In the beginning, western people use letters of the alphabet (字母表) 【小题1】 (write). People who write in Chinese, however, use characters that stand for words or ideas. Historians believed Chinese writing began as early as 1500 BC. The 【小题2】 (early) forms were called “Oracle Bone Inscriptions (甲骨文)”. These were animal bones marked with pictures. Besides writing on bones, 【小题3】 (mark) on turtle shells was also a way for ancient to record.

By 1400 BC, the Chinese writing system had become more complex. 【小题4】 number of its characters was over 2,500. Around 200 BC, almost everyone used the same characters. Even today some modern Chinese characters are similar to 【小题5】 (that) from 2,000 years ago. For example, the character that 【小题6】 (mean) man in the Lishu system from 200BC is similar to the character from the Jiantizi 【小题7】 is used today.

People 【小题8】 (make) efforts to change Chinese characters over the centuries. The most important changes happened in the twentieth century. The Chinese government made many characters simple 【小题9】 that more people could learn to read. This simpler system is used in most parts of China. with these changes, Chinese writing from 2,200 years ago is still understood today. Many foreigners are interested in 【小题10】 (we) Chinese characters.

阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

As we know, the 14th National Games took place in the ancient capital Xi’an in Shaanxi Province in September, 2021. As the capital of 13 dynasties throughout Chinese history, the city has never been far from sports. It 【小题1】(hold) a lot of sports events since the Western Zhou Dynasty, among which cuju is one example.

Cuju, 【小题2】 ancient Chinese competitive game, involves kicking a ball through an opening into a net. As the ancestor of football, cuju 【小题3】(original) appeared in the famous Chinese historical work Zhan Guo Ce, 【小题4】 described cuju as a form of entertainment among the public. Later, cuju was commonly played in the army during the Han Dynasty. Liu Che, Emperor Wu of Han, was crazy about cuju 【小题5】 would set up a cuju field wherever his army went. He used cuju as a way of 【小题6】(train) soldiers.

The 【小题7】(early) record of women cuju players can date back to the Han Dynasty. We can see from some paintings women with their hair 【小题8】(tie) waving their long sleeves (袖子) when playing cuju. At that time, various skills 【小题9】(use) in playing cuju, mainly serving entertainment purposes.

As a way of national culture 【小题10】(protect), cuju was listed as the first batch of China’s intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产) in 2006.

Getting to know a little bit about British history will help you understand why the UK【小题1】(have) several different names.

In the 16th century, Wales was joined to the Kingdom of England. In the 18th century, Scotland was joined to create the Kingdom of Great Britain. In the 19th century, Ireland【小题2】(add) to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Finally, in the 20th century, the southern part of Ireland broke away from the UK, which resulted【小题3】the full name we have today — the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The four countries that belong to the United Kingdom work together in some 【小题4】(area). They use the same flag and share the same currency and military 【小题5】(defend), but they also have some differences in education and legal systems, traditions, etc.

In the history of the UK, there are four important groups of people 【小题6】 took over at different times. In the first century, the Romans came and built towns and roads. In the fifth century, the Anglo-Saxons arrived. They introduced the beginnings of the English language and changed【小题7】way people built houses. The Vikings came in the eighth century,【小题8】(leave) behind lots of new vocabulary and names of many locations across the UK. In the 11th century, the Normans conquered England, having castles 【小题9】(build) and making changes to the legal system.

London is a great place to study the history of the UK. If you keep your eyes open, you will be 【小题10】(surprise) to find that you can see both its past and present.