi (1869—-1948), an Indian national hero, was honored {#blank#}1{#/blank#}the father of the Indian nation. He has been respected and beloved by the Indians.

    He was born in India in 1869. Following the local custom, he got {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(marry) at the age of 13. In 1888 he sailed to England, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} he studied law for three years and became a lawyer. On his return to India, he was sent to South Africa to work on a law case.

    In South Africa he {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(surprise)to find that the problem of racial discrimination (种族歧视)was serious. There he formed an organization and started a magazine to fight {#blank#}5{#/blank#} equal rights.

    Gandhi returned to India in 1915,{#blank#}6{#/blank#} India was controlled by the British. He led the Indians to fight for an end to the British rule and {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(depend)for his country. In the political movement many Indians including Gandhi were put in prison. {#blank#}8{#/blank#}, the struggles never stopped. The British government had to give {#blank#}9{#/blank#}and India won its independence in 1947. {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(fortunate)Gandhi was shot by an Indian who opposed his views and died on January 30th, 1948.

    Have you ever tasted or perhaps heard of sugar painting? As fewer people choose to make sugar paintings, the traditional Chinese folk craft might have become a{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(distance) memory in some ways. However, a 38-year-old craftsman, Li Jiangzhong, is devoted to{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(keep) the art of sugar painting alive.

    Li worked as a miner for more than ten years. After{#blank#}3{#/blank#}mine closed down, Li turned{#blank#}4{#/blank#}housing decoration until he{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(force) to give that up due to a finger injury. Earlier this year, he discovered sugar painting, something he really had an interest in.

    Since there was no sugar painting craftsman in his village, he studied by{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(he) through large quantities of videos and information on the Internet. Li loved painting when he was young, and he found it easy to learn the skill in sugar painting. He soon mastered the skill and could make{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(vary) of sugar paintings. A sugar painting is made with{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(melt) brown or white sugar. Craftsman{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(basic) paint animals and flowers on a stone board with the syrup(糖浆). When the sugar cools down,{#blank#}10{#/blank#} appears is a piece of sugar art.

    I was only in China for about 4 months last year. I stayed in Shanghai and visited some other cities {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (include) Beijing. While the price feels a bit too much for a high speed train, the Chinese infrastructure (基础建设) is {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (true) far ahead of any other developing country and even some developed ones in Europe. The train stations are as big {#blank#}3{#/blank#} airports: almost everything in {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (they) is like airports. They have all the high standards of airports but without the waiting time. The trains are just like those from Germany or France, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} are clean, modern and highly developed and run at very high speeds. It is about 1,200 kms from Shanghai to Beijing, and each high speed train {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (take) around 4 and a half hours to reach its destination and {#blank#}7{#/blank#} are more than 2 trains every hour, each day.

    I also had the experience of {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (sit) in Maglev (磁力悬浮列车) in Shanghai. There is a public maglev train that runs from Shanghai city to its international airport. The {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (distant) from the city to the airport is 40 kms and the speed of the train is 430 kms/hr. It took us just around 6 mins {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (cover) 40 kms and it felt rather smooth.

    A father was worried about his son, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} was sixteen years old but had no courage at all. So his father determined {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (call) on a Buddhist monk to train his boy. The Buddhist monk said {#blank#}3{#/blank#}the boy's father, "You should leave your son alone here.

    I'll make him into a real man within three months. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}, you can't come to see him during this period." Three months later, the boy's father returned. The Buddhist monk arranged a boxing match between the boy and an{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (experience) boxer. Each time the fighter {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (attack) the boy, he fell down, but at once the boy stood up; and each time the boy was knocked down, the boy stood up again. Several times later, the

    Buddhist monk asked, "{#blank#}7{#/blank#}do you think of your child?" "What a shame!" the boy's father said, "I never thought he would be so {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(easy) knocked down. I needn't have him left here {#blank#}9{#/blank#} longer."

    "I am sorry that is all you see. Don't you see that each time he falls down, he stands up again instead of {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (cry)? That's the kind of courage you wanted him to have."