Question

第四節(jié) 閱讀表達

In Chinese, the phrase “daomei’’ is often used to describe bad luck. Where did “daomei” come from? It is said that daomei comes from Zhejiang during the Ming Dynasty (朝代). It has something to do with the keju testing system that were given in ancient China.

At the time, there were no entrance examinations for colleges and universities like today. If someone wanted to become an officer, that person would need to take the keju tests. The keju testing system consisted of several tests at different levels. Through the highest-level tests, called dianshi, the best candidates (候選人) were chosen by the emperor.

The keju tests were hard and competition was fierce(激烈的). During the Ming Dynasty, candidates in Zhejiang would put up a flagpole in front of the gate to their home, wishing for good luck on the tests. Local people called the flagpole “mei” (楣) at the time. If someone passed a test, the flagpole would be kept up. If they failed, the flagpole would be removed, which was called “daomei”, meaning “the flagpole falls”.

As time passed, daomei came to refer not only to “failing a test”, but also to describe being unlucky in general. The Chinese character for mei was also changed from“楣” to today’s “霉”, since the two have the same pronunciation.

1.Which province did the term “daomei” come from?

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2.Were there any college entrance examinations in ancient China?

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3.According to the story, what did “mei” refer to (指的是) during the Ming Dynasty?

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4.Who chose the best candidates?

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5.How do you like the keju tests?

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Answer 1