One person responsible for making Florence a wealthy place was Cosimo de’ Medici who took over the family bank in the 1430s. The Medici bank innovated the banking system, which contributed to commercial development. Money and goods flowed into Italy from all around the world and Italy was rich. Many historians believe this wealth caused the Renaissance to happen in Italy. That was not it though. There was another important factor: the discovery of the past.

As the cities became wealthy, there was investment in art, education and architecture. The urbanized Italians had lots of questions on such topics and they found their answer in ancient Rome. It provided them guidance on education, art and politics.

The Italians understood that there was a glorious past and then a fall. Roman concepts had stayed for more than half a millennia and were durable for the Roman past spread everywhere. This rediscovery caused a cultural revolution and from Italy, it freed Europe from its dark past into what they called Enlightenment(启蒙运动). Cosimo de’ Medici was schooled in Greek and Roman literature and was a collector of ancient manuscripts. Leonardo da Vinci was fascinated by his detailed study of human proportions. People’s interest in the ancient past revived the writings of Pliny the Elder who praised artists who depicted nature accurately.

Why did Renaissance happen in Italy and not elsewhere? It was not just wealth and the rediscovery of classics that caused the Renaissance to happen. There was a rediscovery of the ancient classics in the 9th century and later again in the 12th. But what made the 14th century rediscovery different was the depth and degree to which people went into the classics. In the 9th and 12th centuries, only a tiny population was literate(有读写能力的). Compared with the literacy rates, in the 14th century, Italy was high. That produced a society of ideas instead of a small group of intellectual elite.

The guzheng is a traditional Chinese musical instrument. It belongs to the zither (齐特琴) family of string instruments. It is the parent of many musical instruments of some other countries.

The guzheng should not be confused with the guqin, another ancient Chinese zither but without bridges. Now the guzheng is zither with movable bridges and usually 21 strings, although it can have from 15-25 strings. The guzheng’s strings were formerly made of silk, though most players used metal strings by the 20^th century. Since the mid-20^th century most performers use steel strings. The guzheng has a large resonant cavity (共振腔).

The guzheng has existed since the Warring States Period and became especially popular during the Qin dynasty. The number of strings on the guzheng has always fluctuated. There were as few as 6 to as many as 23 strings during the Tang dynasty. The earliest record of the guzheng belonged to the historian Sima Qian. Until 1961, the common guzheng had 16 strings, although by the mid-20^th century 18-string guzheng were also in use. In 1961, Xu Zhenggao, together with Wang Xunzhi, introduced the first 21-string guzheng after two years of research and development. In 1960, they also invented the “S-shaped” left string rest, which was quickly adopted by all guzheng makers and is still used today. This curve allows for greater ease in tuning the strings and, combined with strings of different thickness, allows for greater resonance in both the deeper and the higher pitch (音调) ranges. The 21-string guzheng is the most commonly used one, but some traditional musicians still use the 16-string one.

People all around the world have enjoyed noodles for thousands of years. 【小题1】 People first started growing wheat and making flour in the Middle East around 10,000 years ago. But no one had ever found a prehistoric noodle —until 2002.

Archaeologists discovered an upside-down clay bowl in the ruins of an ancient Chinese village. 【小题2】 This “mummy” noodle was made from millet. Traders brought wheat to China about the time this ancient noodle was cooked.

Some people claim that Marco Polo brought pasta to Italy. The tale says that when he visited China, he tried noodles for the first time and liked them so much that he took the recipe home. 【小题3】 In fact, it was likely made up by an American magazine to try to get Americans to eat more pasta.

【小题4】 The oldest written mention of pasta outside China comes from the Middle East, about 1,600 years ago. The text describes how to eat dried noodles, a popular travel food in the Middle East and Central Asia. Dried noodles were perfect for long trips. 【小题5】 Some historians believe that dried noodles spread out from the Middle East or Central Asia. Traders packed their noodles and travelled to other parts of the world. Wherever they got the recipe, Italians were eating pasta long before Marco Polo.

So who REALLY invented noodles? We may never know—the history of noodles is as twisted as a bowl of spaghetti. But whoever invented them, we’re sure glad they did!