Master of Beijing Opera—Mei Lanfang

Mei Lanfang is a master（大師） of Beijing Opera. When he was young， he liked Beijing Opera very much. At the age of eight， he began to learn Beijing Opera at home.*

But Mei Lanfang was a little shy* and couldn't sing well. His teacher Mr. Zhu was angry and said， “You have no talent（天賦）. I will not teach you any more（不再）.” And then he left*.

Mei Lanfang was very sad， but he didn’t lose heart（灰心）. He said to himself， “If I work hard*， I can learn it well!”

After a few（一些） days， Mei Lanfang had a new teacher， Mr. Wu. Mr. Wu was very strict* with him. Mei Lanfang learned to sing， dance and act* day and night. When he learned something new， he always did it again and again.* At last， he was famous*.

One day， his first teacher Mr. Zhu met him. Mr. Zhu said， “I’m sorry. I didn’t see your talent. You are so great!”

Mei Lanfang said， “No， you taught* me a lot. I have no talent， so I must work hard.”

Mei Lanfang loved our country very much. He refused（拒絕） to act for the Japanese invaders.* He died* in 1961， but we will remember（銘記） him.