傳統文化熱潮下，我們在英語備考過程中要對傳統文化深層理解。今天，小簡老師給大家總結了16個傳統文化考點素材，這些知識和話題可以運用到書面表達中去，是難得的資料，因此，今晚，這份資料是英語複習的首選。

　　一. 長城（The Great Wall）

　　The Great Wall is one of the wonders of the world that created by human beings! If you come to China without climbing the Great Wall, it's just like going Paris without visiting the Eiffel Tower; or going to Egypt without visiting the Pyramids! Men often say, "He who doest not reach the Great Wall is not a true man."In fact, it began as independent walls for different states when it was first built, and did not become the "Great Wall" until the Qin Dynasty. However, the wall we see today, starting from Shanhaiguan Pass in the east to Jiayunguan Pass in the west, was mostly built during the Ming Dynasty.

　　長城是人類創造的世界奇蹟之一。如果你到了中國卻沒去過長城，就想到了巴黎沒有去看看菲爾鐵塔，或者就像到了埃及沒有去看金字塔一樣。人們常說：“不到長城非好漢。”實際上，長城最初只是一些斷斷續續的城牆，直到秦朝統一中國後纔將其連城長城。然而，今天我們看到的長城——東起山海關，西至嘉峪關——大部分都是在明代修建的。

　　二. 餃子（Dumplings）

　　Dumplings are one of the Chinese people’s favorite traditional dishes. According to an ancient Chinese legend, dumplings were first made by the medical saint---Zhang Zhongjing. There are three steps involved in making dumplings: 1) make dumpling wrappers out of dumpling flour; 2) prepare the dumpling stuffing; 3) make dumplings and boil them. With thin and elastic dough skin, fresh and tender stuffing, delicious taste, and unique shapes, dumplings are worth eating hundreds of times. There’s an old saying that claims, “Nothing could be more delicious than dumplings”. During the Spring Festival and other holidays, or when treating relatives and friends, Chinese people like to follow the auspicious custom of eating dumplings. To Chinese people who show high reverence for family love, having dumplings at the moment the old year is replaced by the new is an essential part of bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new year.

　　餃子是深受中國人民喜愛的傳統食品。 相傳爲古代醫聖張仲景發明。餃子的製作是包括： 1） 擀皮、2） 備餡、3） 包餡水煮三個步驟。其特點是皮薄餡嫩，味道鮮美，形狀獨特，百食不厭。民間有“好吃不過餃子”的俗語。中國人接親待客、逢年過節都有包餃子吃的習俗，寓意吉利。對崇尚親情的中國人來說，“更歲交子”吃餃子，更是歡度除夕、辭舊迎新必不可少的內容。

　　三. 筷子（Chinese Chopsticks）

　　The Chinese way of eating with chopsticks is unique in the world. The recorded history of chopsticks started more than three thousand years ago. Chopsticks were named zhu in ancient Chinese. They look deceptively simple to use, but possess multi-various functions, such as clamping, turning over, lifting up, raking, stirring, scooping, poking, tearing, and so on. Chopsticks were taken as an auspicious mascot by ordinary people in ancient China. For example, the partial tone of chopsticks is often used by people as a metaphor at weddings to indicate a blessing or benediction for the couple to have a baby soon. Unlike using a knife and fork or one’s own hands, a pair of chopsticks also implies the meaning of “Harmony is what matters”. Chopsticks are highly praised by Westerners as a hallmark of ancient oriental civilization.

