Many Chinese words have directions in them and the - 学进去中小学试卷试题库

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所属科目：初中英语

Many Chinese words have directions in them and there is lots of history hidden behind.

East and West

When going shopping, Chinese people say “maidongxi”. One theory (说法) says that in the Tang Dynasty, there were two popular markets, the East Market and the West Market, in Chang’an. When shopping, people usually went to the East Market first, and then went to the West Market. As time went by, people started to describe (描述) shopping as “maidongxi”.

Left or right

In Chinese, we say “yijianxiangzuo” (意见相左) when we have different opinions. Why is it not “yijianxiangyou”?

Most people are right-handed. They feel uncomfortable if they use their left hand to write. So in ancient Chinese, “left” means being different. If people don’t accept (接受) common beliefs, we say they are following “pangmenzuodao” (旁门左道).

“Left” and “right” also have something to do with people’s social status (地位). In ancient China, “right” can mean higher status than “left”. For example, the character “佑” means a person in a higher status would protect (保护) someone in a lower status.

Up or down

We use “shangcesuo” to mean “go to the bathroom” and “xiachufang” to mean go to the kitchen. Why?

In ancient times, the gate of the house would face south, with the bathroom in the northeastern part of the house and the kitchen in the southeastern part. On maps, north is usually at the top. So we talk about the north as “shang” and the south as “xia”. People would say they were going up to the bathroom and down to the kitchen.

“Shang” and “xia” also show social status. For example, “huangshang” (皇上) means the emperor and “dianxia” (殿下) means the princes who had a lower status than the emperor.

1．People use “left” to show ________.
a. difference b. protection c. different directions d. low status

A．ad

B．ab

C．bc

D．bd

2．What was an ancient house like in China?

A．