Question

Did ancient Chinese people have weekends or public holidays? The weekly calendar (日歷) was invented in the West. In ancient China, there were no such things as weekends. But people did take days off in the past.

For example, during the Han Dynasty, officials (官員) took one day off every five days. When it came to Tang Dynasty, officials had to work for ten days before they could rest for one day. But this was still reasonable, because officials at the time shared their work together. They also enjoyed public holidays for Chinese New Year and the inter solstice (冬至), with both holidays lasting for seven days.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, officials had to work all year long, except for public holidays, including a full month at the end of the year to celebrate Spring Festival. They also took seven days off on the king’s birthday. On the Mid-Autumn and Dragon Boat festivals, they could rest for one day as well.

As people like businessmen and farmers, they usually worked most of the year. But even the poor workers would take a few days off during Spring Festival. There were also days on which people of all walks of life offered food to the spirits. For example, farmers would give offerings to tudigong twice a year. People usually took one day off for this.

1.According to the passage, the Westerners invented _________ in the past.

A.good spirits B.public holidays

C.inter solstice D.weekly calendar

2.Officials in Tang Dynasty took one day off every ten days because _________.

A.they shared the work together at the time B.there was much work to do then

C.they could get more holidays for New Year D.they had to work hard to make money

3.Officials during the Ming and Qing Dynasties could take seven days off on _________.

A.the Mid-Autumn Day B.the Dragon Boat festivals

C.the king’s birthday D.the Spring Festival

4.From the passage we can know that _________.

A.ancient Chinese people had more public holidays

B.farmers would give offerings to tudigong twice a year

C.businessmen weren’t allowed to offer food to the spirits

D.officials had to work all year long during the Han Dynasty

Answer 1