备战2024年中考英语阅读话题训练二 人与社会 主题11 中国传统文化的传承与保护

School life is many things for many different People. For you it may be fun, necessary, boring, or maybe even surprising sometimes. You may find it surprising for many reasons, and one of these reasons is being bullied (霸凌). According to a recent report, 1 in 5 young people, between the ages of 12 and 20, had been bullied in the UK. Bullying is a problem in many places. School-aged children are most likely to be bullied. Being bullied can make your school life difficult as someone or a group of people are actively trying to hurt you. Being bullied can be difficult to deal with and it is important that you know how to deal with it.

If you are being bullied, it's very important to tell your parents first. Many children often believe they are the only ones this is happening to, and no one else cares about them. Actually it's not true! Tell your parents the entire story. They are here to help and want to know what is going on with you. They may then be able to get in touch with the staff at the school in order to try to stop the bullying.

Inform teachers, principals, and other school helpers. These people have the power to help stop bullying. Sometimes bullies stop as soon as a teacher finds out. If you're being bullied, teachers can provide protection by letting you stay in the classroom. It's important to let your school know about any bullying incidents because there may be other kids being bullied by the same person.

Don't be afraid to speak up. Bullying is not a small matter. It helps if everyone who is bullied speaks up. Getting help is the right thing to do when dealing with bullying.

Don't use hit, kick, or push as a way to deal with someone bullying you or your friends. Fighting back satisfies bullies because it shows them that they can get to you. Fighting back can also be dangerous. If you fight with bullies, someone could get hurt and you could get in trouble. It's best to stay with others, stay safe, and ask the nearest adult for help.

An exhibition of paintings by autistic（患自闭症的）students was held in Futian District on April4th, the 16th World Autism Awareness Day. The works on the exhibition were created by students from the Shenzhen Employment Assistance Base for Autistic Spectrum Disorders.

The founder of the base, Su Ting, who is also an art teacher, said that the exhibition aimed to raise the autistic students' awareness so that they can create value and achieve their dreams. Painting is not just a skill but a key to open their minds and improve their quality of life.

Zhong Jiayu, one of the students, joined the base 10 years ago and focused on watching and drawing fish for hours each day. Zhong's mother tried to force her to change, but Su discovered her talent and helped her in drawing fish. "At the beginning, we provided her with different types of fish and let her watch the differences, which made her drawing skills better in such a relaxing environment. " Su said.

After a year, Zhong stopped drawing fish and started to draw things she saw, and her style became clean, clear, and simple. On the exhibition, Zhong created a few excellent pictures.

So far, the base has helped over 60 autistic students develop skills and talents for employment. The base also opened a charity shop a year ago to sell the works created by the students, with the income（收入）used for the creation and arts lessons for the students. Su said that if the students can find a job, they will be happy for them. If they cannot, they can help them through the base.

Chinese mythological creatures(神兽) come into the spotlight, appearing in the Fantastic Beasts movie series. 

In the second Fantastic Beasts movie, audiences enjoyed watching the zouwu, a creature from The Classic of Mountains and Seas(《山海经》). In the third Fantastic Beasts movie, The Secrets of Dumbledore, it's the qilin's time to shine. 

The qilin in the wizarding(魔法) world is a very rare creature, only found in East China. 

With a head like a dragon and a body like a deer or horse, the qilin is seen as a gentle creature in Chinese culture. It can tell between good and evil and can even bring luck, said China Daily. There are ancient stories of court trials(法庭审判) based on the qilin's knowledge of whether a person was good or evil. 

There are other mythical creatures that crisscross(交错于) cultures too. In Chinese culture, the phoenix(凤凰) is very important. It stands for luck and is the "king of birds". In the West, it stands for immortality and rebirth, rising from the ashes(灰烬) of a fire.

Although they look alike, dragons in China and the West are very different beasts. The dragon is a respected creature in China, symbolizing good luck. But in the West, they represent evil, greed (贪婪) and destruction(毁灭), said the website Top China Travel. 

Chinese cultures have passed on for thousands of years, and goldfish have been recorded for nearly two thousand years. A report from the Jin Dynasty described "red fish" swimming in the Red River. Goldfish were widely mentioned in the Tang Dynasty poems. They were collected in the pond(池塘) by rich people at that time. 

During the Song Dynasty, a ruler built a pond in Hangzhou to raise goldfish. It marked the time when people began to raise them. However, owning yellow goldfish was not allowed because that color was thought to be a sign of the king. Common people were forced to raise orange ones, which is probably why that color is more common today

Until the invention of the goldfish bowl in the Ming Dynasty, goldfish were always seen to live outdoors in ponds. The goldfish bowl allowed more people to keep goldfish and interested people in raising more beautiful kinds such as the "lion head" that could not live outdoors Goldfish traveled to Japan in 1502, Europe in 1611, and the United States in the early 1,8008. 

