Six Chinese Characters
Dear students,  our country has a long history.  Chinese characters usually have more than one meaning and some of them are particularly loved by Chinese people.  Here are the top six lucky ones.  Please note we use "pinyin" here because "pinyin" is the Chinese spelling system for the characters. For example, "fu" is the "pinyin" for good luck in Chinese.  "pinyin" "fu" is only the phonic   (语音的 )  part of the character and if you want to know the meaning of good luck "fu",  you must read the Chinese character福 because "fu" also represents  (代表)  other Chinese characters that sound the same.
1.福  "fu" means blessing,  good fortune,  good luck. Chinese character福 "fu" is one of the most popular ones used during Chinese New Year. It is often displayed upside down on the front door of a house or an apartment.  The upside down福"fu" means good luck comes since the character for upside down in Chinese sounds the same as the character for "come".
2.禄 "Iu" means prosperity.
It is used to mean official's salary(薪水 ) in feudal (封建的 ) China.
3. 寿 "shou" means longevity.
Chinese character寿  "shou" also means life,  age or birthday.
4.喜 "xi" is happiness.
The doubled character喜 "xi" means double happiness. It is usually displayed everywhere at Chinese weddings.
5.财  "cai" is wealth or money.
Chinese often say "money can make a ghost turn a millstone". It is to say money really can do a lot of things. But, still-money can’t buy everything.
6.和  "he" means harmomous.
People's harmony is an important part of Chinese culture. When you have harmomous
relations with others,   things will be a lot easier for you.
【小题1】 What does the word "character" mean in this passage?

Six Chinese Characters

Dear students，our country has a long history．Chinese characters usually have more than one meaning and some of them are particularly loved by Chinese people．Here are the top six lucky ones．Please note we use “pinyin” here because “pinyin” is the Chinese spelling system for the characters．For example，“fu” is the “pinyin” for good luck in Chinese．“pinyin” “fu” is only the phonic（语音的）part of the character and if you want to know the meaning of good luck “fu”，you must read the Chinese character 福 because “fu” also represents（代表）other Chinese characters that sound the same．

1．福 “fu” 一一blessing，good fortune，good luck

Chinese character 福 “fu” is one of the most popular ones used during Chinese New Year．It is often displayed upside down on the front door of a house or an apartment．The upside down 福“fu” means good luck came since the character for upside down in Chinese sounds the same as the character for “came”．

2．禄 “lu” means prosperity

It is used to mean official's salary（薪水）in feudal（封建的）china．

3．寿 “shou” means longevity

Chinese character 寿 “shou” also means life，age or birthday．

4．喜 “xi” is Happiness．

The doubled character 喜 “xi” means double happiness．It is usually displayed everywhere at Chinese weddings．

5．财 “cai” is wealth or money

Chinese often say “money can make a ghost turn a millstone”．It is to say money really can do a lot of things：but，still--money can't buy everything．

6．和 “he” means harmonious

People's harmony is an important part of Chinese culture．When you have harmonious relations with others，things will be a lot easier for you．

1．What does the word “character” mean in this passage?

A．性格                      B．汉字                       C．角色                      D．特征

2．We use ________ to show how to read the Chinese characters．

A．“pinyin”                 B．spelling                  C．Chinese                  D．letters

3．What does the upside down 福 “fu” mean?

A．It means coming．                                    B．It means that good luck came．

C．It means good fortune                                D．It means that “fu” is upside down．

4．Which sentence is right?

A．Money is a ghost．                                   B．Money can buy everything．

C．Money is everything．                                D．Money isn't everything．

5．After reading the passage，can we say that sound “he” only means harmony?

A．No，we can't．                                         B．Yes，we can．

C．I know several words read as “he”．            D．Yes，you can．

There are six letters forming（组成）a word that means the world to us．“m”is for the million things she gives us；“o”shows she’s growing old；“t”is for the tears（眼泪）she has cried while bringing us up（抚养）；“h”is for her heart of gold；“e”is for her eyes shining（闪烁）with love；and“r”means right，and she’ll always be right! Put them together，and they spell“mother”．

    “Mothers’ Day”is on the second Sunday in May．It is a day to show our love to all the mothers of this world．This year，what will you do to tell your mom that you love her? Do things like；

    *Leave fl love letter on her pillow（枕头）．Make a card．Cook a special dish for the day．

    *Give her a present．It doesn’t matter how cheap the gift is．

    *Spend some time with her．Ask about what she did when she was a child．Find out her favorite subjects in school and how she met your father．What was it like when you were born?

根据短文内容，选择正确答案。

（    ）1．When is the possible“Mothers’ day”this year?

    A．It’s on May 2．    B．It’s on May 10．    C It’s on March 4．D．It’s on March 21．

（    ）2．The first part of the article is talking about _______．

    A．mother means the world

    B．Mothers’ Day

    C．the six letters of the word“mother”

    D．we can do many things on Mothers’Day

（    ）3．Which in the following is false（错误的）according to the article?

    A．“M”shows she gives us the million things．

    B．“O”shows she’s getting old as time goes by．

    C．“R”means she is always right!

    D．“H”is for her careless heart．

（    ）4．The article let us to ask about our mother’s childhood（童年）．Why? Which one is not right?

    A．Because we can talk with her．

    B．Because her childhood was unhappy．

    C．Because we can know our mother better．

    D．Because we can spend some time with her．

（    ）5．We can show our love to our mother by _______．

    A．telling the six letters to our mother               B．giving our father a gift

    C．spending time with friends                        D．talking with father

What three letters mean twenty-six letters?