太极拳是什么？
What is tai chi?
Name: ________________ Date: ________
清晨六点，公园里还有点儿凉。湖边已经站着一群老人，随着音乐慢慢地抬手、转身、迈步，动作缓慢得像电影里的慢镜头。他们打的这套拳法，就是太极拳。
那段时间，我工作压力特别大，每天夜里都睡不好。同事劝我：“你去公园学学太极拳吧。”我心想：那不是老年人的运动吗？慢成那样，能有什么用？
带队的是一位七十多岁的老人，大家都叫他葛师傅。他听说我想学，只说了一句话：“慢，是最难的。”
太极拳是中国传统武术的一种。关于它的起源，有一个流传很广的传说：武当山上的道士张三丰看见一只鸟和一条蛇打斗，从中受到启发，创立了这套拳法。不过，很多学者认为，太极拳最早来自河南温县的陈家沟。后来，杨露禅把它带到了北京，又发展出了各种流派。
今天公园里最常见的，是二十四式太极拳。它是1956年在杨式太极拳的基础上简化而成的，动作不多，适合普通人学。每个动作都有一个好听的名字，比如“白鹤亮翅”“野马分鬃”“云手”。
第一个星期，我学得一塌糊涂。手到了，脚没到；脚到了，又忘了呼吸。葛师傅反反复复就那么几句：“放松，肩膀放下来。别使劲。再慢一点。”
一天练完，他让我跟他试一个练习：两个人手臂搭在一起，一个推，一个化解。他说：“你使劲推我。”我比他年轻四十岁，就用全身的力气推了过去。不料他身体轻轻一转，我就像推在了一扇敞开的门上，自己差点摔倒。周围的老人都笑了。
葛师傅扶住我，说：“太极拳讲究以柔克刚。还有一句话，叫‘四两拨千斤’。不是比谁力气大，而是用很小的力量，改变很大的力量的方向。”
2020年，太极拳被列入了人类非物质文化遗产代表作名录。在中国，它早就走进了千家万户，不只是一种武术，更是一种生活方式。
三个月过去了，我晚上睡得香多了，脾气也温和了不少。上个星期，一个年轻人站在湖边看我们，脸上带着我当初那种怀疑的表情。我走过去，对他说：“慢，是最难的。”
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 群 | qún | group; crowd; herd |
| 缓慢 | huǎnmàn | slow; sluggish |
| 套 | tào | cover; case; sheath (as in 手套) |
| 劝 | quàn | to advise; to urge; to persuade |
| 传统 | chuántǒng | tradition; traditional; conventional |
| 武术 | wǔshù | martial arts; wushu |
| 流传 | liúchuán | to spread; to circulate; to hand down |
| 广 | guǎng | Guangdong or Guangzhou (short for 广东, 广州) |
| 传说 | chuánshuō | legend; folklore |
| 蛇 | shé | snake |
| 学者 | xuézhě | scholar; academic |
| 式 | shì | style; type |
English (for the teacher)
Six in the morning, and the park was still a little chilly. By the lake a group of old people were already standing, raising their hands, turning and stepping slowly in time to music, moving as slowly as a slow-motion shot in a film. What they were doing was tai chi.
Back then I was under huge pressure at work and slept badly every night. A colleague urged me, “Go and learn some tai chi in the park.” I thought to myself: isn't that exercise for old people? What use could anything that slow be?
The man leading them was in his seventies, and everyone called him Master Ge. When he heard I wanted to learn, he said just one thing: “Slow is the hardest part.”
Tai chi is one of China's traditional martial arts. There is a widely told legend about its origin: the Daoist Zhang Sanfeng on Mount Wudang watched a bird fighting a snake, took inspiration from it and created this style of boxing. But many scholars believe tai chi first came from Chenjiagou, a village in Wen County, Henan. Later, Yang Luchan brought it to Beijing, and it grew into a number of different styles.
What you see most often in parks today is the 24-step tai chi. It was simplified from Yang-style tai chi in 1956; it has few movements and suits ordinary people. Every movement has a lovely name, such as “White Crane Spreads Its Wings”, “Part the Wild Horse's Mane” and “Cloud Hands”.
In the first week I made a complete mess of it. When my hands got there my feet didn't; when my feet got there I forgot to breathe. Master Ge said the same few things over and over: “Relax, drop your shoulders. Don't use force. Slower still.”
One day after practice he had me try an exercise with him: two people rest their arms against each other, one pushes, and the other yields. He said, “Push me as hard as you can.” I was forty years younger than him, so I pushed with all the strength in my body. But he just turned his body lightly, and it was like pushing on an open door: I nearly fell over. The old people around us all laughed.
Master Ge caught me and said, “Tai chi is about softness overcoming hardness. There's another saying: ‘four ounces deflect a thousand pounds’. It's not about who's stronger, but about using a very small force to change the direction of a very big one.”
In 2020, tai chi was added to UNESCO's list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. In China it has long been part of countless households: not just a martial art, but a way of life.
Three months on, I sleep much better at night, and my temper has calmed down a lot. Last week a young man stood by the lake watching us, with the same doubtful look I'd once had. I walked over and said to him, “Slow is the hardest part.”