Chinese writer and translator Yang Jiang died early on May 25, 2016 in Beijing at age 104. The longest-living Chinese woman writer, she was known for her modest, subtle and witty writing style.
Yang became a household name in China for her novels, essays, plays and translated works. Her most popular novel, Baptism, describing a group of intellectuals (知识分子) adjusting to a new society in the early 1950s, has been translated into French and English.
Yang began learning Spanish in 1959 at age 48, and started to translate Don Quixote in 1962. She was the first to translate Don Quixote into Chinese. The work was stopped twice due to the "cultural revolution". She completed it in 1976, and the Chinese edition was published in 1978 and has sold more than 1 million copies. In that year, the Spanish king and queen visited China, and then-leader Deng Xiao-ping gave the royal couple Yang's translation as a gift. Yang was received by Deng at the Great Hall of the People. While shaking hands, Deng asked her when she had completed the translation. "It's just published," she replied, having no time to tell the full story.
She was married to Qian Zhongshu, a well-known scholar and author of the best-selling novel Fortress Besieged. Yang's memoir about her family, The Three of Us, written after her husband and daughter died, in 1998 and 1997 respectively, was translated into German.
Yang never stopped writing. At 94, she started writing the book Walking onto the Edge of Life to reflect on her life. It won China's top book award in 2007. At 100, she was still writing articles for newspapers.
Hobbs was an orphan (孤儿). He worked in a factory and every day he got a little money. Hard work made him thin and weak. He wanted to borrow a lot of money to learn to paint pictures, but he did not think he could pay off the debts.
One day a lawyer said to him, “One thousand dollars, and here is the money.” As Hobbs took the package of notes, he was very dumbfounded. He didn't know where the money came from and how to spend it. He said to himself, “I could go to find a hotel and live like a rich man for a few days; or I give up my work in the factory and do what I'd like to do—painting pictures. I could do that for a few weeks, but what would I do after that? I should have lost my place in the factory and have no money to live on. If it were a little less money, I would buy a new coat, or a radio, or give a dinner to my friends. If it were more, I could give up the work and pay for painting pictures. But it's too much for one and too little for the other.”
“Here is the reading of your uncle's will (遗嘱)，” said the lawyer, “telling what is to be done with this money after his death. I must ask you to remember one point. Your uncle has said you must bring me a paper showing exactly what you did with his money, as soon as you have spent it.” “Yes, I see. I'll do that，” said the young man.
on the spot；account for；bring up；go ahead；to the contrary；by accident |
—No.，please.
For some time, I had been thinking that I wanted to do something to make strangers smile. I decided that I (leave) small notes around shops and other public places with positive sayings or kind words for strangers (find).
A friend on Facebook posted that she had received a lot of beautiful paper from an artist friend and was wondering what to do with it. I told her about my idea, and she (immediate) said that this must be what her paper was meant for.
So two friends on opposite (side) of the world started leaving these random notes of kindness. I leave my notes without (expect) any particular result. It doesn't matter whether they are read thrown away. The main thing is that I did this act.
I now carry around a notebook in I write down lovely and inspiring phrases that I find. And I buy packs of Post its to write notes on whenever I see opportunity to make a stranger smile. I only leave the notes when I am feeling in a (happily) mood, as I don't want to pass any negative energy on to someone else.
I sign them all (say) that this note is left for you by a stranger to make you smile. Then, I add a heart.
We live in the Internet age when much business is conducted online. How shall we mark the special occasions？There are numerous websites available online that specialize in electronic cards，or ecards in short.
Cards have been a popular way to express one's feelings and gratitude. Earlier，there were traditional cards handpicked for special occasions but now，those are being replaced by ecards. Ecards are friendly in the world，which means you can send them to anyone around the world，to your friends，relatives，family，cousins，children，colleagues and numerous others.There are Thank You Cards，Birthday Cards，Invitation Cards，Romantic Cards，Seasonal Cards Congratulation Cards，and Cards For Special Events. In other words，you have cards for any occasion. Many sites offer the cards free.Almost all the ecards are available online for print. If you have an office party and want to make it exceptional，printable Invitation Cards are not difficult to find. You can also give them printable Thank You Cards and then Congratulation Cards to honor the best colleagues for their contributions and efforts._ Just register with an online ecard website，look through the different kinds of cards，select your cards，download and print the cards you like. You get everything，basically nothing spent at your side.
With ecards，send your messages and best wishes to any person around the globe.
A．Why do we send cards anyway?
B．Ecards are in fashion these days.
C．What types of cards are there?
D．Where can we find the suitable cards we like?
E．Therefore，what do you need to do to print ecards?
F．Ecards are more convenient than traditional cards.
G．In addition，you also have printable ecards and those are free too.
