5. Make up sentences of your own with the given words and phrases.

6. Match a line in A with a line in B.

A	B
skill	a major part of the tusks of elephants
exquisite	not widely known, not frequently used or experienced
to accomplish	to improve or beautify by adding detail or ornament
rare	possessing qualities of unusual delicacy and fine craftsmanship
ivory	the arrangement or plan of something
to embellish	to go after or bring back
aim	special ability in a task
layout	short subdivision of a poem
to fetch	to manage to do, achieve
verse	the action of directing something at an object

7. Summarize the text in English. Unit 28 text

The Chinese paint landscapes for spiritual inspiration

In the tenth century, Chinese artists perfected a new form of landscape, one that transcended a straightforward copy of a scene to emphasize more profound philosophical associations.

The Daoist beliefs that dominated Chinese culture placed great emphasis on harmony with the natural world. The term for landscape was composed of the two characters for mountains and water. These same symbols also represented the male and female—the yang and the yin. Written together, the characters signified a balance in nature. Landscape was considered to be sacred, symbolic, and charged with spiritual meaning. As the painter Guo Xi declared: "The virtuous man above all delights in landscapes."

Chinese landscape art was not intended to record a specific place or depict a pleasant scene. It had a far higher prestige than that of a mere picture. Its purpose was to provide an aid to contemplation and meditation. The paintings were designed to enrich the spirit of the individual who looked at them by revealing the essence of a universal, natural order. For this reason, landscape painters avoided bright colours, which were deemed too sensual and transitory. Instead, their pictures were notable for their muted tones and were sometimes almost monochromatic.

In seeking to probe beneath the surface of things, landscape painters shunned the use of a single, fixed perspective, opting instead to create multiple viewpoints within the picture. This encouraged the eye to move around the composition, exploring individual highlights, similar to a traveller passing through a country scene. The Chinese described this approach to landscape with the term woyou, which means "wandering while lying down."

Chinese landscapes were created to be handled and used in rituals. They were painted on silk and mounted on hand scrolls or hanging scrolls. These could be rolled up and stored away, ready to be brought out during festivals and

10 Autumn Sky about Valleys and Mountains

Kuo His, c.1020-1090

Sung Dynasty

other special occasions. The unrolling process itself was often carried out in a dignified, ceremonial fashion. As each new section was revealed, the previous one was covered up. This meant, once again, that the landscape was experienced as a type of journey.

With its spiritual status, the art of landscape painting was an important part of life for those in the higher ranks of society. Apart from scrolls, landscapes were also produced on fans and albums. These were generally painted as gifts, and often featured inscriptions from friends and family. The combination of painting and calligraphy worked well as, in China, these two art forms were very closely related. A certain type of leaf, for example, would always be represented by a specific brushstroke, with the same precision that a calligrapher would employ when depicting a character from the Chinese alphabet. In albums, landscapes were often accompanied by poems with as much emphasis on the quality of the calligraphy as on the beauty of the painting.

The painters themselves were frequently also poets and enjoyed a high status in Chinese society. They earned their living as imperial court officials, but were respected principally for their artistic and intellectual gifts. Their paintings were not purchased or commissioned, but were created as gifts for educated elite, who alone would be able to appreciate their value.

TASKS