The United Nations has 6 official (官方的) languages. Each of them has their own days with the aim to show the rich history and culture (文化) of each language. UNESCO first created (创造) Chinese Language Day in 2010 to celebrate Chinese as one of the six official languages of the United Nations.
The first Chinese Language Day was on November 12th. But since 2011, it has been on the April 20th. The date was chosen from Guyu to remember Cangjie. Cangjie is very important in Chinese culture. People believed he created Chinese words 5,000 years ago. In old stories, it’s said that Cangjie had 4 eyes and he was good at observing (观察). He often watched the sun and the moon with his upper 2 eyes, and mountains and rivers with the lower 2 eyes. His long-time observation made him create the earliest written words according to the shape of things.
On Chinese Language Day, there are different activities to celebrate the Chinese language and the theme (主题) is different each year. In 2022, “China Chic” was chosen as the theme. Chen Xu, an officer said, “Choosing this theme, we hope to spread what most of Chinese people like today so that foreigners can know more about Chinese culture and have a better understanding of China.” A video festival called “Foreigners look at China Chic” was held. In the videos, foreigners showed their love of Chinese fashion.
Chinese Language Day is an important carrier for Chinese learners, lovers, and users from all over the world to get close to Chinese. Nowadays, more than one sixth of world’s population speak Chinese as their first language—that’s more than any other population in the world! Learning Chinese is more like a key to knowing China and feeling the beauty of Chinese culture.
【小题1】The Chinese Language Day was first created _______.| A．in 2011 | B．13 years ago | C．to celebrate Guyu | D．to remember Cangjie |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．Make something cheap. | B．Make something beautiful. |
| C．Make something popular. | D．Make something traditional. |
| A．To tell some facts about a language day. |
| B．To make foreign people love to visit China. |
| C．To tell stories about a famous man Cangjie. |
| D．To show the history of the language of Chinese. |
There are several other expressions that mean the same thing. And their meaning is as easy to understand as falling off a log. One is “Easy as Pie.” Nothing is easier than eating a piece of sweet juicy pie, unless it is a piece of cake. “A Piece of Cake” is another expression that means something is extremely easy to do.
Another expression is “As Easy as Shooting Fish in a Barrel (桶)”. Clearly, fish in a barrel will be much easier to shoot than fish in a river. In fact, it would be as easy as falling off a log.
Sometimes, things that come to us easily also leave us just as easily. In fact, there is an expression “Easy Come Easy Go”. Another easy expression is “To Go Easy on a Person”. It means to treat a person kindly or gently, especially in a situation where you might be expected to be angry with him. A wife might ask her husband to go easy on their son, because the boy did not mean to destroy the toy. If you want to borrow some money to fix the car, you should look for a friend who is an “Easy Touch”. An easy touch or a soft touch is someone who is kind and helpful.
And there is one more expression that means do not worry or work too hard. Try to keep away from difficult situations. “Take it easy”, until we meet again.
【小题1】Which of the following expressions has the same meaning with “As easy as falling off a log?”
| A．Shooting fish in a barrel | B．Walking on a falling tree log. |
| C．Staying on a log | D．Shooting fish in a river |
| A．easy come easy go | B．as easy as shooting fish in a barrel |
| C．to take it easy | D．to go easy on a person |
| A．That he goes easy on me means that he is angry with me. |
| B．He is always helping others, so he is an easy touch. |
| C．When he asks me to repair his broken bike, I say, “A piece of cake. I can help repair it.” |
| D．When a girl loses her way, I say, “Take it easy, I will send you home.” |
Misadventure in English
Last week, our forum (论坛)asked if you had any funny or strange stories about using English. Here are some of our favourite posts.
Sophie
When I first visited New York, I went to a shopping centre. I asked a lady where the shoes were. She said they were on the first floor. I went upstairs. But I couldn’t find any. I thought she gave me the wrong information. Then, I realized that the first floor was the ground floor.
Yancy.
I went to a summer school in Manchester. One day, the head master told us that our English teacher Maggie couldn’t teach that day because she had a frog in her throat. Why did she eat a frog? Then I learned that it means someone’s throat is dry or blocked. How funny!
Julien
My British penfriend once told me that his grandfather was “wicked （邪恶的）”. But when I met his grandfather, I liked him a lot. I found it very strange. Why did my friend use a bad word about such a nice man? Guess what? When speaking informally, “wicked” means “very nice”.
Zheng Xu
I was part of a student exchange programme between a school in England and one in China. I knew I had done a good job writing my first English paper. But my teacher gave me “Not bad!” Not bad? There weren’t any mistakes! Actually, British people use “not bad” when things are pretty good! I got a good comment!
【小题1】Who posted the story about buying shoes?| A．Sophie. | B．Yancy. | C．Julien. | D．Zheng Xu. |
| A．She ate a frog. | B．She had a dry throat. | C．She lost her penfriend. | D．She got a bad comment. |
| A．Strange. | B．Funny. | C．Strict. | D．Nice. |
| A. Salad days Salad days are the time when we are young and we don’t have much life experience. We usually act as we want. We like adventures and do some exciting things. B. Bread and butter People work hard to make their living. When they make money by doing a kind of job, we can say that is their bread and butter. C. Sour grapes When people don’t get the things they want, they would like to say the thing is bad and it is not what they want. That’s sour grapes for them. D. A fish out of water A person who is in a strange or uncomfortable environment may feel like a fish out of water. E. Couch potato A couch potato is a lazy man who spends a lot of time lying on the sofa, watching television and doing nothing all the day. F. The early bird catches the worm A bird will go hungry if it cannot catch worms (虫子). The bird that gets up early is sure to get some food, so the early bird catches the worm. G. Eyes in the back of your head Some people seem to know what’s going on behind them, as if they had eyes in the back of their heads. “Eyes in the back of your head” describes the ability to notice everything happening around you. |
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