　　中國人使用筷子就餐的方式在世界上獨樹一幟。有史記載用筷的歷史已有三千多年。筷子古時稱爲箸，它看似簡單，但卻同時具有夾、撥、挑、扒、拌、撮、戳、撕等多種功能。中國民間視筷子爲吉祥之物，如婚俗中將筷子隱喻爲快生貴子的祝福等。與使用刀叉以及手抓的 方式不同，成雙結對的筷子含有“和爲貴“的意蘊。西方人讚譽筷子是古老的東方文明。

　　四. 中國功夫（Chinese kung fu）

　　Chinese kung fu, or Chinese martial arts, carries traditional Chinese culture in abundance. It is a traditional Chinese sport which applies the art of attack and defence in combat and the motions engaged with a series of skill and tricks. The core idea of Chinese king fu is derived from the Confucian theory of both “the mean and harmony” and “cultivating qi” (otherwise known as nourishing one’s spirit). Meanwhile, it also includes thoughts of Taoism and Buddhism. Chinese kung fu has a long history, with multi-various sects and many different boxing styles, and emphasizes coupling hardness with softness and internal and external training. It contains the ancient great thinkers’ pondering of life and the universe. The skills in wielding the 18 kinds of weapons named by the later generations mainly involve the skills of bare-handed boxing, such as shadow boxing (Taijiquan), form and will boxing (Xingyiquan), eight trigram palm (Baguazhang), and the skills of kung fu weaponry, such as the skill of using swords, spears, two-edged swords and halberds, axes, tomahawks, kooks, prongs and so on.

　　中國功夫即中國武術，是將技擊寓於搏鬥和套路運動之中的中國傳統體育項目，承載着豐富的中國民族傳統文化。其核心思想是儒家的中和養氣之說，同時兼容了道家、釋家的思想。中國武術源遠流長、流派林立、拳種繁多，講究剛柔並濟、內外兼修，蘊含着先哲們對生命和宇宙的參悟。後世所稱十八般武藝，主要指：徒手拳藝，如太極拳、形意拳、八卦掌等；器械功夫，如刀槍劍戟、斧鉞鉤叉等。

　　五. 漢字（Chinese characters）

　　Chinese characters were initially meant to be simple pictures used to help people remember things. After a long period of development, it finally became a unique character system that embodies phonetic sound, image, idea, and rhyme at the same time. The writing system, which was extremely advanced in ancient times, began with inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells, and these are regarded as the original forms of Chinese characters. Afterwards, Chinese characters went through numerous calligraphic styles: bronze inscriptions, official script, regular script, cursive script, running script, etc. Chinese characters are usually round outside and square inside, which is rooted in ancient Chinese beliefs of an orbicular sky and a rectangular Earth. The five basic strokes of Chinese characters are “---“ (the horizontal stroke) “│” (the vertical stroke), “／”( the left-falling stroke), “＼” (the right-falling stroke), and “乙” (the turning stroke).

　　漢字是從原始人用以記事的簡單圖畫，經過不斷演變發展最終成爲一種兼具音、形、意韻的獨特文字。現存中國古代最早成熟的文字是甲骨文，被認爲是現代漢字的初形。此後，漢字又經歷了金文、隸書、楷書、草書、行書等不同的階段。漢字結構“外圓內方“， 源於古人”天圓地方“的觀念。漢字有五種基本筆畫，即：橫、豎、撇、捺、折。

　　六. 秧歌舞（Yangko）

　　Yangko is one of tradition folk dance of Han in China.It is usually performed in northern provinces. The dancers usually wear colorful and light costumes, and the performance is powerful and rapid. During some festivals such as Spring Festival, Lantein Festival, if people hear the sound of drum and gong, no matter how cold the weather is , they will come to street and appreciate the Yangko. Recent years, the old people in city of east-northern of China organized the team of Yangko by themselves, the teamers keep their health by dancing Yangko the whole year.

　　秧歌舞是中國漢族的一種民間傳統舞蹈，通常在北方省份表演。秧歌舞者通常穿上明亮多彩的表演服裝，他們的表演動作有力迅速。在農曆春節、元宵節等節日期間，人們一旦聽到鑼鼓聲，不管外面天氣有多冷，他們都會蜂擁到街上看秧歌舞表演。近年來，中國東北某些城市的老年人自發組織了了秧歌隊，隊員常年通過跳秧歌舞來保持健康，同事他們也樂在其中。

　　七. 鍼灸（Acupuncture）

　　Acupuncture is an important part of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In accordance with the “main and collateral channels” theory in TCM, the purpose of acupuncture is to dredge the channel and regulate qi and blood, so as to keep the body’s yin and yang balanced and achieve reconciliation between the internal organs. It features in traditional Chinese medicine that “internal diseases are to be treated with external therapy”. The main therapy of acupuncture involves using needles to pierce certain acupoints of the patient’s body, or adopting moxibustion to stimulate the patient’s acupoints so as to stimulate the channels and relieve pain. With its unique advantages, acupuncture has been handed down generation after generation and has now spread all over the world. Nowadays, acupuncture, along with Chinese food, kung fu (otherwise known as Chinese martial arts), and traditional Chinese medicine, has been internationally hailed as one of the “four new national treasures.”

　　鍼灸是中醫學的重要組成部分。按照中醫的經絡理論，鍼灸療法主要是通過疏通經絡、調和氣血，來達到陰陽歸於平衡，使臟腑趨於調和之目的。其特點是“內病外治”。主要療法是用針刺入病人身體的一定穴位，或用艾火的溫熱刺激燒灼病人的穴位，以達到刺激經絡。治療病痛的目的。鍼灸以其獨特的優勢，流傳至今並傳播到了世界，與中餐、功夫、中藥一起被海外譽爲中國的“新四大國粹”。

　　八. 中國龍（Chinese Dragon）

　　Dragon totem worship in China has been around for the last 8,000 years. The ancients in China considered the dragon (or loong) a fetish that combines animals including the fish, snake, horse and ox with cloud, thunder, lightning and other natural celestial phenomena. The Chinese dragon was formed in accordance with the multicultural fusion process of the Chinese nation. To the Chinese, the dragon signifies innovation and cohesion.

　　對龍圖騰他的崇拜在中國大約已綿延了八千多年。中國龍是古人將魚、蛇、馬、牛等動物與雲霧、雷電等自然天象集合而成的一種神物。 中國龍的形成與中華民族的多元融合過程同步。在中國人的心目中，龍具有振奮騰飛、開拓變化的寓意和團結凝聚的精神。

　　九. 中國印章（Chinese Seal）

　　A seal can also be defined as a stamp. Both the Chinese official and private seal of various dynasties have different titles, such as stamp, zhu note, contract, fu, lease and others. The seals used by the emperors of ancient China were called xi, yin, bao, etc. According to historical records, seals were widely used during the Warring States Period (475BC-221BC). The making of a seal is to engrave fonts, such as seal characters and official script and so on; or images in the form of intaglio and embossment into the seal, basically shaped as round or square. Covered with a vermilion overlay, the Chinese seal is not only used in daily life, but it is also used to represent signatures on paintings and calligraphies. It is gradually becoming one of China’s unique artworks.

　　印章就是圖章。中國曆代官、私所用的印章有印信、朱記、合同、符、契等等不同的稱謂，而帝王所用的印章古時稱璽、印、寶、章等。據史料記載，印章在戰國時代已普遍使用。印章的製作是將篆隸等字體、圖像用陰、陽的形式雕刻而成，形狀以圓、方爲主。印章用硃色 鈐蓋，除日常應用外，又多用於書畫題識，逐漸成爲中國特有的藝術形式之一。

　　十. 京劇（Chinese Beijing Opera）

　　Praised as “Oriental Opera”, Beijing Opera is a genuine national quintessence of China. It originated from many kinds of ancient local operas, especially huiban in southern China. At the end of the 19th Century, Beijing Opera evolved and took shape, becoming the greatest kind of opera in China. Beijing Opera is a blend of performing arts---song, speech, performance, acrobatix fighting and dance. Beijing Opera portrays and narrates the plot and characters through stylized acting. The main types of roles in Beijing Opera are sheng(male), dan (young female), jing (painted face, male), and chou( clown, male or female).

