精编优选练(三十三)中华传统文化语篇专题——阅读理解2 (限时：30 分钟) A If it rains heavily on Saturday night, some elderly Chinese will say it is because Zhinü， or the Weaving Maid, is crying on the day she met her husband Niulang, or the Cowherd, on the Milky Way. Most Chinese remember being told this romantic tragedy when they were children on Qixi, or the Seventh Night Festival, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, which is usually in early August. Once there was a cowherd, Niulang, who lived with his elder brother and sisterinlaw. But she disliked and abused him, and the boy was forced to leave home with only an old cow for company. The cow, however, was a former god who had violated imperial rules and was sent to earth. One day the cow led Niulang to a lake where fairies took a bath on earth.Among them was Zhinü， the most beautiful fairy and a skilled seamstress. The two fell in love at first sight and were soon married. They had a son and a daughter. Yet in the eyes of the Jade Emperor, the Supreme Deity in Taoism, marriage between a mortal and fairy was strictly forbidden. He ordered the heaven troop to catch Zhinü back. Niulang grew desperate when he discovered Zhinü had been taken back to heaven. Driven by Niulang's misery, the cow told him to turn its hide into a pair of shoes after it died. The magic shoes whisked Niulang off on a chase after the empress. The pursuit enraged the empress, who took her hairpin and slashed it across the sky creating the Milky Way which separated husband from wife. But magpies, moved by their love, formed a bridge across the Milky Way to reunite the family. Even the Jade Emperor was touched, and all...