Chinese people have expressed good wishes through images(形象) of animals, plants and other objects. Chinese has many homophones, and these homophones connect images of objects with special good wishes that sound the same. The Chinese word for "fish" is a homophone of the word for "more", so fish express wishes for "owning more". The goldfish, however, also has the word for "gold", so goldfish images express wishes for "owning more wealth"

Goldfish competitions, which began in Beijing during the Ming Dynasty, continue in China. Even in Hong Kong, there is a busy goldfish market to meet the modern requirement of the fish of wealth and good wishes. 

As we all know, September 10th is Teachers' Day in China now. But do you know the ancient Chinese Teachers9 Day? It is a festival celebrating the over 2, 000-year tradition of respecting teachers and education in China. 

The history of Teachers' Day dates back to the Han Dynasty. According to record, during the Han and Jin dynasties, on August 27 of the lunar calendar each year, the birthday of Confucius （孔子）, the emperor would go to the Confucius' Temple to show great honor to Confucius. He would also worship （敬拜）the great old teachers, and invite royal teachers to dinner. And on that day, teachers enjoyed a day's vacation and were given dried meat as gifts. Besides, the best teachers who were chosen from the whole country would be given 500 liang（两）silver coins each as prizes.

Normally, in ancient times, there was no fixed tuition fee（学费）；the parents paid with money or food. Sometimes calligraphy works, paintings as well as books may be given to the teachers as gifts. 

Among all the gift-giving traditions, the first meeting gift was a must. There were many traditions when students met their teachers for the first time. Before they met their teachers, they needed to tidy themselves and get well dressed. Before giving their teachers a they needed to kowtow （磕头）to Confucius' picture and then to their private teachers. 

Though the way we celebrate the festivals is different, they share the same meaning to show our thanks and respect to teachers. 

Tangchang, a town in Chengdu, is well—known for cloth shoes.With over 20 types, Tangchang cloth shoes are strong, comfortable, breathable and friendly to the environment.In 2018, they were added to Sichuan's intangible cultural heritage list（非物质文化遗产名录）. 

63-year-old Lai Shufang has spent over 40 years making Tangchang cloth shoes.Now she is a master.She said there are 32 steps to make a pair, but the most important step is making the soles.

Layers（戾） of white cloth are glued together with flour paste（怒糊）."To make good paste, we make it at a temperature of 85℃.If it's too low or too high, the paste will not work, "Lai said.Then the pasted layers are dried and cut into different shapes.After this, the layered cloth is beaten again and again until it is tight（紧实的） enough to make soles and upper parts.The next step is to shape the two parts and glue them together.But still the soles' edges look fluffy.Through repeated polishing and trimming, the fluffy edges（毛边） will become smooth.Then the cloth shoes are really.

Lai's hard work touched her son Ai Peng.In 2015, Ai decided to leave his job and help his mother.He used Shu embroidery（蜀菊绣） to make the shoos look more beautiful and opened a cloth shoe store online.He also set up shop windows to show the steps of making shoes, helping more people learn about the art of cloth shoos.

Thirty-Six Stratagems(计谋), which show our ancient Chinese wisdom, are our ancient culture treasure. And many of these stratagems can still be put into practice in many fields, such as war, politics, business and even daily life. The following are four of them. Let's enjoy the charm of our traditional culture.

Chinese New Year Painting, or nianhua in Chinese, is a kind of traditional paintings to be put up on walls and windows during the Spring Festival. Its bright colors and different subjects show the Chinese great expectation for happiness and wealth. 

Chinese New Year Painting is an old handicraft. Its original(最初的)form was a picture of a door god during the Tang Dynasty. Later, more subjects such as the Kitchen God, women and babies were included. As the Chinese New Year arrives, every family puts up its New Year paintings in order to say goodbye to the past and welcome the future. One of the most famous woodblock New Year paintings comes from Yangjiabu of Shandong Province. It covers all kinds of themes and forms. They reflect people's everyday life.

As time went by, people found New Year paintings old-fashioned. Besides, they considered the door god too scary to hang in their homes. They wanted something more artistic. So in the middle of the 1980s, the sales of New Year paintings dropped greatly. 

Usually colorful woodblock New Year paintings are produced in four steps. Firstly, artists draw a simple sketch(素描)on the paper. Secondly, they make the simple sketch on the wood board and print a few samples(样品). Thirdly, they add color to the sample. Lastly, when the preparation is finished, the printers paint color on the color board, and then put paper on the wood board and brush the paper. Then the colorful woodblock New Year paintings are ready. 

There are four main themes in the Chinese New Year paintings…