Saving the past

江西 江海连

题材：文物修复 体裁：记叙文 文章词数：329 建议用时：6分钟

For a decade, Xie Jincheng has been completely involved in his duties at the National Library of China (NLC) in Beijing.Each working day, he sits at a desk and focuses on handling ragged yet priceless pieces of paper in front of him.As one of the 17 restorers of ancient books at the NLC, he shakes off centuries of old dust to renew the works he deals with.

Xie does not require a large space to use his skills.Using glue, scissors, tweezers (镊子), brushes and several other simple implements, he skilfully restores the pages in front of him.

Xie, who majored in chemistry at college, switched to cultural relics conservation at graduate school, realizing that there was a shortage of restorers of ancient books in China.Despite his educational background, he thought that practicing a traditional craft was the best way to improve his skills.It took Xie more than two years of observing his tutors and developing his talent before he was formally assigned (分派) to restore his first page.

Everyone working in this industry has to learn a saying from the Ming Dynasty book Zhuanghuangzhi, “Restoration (of books) is like seeing a doctor.If the doctor is good, your illness will disappear immediately following treatment.But if not, you may die taking the medicine.So if you cannot see a good craftsman, you'd better keep your item as it is.”

To ensure quality, Xie only restores a few pages a day, and if the damage is severe, it sometimes takes him several days to fix a single page.It takes much longer time to search for the right paper to restore books, based on their original material.Patience is greatly required to do this job well.

Xie feels he is much more fortunate than restorers in ancient times.A long-term exhibition of key books restored in recent years opened at the NLC in 2020.Some of the titles he worked on are on display, with his name highlighted on tags.

Reading Check

1.What's the function of the first paragraph?

A.To state an opinion.B.To introduce a report.

一般每亩用33%二甲戊灵150～200毫升，对水40～50升；或每亩用90%的乙草胺药液100～130毫升，对水40～50升，均匀喷于垄面上，喷药后，要及时覆膜，保持药效。可以有效地防除一年生禾本科杂草及部分阔叶杂草如稗草、马唐、狗尾草、早熟禾、马齿苋等。

C.To lead in the topic.D.To advertise an ancient book.

2.What does the underlined word “implements” in paragraph 2 mean?

A.Books.B.Tools.C.Skills.D.Pens.

3.Why did Xie change his major at graduate school?

A.He wanted to challenge himself.

B.He showed little interest in chemistry.

D.He learned the lack of restorers of ancient books in China.

4.Why does the author mention Zhuanghuangzhi?

A.To show it is a famous book.

B.To warn people of medicine's effects.

C.To help people understand the restoration of books better.

D.To explain the relationship between doctors and patients.

Language Study

Difficult sentence

To ensure quality, Xie only restores a few pages a day, and if the damage is severe,it sometimes takes him several days to fix a single page.为了保证质量，谢每天只修复几页，如果损坏严重，他有时要花几天时间来修复一页。

【点石成金】该句中and连接两个并列句，to ensure quality为不定式作目的状语。