The Chinese character “Fu” is very important in Chinese culture. It means happiness and good luck. People use it as a symbol to share their hopes for the new year during the Spring Festival.
The tradition of putting the “Fu” character on walls, doors and windows has been there for a long time. According to Menglianglu, people in the Song Dynasty (960-1127) had already been practicing the tradition. When we put the character on walls, it can be placed both normally and upside down — as in Chinese the “reversed fu” means “fu comes”.
Speaking of the “reversed fu”, there is a story behind it. Long ago, in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the first emperor Zhu Yuanzhang planned to kill a family. He marked them with the Chinese character fu. His wife, Empress Ma, wanted to do something to save the family. She ordered every family to put the character fu in front of their doors.
All the people followed her order, but one family didn’t know how to read or write. They put the character upside down. On the second day, when the soldiers went to the streets, they found the character everywhere, including the upside down one. When the emperor heard this, he was very angry. He ordered the soldiers to kill the family who had put the character in the wrong way.
Empress Ma found the situation very serious. She quickly explained, “That family had known that you would come to visit them today, so they did that on purpose. Doesn’t that mean ‘Fu comes’ today?” The emperor agreed with his wife and decided to let the family go. Since then, people have put the “Fu” character upside down to hope for good luck and to remember Empress Ma.
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1.How does the writer start the passage?
A By explaining the meaning.
B By sharing experience.
C By listing opinions.
D By raising questions.
解析：选A。A细节理解题。根据第一段内容可知，作者通过对“福”进行解释开始本文。故选A。
2.When did people start to put the character “Fu” on walls?
A In the Ming Dynasty.
B In the Song Dynasty.
C In the Qing Dynasty.
D In the Tang Dynasty.
解析：选B。B细节理解题。根据第二段的“According to Menglianglu, people in the Song Dynasty (960-1127) had already been practicing the tradition.”可知，早在宋朝，人们就开始把“福”字贴上墙。故选B。
3.Why did the family put the character “Fu” upside down?
A They wanted to kill someone.
B They wished for good luck.
C They did as they planned.
D They did it by mistake.
解析：选D。D推理判断题。根据倒数第二段的“but one family didn’t know how to read or write”可知，这家人不识字，所以不小心把字贴倒了。故选D。
4.What kind of person was Empress Ma?
A Lazy and scary.
B Clever and kind.
C Friendly and interesting.
D Serious and hardworking.
解析：选B。B推理判断题。根据倒数第三段的“Empress Ma, wanted to do something to save the family”和最后一段的“She quickly explained”可知，马皇后很善良，也很聪明。故选B。
5.In which part of a newspaper can we read the passage?
A History.
B Education.
C Culture.
D People.
解析：选C。C推理判断题。根据全文内容可知，文章介绍了“福”字及“福”字倒贴的由来，属于传统文化。故选C。