　　京劇被譽爲“東方歌劇”， 是地道的中國國粹。它起源於中國多種古老的地方戲劇，特別是南方的“徽班”。到了19世紀末，京劇形成併成爲中國最大的戲曲劇種。京劇是綜合性表演藝術，集唱（歌唱）、念（唸白）、做（表演）、打（武）、舞（舞蹈）爲一體，通過程式化的表演手段，敘述故事，刻畫人物。角色主要分生（男性）、旦（女性）、淨（男性）、醜（男性女性皆有）四大行當。

　　十一. 中國成語（Chinese Idioms）

　　Chinese idioms refer to comprehensive and integrated fixed phrases and expressions. Idioms are established and accepted by constant usage and common practice. An idiom is a language unit that is larger than a word, but has the same grammatical function as a word. Most Chinese idioms consist of four characters. For example, ziqiangbuxi ( make unremitting efforts to improve oneself), qingchuyulan(bluer than indigo), and houjibofa (success comes with time and effort). Idioms are extrated from folk proverbs, ancient works of literature, poems, fables, allusions, and well-known sayings. Idioms are a part of the Chinese language that are concise and have great vitality.

　　中國成語是漢語中意義完整的表示一般概念的固定詞組或短語。“成語”中的“成”既是約定俗成。成語是比詞大而語法功能又相當於詞的語言單位。絕大多數的中國成語由四個漢字組成，例如：自強不息、青出於藍、厚積薄發。成語主要從民間諺語、古代文學作品、詩歌、寓言、典故、名言警句等方面提煉而成，是漢語語言中精煉而又富有生命力的一部分。

　　十二. 絲綢（Silk）

　　China is the home of silk. Mulberry planting, sericulture, silk reeling and thickening are all great inventions of the ancient Chinese. As early as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties (1600BC-256BC), the Chinese people’s silk-weaving techniques had reached an extremely high level. During the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-25AD), Zhang Qian, an outstanding diplomat, travelled around central Asia and connected China with the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean, opening up a new era of Sino-foreign trade, exchange and communication. From then on, China’s silk became well known for its extraordinary quality, exquisite design and color, and abundant culture connotations. Hitherto, Chinese silk has been accepted as a symbol of Chinese culture and the emissary of oriental civilization.

　　中國是絲綢的故鄉。栽桑、養蠶、繅絲、織綢是中國古代人民的偉大發明。商周時期絲綢的生產技術就已發展到相當高的水平。西漢時張騫通西域，把中原與波斯灣、地中海緊密聯繫起來，開闢了中外交流貿易的新紀元。從此中國的絲綢以其卓越的品質、精美的花色和豐富的文化內涵聞名於世，成爲中國文化的象徵。東方文明的使者。

　　十三. 中國園林

　　（Chinese Classical Garden）

　　The Chinese classical garden is a precious treasure of our ancient Chinese architecture. It is a kind of environment art, which systematically combines artificial mountains and rivers, plants and buildings with the natural landscape. The construction standard of a Chinese classical garden is “artificial as it is, the garden must look ingenious and natural.” When you go sightseeing in a Chinese classical garden, you should be able to appreciate its artistic concept which “makes use of the natural landscape to create the real fun of mountains and rivers for viewers.” Of the world’s three major garden systems, the Chinese classical garden is hailed as one of the origins of the world’s garden due to its long history and abundant connotations.

