八种笔画
Chinese calligraphy for beginners
Name: ________________ Date: ________
安娜在北京住了两年了。今年春节，她想给男朋友的妈妈写一个大大的“福”字。
她找到了一个书法班。老师姓王，六十多岁，说话很慢。
第一天，王老师没有教“福”。他在纸上写了一个“永”字：“这个字里有八种笔画。写好了它，别的字就不难了。”
安娜天天写。第一个星期，她写“永”。第二个星期，她还在写“永”。
第三个星期，她有点儿不高兴了：“老师，还有五天就过年了！我只学了一个字！”
王老师看了看她的“永”，笑了：“好，今天写‘福’。”
安娜拿起笔，写得很慢。写完以后，她自己都不相信：这个“福”字真好看！
过年前一天，她拿着“福”字去男朋友家，还帮他妈妈贴在门上。贴好以后，她才看见：这个福字是倒着贴的！
“对不起，对不起！”安娜马上要去换。
男朋友的妈妈拉住她，笑得很开心：“别换！福字倒着贴，就是福到了！”
安娜不明白。男朋友告诉她，很多中国人过年都这样做。福字倒着贴，听起来就像“福到了”。
过年以后，安娜回到书法班，告诉了王老师这件事。
王老师听完，大笑起来，又在纸上写了一个字。安娜一看——还是“永”。
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 纸 | zhǐ | paper |
| 种 | zhǒng | to plant; to grow |
| 别的 | biéde | other; else |
| 难 | nán | difficult; hard |
| 以后 | yǐhòu | later; afterwards; in the future |
| 相信 | xiāngxìn | to believe; to trust |
| 换 | huàn | to change; to replace |
| 开心 | kāixīn | happy; glad |
| 明白 | míngbai | to understand; to realize |
| 像 | xiàng | like; as |
| 大大 | dàdà | respectful address for a popular creator or leader |
| 倒 | dào | upside down; inverted |
English (for the teacher)
Anna has lived in Beijing for two years. This Spring Festival, she wants to write a big 福, “good fortune”, for her boyfriend’s mother.
She finds a calligraphy class. The teacher is called Wang; he’s in his sixties and speaks very slowly.
On the first day, Mr Wang doesn’t teach 福. He writes 永, “forever”, on the paper: “This character has eight kinds of stroke in it. Write it well, and the other characters won’t be hard.”
Anna writes every day. The first week, she writes 永. The second week, she is still writing 永.
By the third week she’s getting cross: “Teacher, it’s New Year in five days! I’ve only learned one character!”
Mr Wang looks at her 永 and smiles: “All right. Today, write 福.”
Anna picks up the brush and writes very slowly. When she’s finished, she can hardly believe it: this 福 really looks good!
The day before New Year, she takes the 福 to her boyfriend’s home and helps his mother put it up on the door. When it’s up, she suddenly sees it: the 福 is upside down!
“Sorry, sorry!” Anna rushes to change it.
Her boyfriend’s mother holds her back, laughing happily: “Don’t change it! An upside-down 福 means good fortune has arrived!”
Anna doesn’t understand. Her boyfriend tells her that lots of Chinese people do this at New Year. “Upside down” is dào and “arrive” is dào: an upside-down 福 sounds just like “good fortune has arrived”.
After New Year, Anna goes back to the calligraphy class and tells Mr Wang the story.
Mr Wang listens, roars with laughter, and writes another character on the paper. Anna looks: it’s 永 again.