In ancient China， the game of Go was mostly favored by intellectuals， especially those from the upper class. The ordinary people would seldom take a liking to this game.

Only those with some degree of education can approach this game， because it has too many variations of play and requires a great deal of calculation， time and effort.

The intellectual group of Go gradually lifted this pastime up into the realms of art， alongside the seven-stringed zither， calligraphy and painting. As such， the equipment of Go becomes an increasingly fastidious feature， with precious wood， jade， clamshell， crystal and quartz used to make the pieces.

Du Mu was a famous poet living in the late Tang dynasty. He once wrote a poem about playing a farewell game of Go with his friend， where they used jade stones and a catalpa table. Today the most popular stones are the Yunzi， made from pebble stone from southwestern Yunnan Province.

The influence of the Go game on Chinese society is quite evident in various works of literature. One of Chinas classics， The Romance of the Three Kingdoms， depicts Guan Yu playing Go while receiving surgery on his arm.

在中國古代，圍棋最受知識分子（尤其是上層社會的知識分子）的青睞，普通老百姓中很少有人喜歡下圍棋。

因?yàn)閲宓南路ǚ浅６?，需要進(jìn)行大量的推算，既耗時(shí)間又耗心力，也只有受過一定程度教育的人才有精力下圍棋。

由于知識分子群體逐漸將圍棋這種消遣方式提升到藝術(shù)領(lǐng)域，與古琴、書法和繪畫相提并論。因此，對圍棋設(shè)備的要求變得越來越挑剔，需要用珍貴的木材、玉石、貝殼、水晶和石英制作棋子。

杜牧是唐朝晚期著名的詩人。他曾經(jīng)寫過一首詩，描述和朋友下圍棋告別的場景。在下圍棋時(shí)，他們使用翡翠石做的棋子和梓樹做的棋盤。如今，最受歡迎的圍棋棋子叫“云子”，是用云南省西南部的鵝卵石制成的。

圍棋對中國社會的影響在各種文學(xué)作品中都有體現(xiàn)。經(jīng)典名著之一《三國演義》就描述了關(guān)羽刮骨療毒時(shí)下圍棋的場景。

Word Bank

intellectual /'?nt?'lekt?u?l/ n. 知識分子

calculation /'k?lkju'le??n/ n. 計(jì)算；推測

realm /relm/ n. 領(lǐng)域

fastidious /f?'st?di?s/ adj. 愛挑剔的，苛求的