People who love Chinese calligraphic (书法的) art should know the “Four Treasures of Study”. It is an expression used to refer to the brush, ink stick (墨条), paper, and inkstone.
| The brush is soft because it is made of hair from animals such as rabbits, goats, and wolves. The brushes of the best quality made in Xuancheng, a city in southeastern Anhui Province, were only supplied to emperors in the past. |
| The ink stick produced in Huizhou, Anhui Province, has a history of a thousand years. It is mainly made out of pine soot (松烟) and 20 other materials. Then they are glued together and pressed into the shape of a chocolate bar and left to dry. |
| Xuan Paper, known as Xuanzhi, was named after its place of origin (起源)—Xuancheng, Anhui. It has a history of over 1,000 years. |
| The inkstone is used to grind (研磨) the ink stick into powder which will be mixed with water. The She inkstone from Shexian in Anhui used to be regarded as one of the most famous inkstones in China. |
【小题1】The brush is made of .
| A．animal hair | B．silk | C．leaves | D．cotton |
| A．how the ink stick is produced | B．what the ink stick looks like |
| C．the main material of the ink stick | D．different colours of the ink stick |
| A．materials | B．birthplace | C．inventor | D．popularity |
| A．We can put some water into it. |
| B．It’s used to grind the ink stick into powder. |
| C．The She inkstone is the best of all inkstones. |
| D．The She inkstone and Xuan Paper are from the same province. |
| A．To introduce the Four Treasures of Study. |
| B．To give facts about Chinese calligraphic art. |
| C．To explain why people love calligraphic art. |
| D．To tell people how to learn Chinese calligraphic art. |
