At my first lesson in Chinese calligraphy, my teacher told me, “Now I will teach you how to write your name. And to make it beautiful.” I felt my breath catch. I was curious.
Growing up in Singapore, I had an unusual relationship with my Chinese name. My parents are of Chinese blood, so they decided my name aiming for luck. As a result, I ended up with a strange name: Chen Yiwen. To me, they are like “old”, “barley (大麦)” and “warm”.
When I arrived in America for college, I put on an American accent (口音) and gave up my Chinese name. When I moved to Hong Kong, China, after 14 years in the US, I decided to learn calligraphy. “Why not get back in touch with my family’s traditional culture?” I thought.
In calligraphy, the idea is to copy the old masters’ skills, and improve your own skills little by little. Every week, though, my teacher would give on-the-nose assessments on my state. “You need to be braver,” he once pointed out. “Try to produce a bold (大胆的) stroke.” For years, I had prided myself on being confident, but my writing let others see my real weakness.
I was trying to make sense of this practice. You must picture the word carefully before you write and leave your own marks. My teacher once said to me, “When you look at the word, you see the body. Though a word on the page is 2D, it contains more, showing the force you use, the energy of your hold, how your back bends (弯曲).” I had been learning calligraphy to know about the place where I’m from, but what I was really impressed was the joy it brought—calligraphy allowed me to explore my inner self and have a clearer self-awareness.
During a recent lesson, my teacher pointed at the character I had just finished, telling me, “This is much better. I can see the choices you made, your careful thinking, your flow. Trust yourself. This word is yours.” He might as well have said, “This word is you.”
() 4. What can we learn about the writer’s Chinese name?
A. It was given by the writer’s teacher. B. The writer is always proud of it.
C. It was out of the writer’s parents’ wishes. D. It has a meaning hard to understand.
() 5. Why did the writer decide to learn calligraphy after moving to Hong Kong?
A. To improve her writing skills. B. To connect with her hometown culture.
C. To make more friends. D. To write to her family members.
() 6. What does the underlined part “on-the-nose” in paragraph 4 mean?
A. Direct and exact. B. Far from the fact. C. Full of mistakes. D. Hard to understand.
() 7. What’s the writer’s deepest gain (收获) from learning calligraphy?
A. Learning from a wise calligrapher. B. Showing off calligraphy skills.
C. A better understanding of herself. D. Learning about her Chinese name.
() 8. What can we infer from the teacher’s last words “This word is you”?
A. Calligraphy has greatly changed the writer’s personality.
B. People can know others’ looks just from their written words.
C. One’s inner personality naturally comes out through his writing.
D. The teacher thinks the writer can create his own character now.

三、信息还原（10分）
On a farm, a lion stands on its back legs. Far behind him are some birds. The picture is called Lion and Beyond.
1. Zhang grew up in a small village. He started drawing on the walls because he couldn’t afford paper or pencils. Then, Zhang took part-time jobs to attend art lessons in a city. With little art education, some said Zhang’s paintings were “not right”. 2. But when he started using Chinese ink brushes, his pictures became popular.
3. Now, he can make more than 20,000 yuan a month. But money is not the most important thing for him. His dreams, however, are even bigger. “4. ” Zhang always said. To achieve it, he keeps creating all the time and hopes to inspire others. He believes art can warm everyone’s heart.
5. He drew black and white drawings before, but now he makes colourful paintings with animals that have big, funny eyes. Some people call Zhang a great village painter, but he just thinks of himself as someone who loves to paint.
A. Zhang’s art style has changed a lot.
B. I hope to make more money on my own.
C. This work was created by Zhang Mingxiang.
D. Zhang’s life also improved because of his works.
E. It made Zhang think that painting might not be for him.
F. He learned painting skills mainly from famous painters.
G. My goal is to share my works with more people and bring them joy.