风水是什么？
What is feng shui?
Name: ________________ Date: ________
丁浩搬进新家的第一个周末，妈妈就来看他了。她一进门，没去看厨房，也没问房租，而是直奔卧室，站在门口，皱着眉头说：“床怎么能正对着门呢？还有，床对面也不能放镜子。”丁浩笑着说：“妈，这都什么年代了，您还讲究风水？”
“风水”这两个字，字面意思很简单：刮风的风，流水的水。古人认为，天地之间有一种看不见的“气”，遇到风会散开，遇到水才会停下来，所以人们把这门学问叫做“风水”。最早，它主要用来给祖先选墓地，给村子和房子选位置。理想的地方，后面靠着山，前面有水，房子坐北朝南。
这些讲究，有不少是有生活道理的。在中国北方，房子朝南，冬天能晒到更多的太阳；后面的山，又能遮挡从北边吹来的寒风。北京的四合院坐北朝南，故宫的大殿也都面朝南方。
到了今天，大多数人不会再去研究复杂的理论，可是一些小规矩，至今还延续在很多家庭里：床不要正对着门，床对面不要放镜子，自家的大门最好不要对着邻居家的大门。有些人买房子以前，甚至会专门请一位风水先生，拿着罗盘把每个房间都看一遍。
为什么床不能对着门？民间有一种说法：过去，只有去世的人，才会脚朝着门躺着。也有人说，这样睡觉没有安全感，门外有一点儿动静都听得清清楚楚。床对面放镜子也是一样，半夜醒来，迷迷糊糊地看见镜子里有个人影，难免会吓一跳。
对于风水，中国人的看法各不相同。有人深信不疑，有人觉得它就是迷信，更多的人则是半信半疑，按照老规矩摆放家具，只是图个吉利，让自己安心一点儿。
丁浩虽然说无所谓，可还是拗不过妈妈，最后把床挪到了另一面墙边。奇怪的是，那个星期，他每天都睡得特别好。妈妈打电话来，得意地说：“你看，风水还是有用的吧？”丁浩看了看那扇朝东的窗户，没有说话。以前，床就在窗户底下，每天早上五点多，太阳一出来就把他晒醒了。
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 卧室 | wòshì | bedroom |
| 年代 | niándài | age; era; years |
| 讲究 | jiǎngjiu | careful consideration; rule |
| 位置 | wèizhì | position; place; location |
| 道理 | dàoli | reason; sense |
| 晒 | shài | to dry in the sun; to bask |
| 理论 | lǐlùn | theory |
| 至今 | zhìjīn | to this day; so far; until now |
| 去世 | qùshì | to pass away; to die |
| 半夜 | bànyè | midnight; the middle of the night |
| 墙 | qiáng | wall |
| 扇 | shàn | fan |
English (for the teacher)
On Ding Hao's first weekend in his new flat, his mother came to see him. The moment she came in, she didn't look at the kitchen and didn't ask about the rent; instead she headed straight for the bedroom, stood in the doorway, frowned and said: “How can the bed face the door? And you can't put a mirror across from the bed either.” Ding Hao laughed: “Mum, what century is this? You still go in for feng shui?”
Literally, the two characters of “feng shui” are simple: the feng of a blowing wind, the shui of flowing water. People of old believed that between heaven and earth there is an invisible “qi”, which scatters when it meets wind and only stops when it meets water, so they called this body of knowledge “feng shui”. At first it was mainly used to choose burial sites for ancestors, and places for villages and houses. The ideal spot had a hill behind it and water in front, with the house sitting in the north and facing south.
Quite a few of these rules make sense in everyday life. In northern China, a house that faces south gets more sun in winter, and a hill behind it blocks the cold wind blowing in from the north. Beijing's courtyard houses sit in the north and face south, and the great halls of the Forbidden City all face south as well.
Today most people no longer study the complicated theory, but some small rules still carry on in many homes to this day: the bed shouldn't face the door, there shouldn't be a mirror across from the bed, and your front door had better not face your neighbour's front door. Some people, before buying a flat, even hire a feng shui master to go through every room with a luopan compass.
Why can't the bed face the door? One folk explanation goes: in the old days, only the dead were laid with their feet toward the door. Others say that sleeping like this doesn't feel safe, because you can hear every little sound outside the door. A mirror across from the bed is the same: wake up in the middle of the night, half asleep, see a figure in the mirror, and you're bound to get a fright.
Chinese people's views on feng shui differ. Some believe in it without a doubt, some think it's just superstition, and even more are half convinced: they arrange the furniture by the old rules simply for luck, to put their minds a little more at ease.
Ding Hao said he didn't care, but he couldn't talk his mother out of it, and in the end he moved the bed to the other wall. Strangely, he slept especially well every night that week. His mother phoned and said, pleased with herself: “See, feng shui works after all, doesn't it?” Ding Hao looked at the window that faced east and said nothing. The bed used to be right under the window, and every morning just after five, the moment the sun came up, it woke him.