四六级英语考试翻译必备

Tang Sancai--Tri-colored Glazed Pottery of the Tang Dynasty

中国传统文化之唐三彩

Beautiful Tang Sancai Works can tell us a lot about the colorful life of the Tang people.

Upon mention of Tang Sancai, images of beautiful tri-colored glazed horse figures immediately arise in one's mind and you'll naturally think of the prosperous Tang Dynasty (618-907), as well as Luoyang, the hometown of this unique art.

Wandering through the Tang Sancai Pottery Art Museum in Luoyang, the cultural wealth of the flourishing Tang Dynasty is evident in the exquisite collection. The museum houses more than 100 pieces of fine Tang Sancai pottery, including works that had been taken out of the country long ago. Actually, these Luoyang Tang Sancai works are actually high-quality copies of ancient unearthed relics.

"Sancai" refers to a technique that mainly uses the three colors of yellow, green and white in glazed pottery manufacture. It was most commonly used and developed in the Tang Dynasty, giving it its name "Tang Sancai". Originating in the early period of Tang, it developed and flourished in the mid-Tang Dynasty, before finally declining in the Song Dynasty. The technique was lost for nearly a thousand years.

中国传统文化之中药

What is TCM?

The origins of traditional Chinese medicine can be traced to Shen Nong Shi, a mythological figure from about 5,000 years ago, who sampled hundreds of herbs for use as medicines. The formal history of TCM starts about 2,500 years ago with the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, the first written account of its practice.

TCM views a patient's condition as a reflection of the interaction of five elements of nature: wood, fire, earth, metal and

water. The goal is to treat each patient holistically, with prescriptions tailored to the individual patient's condition.

Chinese consumers generally perceive TCM as more effective for disease and chronic illness prevention, and they view

Western medicine as being more effective for acute and serious illnesses.

Another major difference between TCM and Western medicine is that, until recently, TCM has relied on patient experience, not clinical trials, for proof of effectiveness.

TCM combines raw materials, principally herbs, to treat disease. Historically, the formulation incorporated as many as

10,000 ingredients, 90 percent extracted from herbs and 10 percent from animal byproducts and minerals.

Today, practitioners of TCM regularly use around 300 ingredients in their widely available formulations. Any given

formulation requires four to eight ingredients on average.

The principle used for combining ingredients has its origins in the framework of imperial ministerial-assistant-servant, which was documented 5,000 years ago in the Shen Nong Herbal Encyclopedia.

The framework calls for an imperial herb, the chief herb or main ingredient of a formula; the ministerial herb, ancillary to the imperial herb, which augments and promotes the action of the main ingredient; the assistant herb, which reduces side

effects of the imperial herb; and the servant herb, which harmonizes or coordinates the actions of the other herbs.

Although only 10 percent of China's 2 million physicians are trained exclusively in TCM, most medical school students receive some training in the discipline. They can prescribe TCM medicines that have earned State Food and Drug Administration

approval.

中国传统节日之端午节

Dragon Boat Festival

Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanwu Festival and the Double Fifth, is a traditional and statutory holiday in China and has long been celebrated in Singapore and Malaysia. The festival is remembrance of Qu Yuan, an ancient Chinese scholar-statesman, who drowned in 277 B.C. while denouncing widespread government corruption; it was also a means of reminding the public about the importance of health care. In 2006, the tradtional festival was listed as one of China's national intangible cultural heritages. In 2008, it was recognised as a public holiday in Chinese

mainland.

The festival occurs on the 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar