明朝时候有位叫朱由校的皇帝，据说他心灵手巧，善于制造木器。不过也正因为他忙于玩乐，疏于朝政，把大明朝搞的风雨飘摇。对待历史我们要实事求是，不过对待雅思口语考官，咱们就怎么方便怎么来吧。故事可以基于该王朝该皇帝，不过中间的过程和结局，我们就会说什么就说什么。所以以下事件，可能有很多改编之处，请历史专家们勿喷。
I’d like to share a story about a Chinese emperor. My history teacher told me this story.
It happened in Ming Dynasty. The emperor at that time was really into carpentry and handicrafts. And he was pretty good at making those artworks. The sculptures he made were delicate. Some of them are about beauties, and others about natural landscape. He even held exhibitions in his palace and let those officials comment on his work. Obviously, no one dared to say anything bad about it, all he heard was compliments, so he was really confident in himself. And one day, he even held a nationwide competition about carpentry. The winner would get a lifetime supply of money and a high position in the government.
People found this whole thing ridiculous, especially when the country was constantly at war and there were natural disasters like flood or earthquake all year round. How could this emperor have so much spare time to hold such an inappropriate competition? He was supposed to devote all of his time and energy to defending his country and rescuing people who are in danger.
So finally, people couldn’t stand it anymore, and a revolt broke out, a year later, the emperor got overthrown.
如果题目不是让我们说具体的故事，而是说历史时期，我们可以把开头结尾变一下：
I’d like to talk about Ming Dynasty. This period of time is really popular in our history books, ‘cause lots of fun stuff happened at that time. To me, the most hilarious, but also the saddest part of this Dynasty was its emperor, who’s the most ridiculous and irresponsible emperor I’ve ever known.
He basically spent all his waking hours in his own ‘studio’, making his works of art. He never cared about his people. So Ming Dynasty didn’t last for long.
What happened in that dynasty has become a lesson for national leaders in modern society.
语言点解析：
carpentry = the work of a carpenter (a person whose job is making and repairing wooden objects and structures)
handicraft = activities such as sewing and making cloth that use skill with your hands and artistic ability to make things
to teach handicrafts
Her hobbies are music, reading and handicraft.
delicate = made or formed in a very careful and detailed way例如：
the delicate mechanisms of a clock
official = (often in compounds) a person who is in a position of authority in a large organization例如：
a bank/ company/ court/ government official
a senior official in the State Department
Palace officials are refusing to comment on the royal divorce.
compliment = a remark that expresses praise or admiration of somebody例如：
to pay somebody a compliment (= to praise them for something)
‘You understand the problem because you're so much older.’ ‘I'll take that as a compliment!’
It's a great compliment to be asked to do the job.
to return the compliment (= to treat somebody in the same way as they have treated you)
nationwide = happening or existing in all parts of a particular country例如：
a nationwide campaign
The police conducted a nationwide hunt for the missing prisoners.
ridiculous = very silly or unreasonable = absurd例如：
I look ridiculous in this hat.
Don't be ridiculous! You can't pay £50 for a T-shirt!
It was ridiculous that this should be so difficult to say.
They ate and drank a ridiculous amount.
revolt = a protest against authority, especially that of a government, often involving violence; the action of protesting against authority例如：
the Peasants' Revolt of 1381
to lead / stage a revolt
The army quickly crushed the revolt.
the biggest back-bench revolt this government has ever seen
Attempts to negotiate peace ended in armed revolt.
(formal) The people rose in revolt.
break out = (of war, fighting or other unpleasant events) to start suddenly例如：
They had escaped to America shortly before war broke out in 1939.
Fighting had broken out between rival groups of fans.
Fire broke out during the night.
overthrow = to remove a leader or a government from a position of power by force例如：
The president was overthrown in a military coup.
作者简介：
朱博，新东方吉林学校雅思口语美女讲师，毕业于985院校大连理工大学，硕士保送一等奖学金。在校期间曾游学美国，任出版社英语出版中心校对四年，工作严谨，活泼开朗，让大家快乐的学习英语。
版权声明：本文系新东方网独家稿件，版权为新东方网所有。转载请注明来源和作者，否则必将追究法律责任。
编辑推荐：
雅思作文七分并非遥不可及
更多内容请关注新东方网雅思频道，也可扫码关注我们的微信公共账号或加QQ群168861834。
（编辑：秦洁）
