English is the most difficult subject .
The Amber Room to the great wonders of the world. It was originally (design) for the palace of Frederick Ⅰ. took the country's best artists about ten years to finish it. Everyone thought (high) of its style and design. Several tons of amber as well as gold and jewels were used to make it, so no wonder it is worth a lot of money. But later, the next King of Prussia decided to give it as a gift to Peter the Great, gave Prussia a troop of his best soldiers in . Unfortunately, during the Second World War, the Nazi Germany was at war with Russia. In 1941, Germany invaded (入侵)Russia, and the Russians had no time to anything from the Amber Room except some furniture and small art objects. When the Nazis saw the Amber Room, there was no that they liked it so much that they took it apart and in less than two days 100,000 pieces were put inside twenty-seven wooden boxes. The boxes were then put on a train for Konigsberg. Since then, the whole world has been in of the Amber Room. No one knows what (happen) to it and whether it still exists now. Maybe it will remain a mystery forever.
If Confucius (孔子) were still alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be a lot of candles. We'd need a fan or a strong wind to help him put them out. While many people in China will remember Confucius on his special day, few people in the United States will give him a passing thought. It's nothing personal. Most Americans don't even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes.
But this doesn't mean that Americans don't care about Confucius. In many ways he has become a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China.
In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities. More recently, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries. These schools teach both Chinese language and culture. The main courses of Chinese culture usually included Chinese art, history and philosophy (哲学). Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantages of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up for the drawbacks of Westerners philosophy. Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese. So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States. Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers.
So the old thinker's ideas are still alive and well. Today China attracts the West more than ever, and it will need more teachers to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West. As for the old thinker, he will not soon be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is.
|
rare designed decorated style doubt fancy dynasties amazing worth jewels |
Chen Lei studied art history and the early of China in a university. He was able to recognize the of different cultural relics from former times, especially the Tang and Song dynasties. One day he was looking in a second-hand furniture shop when he saw an object among the many different vases and . It was a mirror in the Song Dynasty and in the style of that time. He recognized that it was a cultural relic, but at a price he could afford, so he bought it at once. Later he gave it to his local museum. The people there were very happy and without consider it one of the treasures of their collection. To them, it was much more than Chen Lei paid.
