If you do not know what to wear to attend a Chinese celebration, something red is always the right choice on such occasions．The red color is always associated with "happiness and good fortune"．The Chinese people enjoy decorating their houses with something red．The bride wears a traditional Chinese wedding dress in red on her wedding day(though probably influenced by the western customs she would wear white wedding dress at the beginning of the celebration)．Unlike the implication of red to anger, danger and the unreasonable outburst of emotions in the West, such as the expressions like：be a red rag to a bull; to see red; to see the red light; to paint the town red; red in tooth and claw etc．the red always carries positive meanings in China．

　　The next color used to be very special is yellow, which is similar to the color of earth and soil since earth and soil were very important to people．Yellow used to be the fashionable color used by the Emperors in China．

　　Another favorite color is green, which represents life and energy, while black and white are associated with death．Don't wear a black dress to attend the wedding or a birthday party．Wearing white headdress(头饰)indicates that someone in your home recently dies．

　　Probably black is also associated with darkness．The Chinese like to refer to things illegally done "black", for example, "black money" and "black market"．And "black heart" refers to someone really bad．

　　The indirect meanings of colors are obvious in the costumes of traditional Chinese operas．Red indicates loyalty and courage; black represents honesty and fairness; yellow clothing signifies royalty and white to purity．

　　Don't wear a green hat on any occasion in your daily life．"Wearing a green hat" is a Chinese idiom referring to one's wife has committed adultery．A husband wearing a green hat seems to claim that his wife is an adulteress．Therefore don't make yourself a standing joke．

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阅读理解

Feb 28, 2008

Dear Colleagues,

　　It is no secret that we are in the midst of one of the worst economic times in recent state history．Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed ＄14 billion in cuts, which means cuts to parks, prisons, and yes, education．For our school district that figure translates to ＄12 million．We must have planned cuts in place before June 30．

　　We have been meeting with representatives of all the unions and management staff and a community-based budget committee to talk about ways of making budget cuts．We created a special link on the district website to provide information on budget cuts across the county．I've produced two videos, also placed on the special“Budget Update”link on the website．These videos have outlined what we're doing to look at all programs across the district in our efforts to save money．We're beginning a campaign where we're going to encourage all of our employees and parents to write, call, and email their legislators(立法委员)to spare education from big cuts．

　　Despite the efforts we made to keep the cuts as far away from classroom as possible, we know we will have some serious decisions to make．With 87％ of our budget going to employee salaries and benefits, we know these cuts may affect people．We're hoping that those thinking of retiring will tell us soon so that we can also place people in those positions, if possible．We're hoping that we can place people into open positions．

　　These conversations are not easy．I promise you, however, that we will be honest and open with you－that we will share with you all the information that was considered in making decisions．

　　Thank you for all you do for the students of our school district．

　　Sincerely, Jesus M Gandara, Ed．D．Superintendent

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