Do you remember the useful sentences like “It’s a piece of cake” or “It serves you right” in English learning? They carry more ___1___ than the words themselves. In Chinese culture, we also have lots of similar useful expressions like “drinking ink (墨水)” and “An inch (寸) of time is worth an inch of gold”.
“Drinking ink” is a common expression to show that a person is ___2___. Is there anyone who really drinks ink? It could be true in Chinese history. During the Northern Qi Dynasty, those who ___3___ very badly in the exam would be punished by drinking one liter (升) of ink. Even if they were found to have poor handwriting or make up something terrible, they would be taken into a special room to drink ink. The rule was accepted by the following dynasties. Nowadays, this expression is ___4___ used to describe people’s ways of receiving education or their level of education. For example, “drinking foreign ink” means one has studied overseas. “Drinking little ink” means a ___5___ level of education.
“An inch of time is worth an inch of gold” means that an inch of time has the same ___6___ as an inch of gold. It is also the first half of a saying “An inch of time is worth an inch of gold, but an inch of time cannot be bought ___7___ an inch of gold”. In ancient times, time was measured (测量) by inch because people used the sundial as a time-keeping tool. It is made of a flat and ___8___ plate on which length of gnomon’s shadow changes from long to short and short to long. This is ___9___ the sundial tells time.
Language cannot be separated from culture. Language learning can help us ___10___ understand the cultures behind the countries and communicate more with the people from different countries.
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