When it comes to Chinese paper-cutting many think of peonies (牡丹) in red or the Chinese characters fu, meaning luck. To change those stereotypes and make paper-cutting 【小题1】(creative) Ye Kaiyuan, a paper-cutting artist from Fujian province, worked many years to make the traditional art 【小题2】 (incredible) fashionable. The 38-year-old was once a tea dealer in Fujian, with 【小题3】 annual income of more than 300, 000 yuan.

“People and society tend to judge   【小题4】 a job is good based on income.” Ye said. “But I think life is only rewarding if you do something you like and enjoy.”

Cutting comes first, then dyeing (染色) in the 【小题5】 (tradition) approach to the craft. But Ye has a preference 【小题6】 dyeing first. “This means you will not know the final color of your work, which is interesting.” he said.

For Ye, the lines in each paper-cutting are an expression of emotion. He always carries memo paper 【小题7】 (write) down his inspiration.

The idea for his work 【小题8】 (name) A Picture of Two Fish came when he saw salted fish at a store. The creative process is slow. It took Ye two weeks to draw and make Farewell My Concubine. He did not cut two of the characters in this story; instead, he 【小题9】 (use) flowers and curves to represent the heroine of the story.

Cutting paper is like living life, 【小题10】 (abandon) fear and hesitation and being not prejudiced, Ye said.

As a Norwegian, what we never miss every year is the celebration feast. All the【小题1】(grown-up) including Nanny (baby-sitter) and all the children sat down around the big dining-room table【小题2】 the afternoon of our arrival. For the great annual celebration feast with my grandparents, the food we received never【小题3】 (vary). This was a Norwegian household,and for Norwegians the best food in the world is fresh fish. I agree with them that the proper way to prepare fish is【小题4】(boil) not to roast it, and that is【小题5】they do with the finest specimens. Norwegians, by the way, always eat the skin of the fish, which they say is the【小题6】 (tasty) of all. So 【小题7】 (natural )this great celebration feast started with fish. Large white pieces of this fish were carved out and put onto our plates and with it we had sauces and cooked new potatoes. Nothing else. It was delicious! As soon as the remains of the fish were cleared away, a big home-made ice-cream would【小题8】 (carry) in. Apart from being the creamiest ice-cream in the world, the flavor was 【小题9】(forget). The great feast was interrupted by【小题10】 small speech of welcome from my grandfather and all adults would raise their wine glasses and say “Best wishes’” many times throughout the meal.

Marble Columns from Yuanmingyuan Returned

After a long journey overseas, seven marble columns from Yuanmingyuan recently returning from Norway to their home site 【小题1】(exhibit) publicly for the first time last Friday.

The columns were 【小题2】(origin) from the Western Mansion (Xiyang Lou) area of Yuanmingyuan in Beijing. A long-term exhibition displaying these relics, together with 【小题3】(relate) old pictures, 【小题4】 (open) at the Zhengjue Temple of Yuanmingyuan Park.

Yuanmingyuan was burned down by the invading forces in 1860 during the Second Opium War. It gradually fell 【小题5】 ruin in the following decades, and its numerous constructional components were stolen and sold, many of 【小题6】 were lost overseas.

According to the researchers from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Palace Museum in Beijing, the columns, 80 to 92 centimeters in 【小题7】(high), match those stone relics 【小题8】(remain) in the Western Mansion area. The columns are thought to have been set on the 【小题9】 (roof) and by the stairways in the past time.

Some of their frontal facades (外立面) feature 【小题10】(type) Western decorations, while the sides were carved with traditional Chinese patterns such as orchids, lotuses, peonies and chrysanthemums.