张芝临池 zhang zhi by the pond
现在人们经常把练习书法叫做“临池”，这是为什么呢？你看完下面这个小故事就明白了。 These days, people often call practising calligraphy “línchí”,(literally: “pond-side”). Do you know why? After reading this little story, you will.
东汉的时候，在敦煌酒泉【现在甘肃酒泉】，又一个书法家，名字叫 [[ Zhang Zhi 张芝 ]]，又叫张伯英。他在学习一种叫“ [[ 章草 ]]”字体的基础上，创造出了“ [[ 今草 ]]”的字体。对我国草书字体的发展做出了很大贡献：后来人们尊称他为“草圣”。
In the days of the Eastern Han dynasty, in a place called Dunhuang Jiuquan (which is in present-day Gansu province), there was a calligrapher by the name of Zhang Zhi (people also called him Zhang Boying). Building on the foundations of a script type called zhangcao he developed the modern form of cursive script we call jincao. His contribution to China’s cursive script was so great that later on, people started calling him the “sage of cursive calligraphy” : caosheng.
张芝年轻的时候就特别爱书法。他常常整天挥笔书写。他家后花园中有一个小水池，他就每天在小水池边的亭子里练字，从不间断。
Zhang Zhi loved calligraphy from a young age. He would often take a brush with him, practising wherever he went. There was a little pond in his back garden, and every single day without fail, he would go to practice calligraphy in a little pond-side pavilion.
有一次张芝生病了。他的妻子劝他说：“今天不要写了吧，早点歇息，你还发烧呢！”
Then one day Zhang Zhi got sick. His wife tried to persuade him to take it easy, saying: “Don’t go writing today, you should go to bed and rest, you have a fever!”
张芝回答说：“不碍事，这么点小毛病就中断写字不好。一个人做事要能吃苦耐劳，不然是不会有成就的。”说完他又像往常一样到亭子里去练字了。
Zhang Zhi replied: “I’m fine. It’d be a pity to pause my studies because of a little cough. If you ever want to make something of yourself, you have to work hard.” with that, he left to practice calligraphy in the pavilion, just like any other day.
张芝每次练完字，都用池子里的水冲洗毛笔和砚台。因为他常年累月地练字，水池里的水慢慢地变成了墨一样的颜色。以后人们都用“学书临池，池水尽黑” 这句话称赞张芝刻苦学习的精神。张芝习惯在水池边写字，人们也把练习书法叫“临池”了。
Whenever Zhang Zhi had finished writing for the day, he would wash his brush and inkstone in the pond. Month after month, year after year, his constant practice meant that the waters of the pond slowly became the colour of ink. Later on, people used the saying “studying calligraphy by the pond, its’ waters become black” to praise Zhang Zhi for his diligence. Because of Zhang Zhi’s habit of writing by the pond, people started using línchí “pond-side” to mean “practising calligraphy”.
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