外研社选修八 module6原文.doc

The?Golden?Age?Of?Chinese?Poetry? 1_______________________________? The?Tang?Dynasty?(618-907)?was?one?of?the?great?dynasties?in?Chinese?history.?It?was?a?time?of??expansion.?At??its?high?point,?the?country?reached?as?far?as?Siberia?(now?part?of?Russia)?in?the?north,?Korea?in?the?east?and?Vietnam?in?the?south.?The?Tang?rulers?also?controlled?the?trade?route?known?as?the?Silk?Road?well?into?present-day?Afghanistan.? 2_______________________________? Trade?with?foreign?countries?created?a?tolerant?and?cosmopolitan?culture.?Persians,?Arabs?and?Jews?came?to?live?in?Chinese?towns,?bringing?with?them?their?own?religions?and?customs.?They?were?allowed?to?live?in?communities?governed?by?their?own?laws,?and?to?keep?their?traditional?forms?of?entertainment?such?as?music?and?dance,?which?influenced?the?development?of?Tang?culture.?But?perhaps?the?biggest?foreign?influence?came?from?Buddhism,?whose?origins?were?in?India.?At?the?same?time?foreigners?who?were?educated?at?the?Tang?court?took?the?Chinese?culture?home?with?them.?Soon?Japan?and?Korea?were?organised?on?the?Tang?model,?while?Chinese?influence?extended?throughout?Southeast?Asia.?? 3_______________________________? Cultural?development?went?hand?in?hand?with?technological?progress.?New?discoveries?were?made?in?astronomy,?geography?and?medicine.?In?724?Seng?Yixing?measured?the?length?of?the?sun’s?shadow?and?the?altitude?of?the?North?Pole.?Under?Emperor?Taizong?(627～649)??the?government?opened?medical?schools?where?specialist?subjects?were?studied.?The?invention?of?printing?about?this?time?meant?that?knowledge?could?be?recorded?and?shared?as?never?before.?But?it?was?not?just?scientific?knowledge?that?could?now?reach?a?wider?audience.?Printing?also?marked?the?beginning?of?the?golden?age?of?literature－and?literature,?in?the?Tang?Dynasty,?meant?poetry.? 4_______________________________? In?the?beauty?of?its?images?and?the?range?of?topics,?Tang?poetry?was?better?than?everything?that?had?come?before?it.?But?how?did?this?happen?