　　中國園林是把人造的山水、植物、建築等與自然地貌有機結合的環境藝術，是我國古代建築藝術的珍寶。其建造原則是“妙極自然，宛自天開”。遊賞中國古典園林，能充分領略“假自然之景，創山水真趣”的園林意境。在世界三大園林體系中，中國園林歷史悠久、內涵豐富，被譽爲世界造園史上的淵源之一。

　　十四. 文房四寶

　　（The Four Treasures of the Study）

　　The writing brush, ink stick, ink stone, and paper were requisite treasures in the study of the scholars of ancient China, and they are often referred to as the “Four Treasures of the Study.” The writing brush and ink stick have been used by the Chinese to write and paint since 5,000 years ago. In the Qin Dynasty (221BC---206BC), people already used feathers of different hardness and bamboo trunks to make brushes. During the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD), man-made ink was used instead of natural ink. After paper was invented by the Chinese, bamboo slips, wooden tablets, brocade and silk, which originally functioned as writing surfaces, gradually faded out. The ink stone was first developed with the use of writing brushes and ink. After the Song Dynasty (960AD---1279AD), the “Four Treasure of the Study” particularly referred to hubi, the writing brush produced in Huzhou, Zhejiang province; huimo, the ink stick produced in Huizhou, Anhui province; xuan paper, a kind of paper produced in Xuanzhou, Anhui province; and duanyan, the ink stone made in Zhaoqing, Guangdong province (Zhaoqing was earlier called Duanzhou). Indeed, the Four Treasures of the Study” have writtin the whole Chinese civilization, as it is.

　　筆墨紙硯是中國古代文人書房當中必備的寶貝，被稱爲“文房四寶”。用筆墨書寫繪畫在中國可追溯到五千年前。秦時已用不同硬度的毛和竹管制筆；漢代以人工制墨替代了天然墨；有了紙張以後，簡牘錦帛逐失其用；硯臺則隨筆墨的使用而發展。 “文房四寶”到宋朝以後特指湖筆、徽墨、宣紙、端硯。可以說文房四寶書寫了整個中華文明。

　　十五. 中國印章（Chinese Seal）

　　A seal can also be defined as a stamp. Both the Chinese official and private seal of various dynasties have different titles, such as stamp, zhu note, contract, fu, lease and others. The seals used by the emperors of ancient China were called xi, yin, bao, etc. According to historical records, seals were widely used during the Warring States Period (475BC-221BC). The making of a seal is to engrave fonts, such as seal characters and official script and so on; or images in the form of intaglio and embossment into the seal, basically shaped as round or square. Covered with a vermilion overlay, the Chinese seal is not only used in daily life, but it is also used to represent signatures on paintings and calligraphies. It is gradually becoming one of China’s unique artworks.

　　印章就是圖章。中國曆代官、私所用的印章有印信、朱記、合同、符、契等等不同的稱謂，而帝王所用的印章古時稱璽、印、寶、章等。據史料記載，印章在戰國時代已普遍使用。印章的製作是將篆隸等字體、圖像用陰、陽的形式雕刻而成，形狀以圓、方爲主。印章用硃色 鈐蓋，除日常應用外，又多用於書畫題識，逐漸成爲中國特有的藝術形式之一。

　　十六. 天干地支（Chinese Era）

　　The Chinese era is the symbol that the Chinese calendar uses for recording and naming years. The ten Heavenly Stems are: jia, yi, bing, ding, wu, ji, geng, xin, ren, gui. The twelve Earthly Branches are: zi.chou, yin, mou, chen, si, wu, wei, shen, you, xu, hai. After observing the lunar month, the ancients found that the moon always wazes and wanes roughly 12 times a year, and two lunar months account for about 60 days, so the order of the ten Heavenly Stems and the order of the twelve Earthly Branches are properly matched in turn. In terms of recording date, 60 years is considered to be a full time cycle. The Chinese era chronology was first invented in ancient times and is still in use now.

　　天干地支是中國曆法中用以記錄和命名年歲的方法。十天干爲：甲、乙、丙、丁、戊、已、庚、辛、壬、癸；十二地支爲：子、醜、寅、卯、辰、巳、午、未、申、酉、戊、亥。古人觀測朔望月，發現月亮圓缺12次大體上是一年的天數，而兩個朔望月約是60天。古人以十天干與十二地支的順序依次相配，記錄不同年份，60年爲一個輪迴。干支紀年法從古沿用至今。