Chinese has a history of thousands of years. But Pinyin doesn't. It tells people how to pronounce (发音) Chinese characters. This year, Pinyin turns 63 years old.
In 1958, Chinese linguist (语言学家) Zhou Youguang and his team made Pinyin. Before that, Chinese people used many other ways to show how to pronounce Chinese words. But these ways are not as easy to use as Pinyin. Because of Pinyin, more people learn how to read.
Pinyin is a big part of our daily life. We learn to speak Putonghua with the help of Pinyin. We write Chinese characters (汉字) on computers by using Pinyin.
Pinyin is young. But it is now very popular outside China. It is becoming a bridge between China and the world. Many people around the world start to learn Chinese by learning Pinyin. You might say “nihao” to mean “hello” to a foreign friend.
People are using Pinyin more often than before. For example, fewer foreigners use “dumplings”. They like to use “jiaozi”. And “mantou” is for “steamed-bun”. The Oxford English Dictionary has more than 100 Chinese words in Pinyin, such as zhongguomeng for “Chinese dream”, and wanggou for “online shopping”．
【小题1】Chinese people began to use Pinyin ________.| A．hundreds of years ago |
| B．thousands of years ago |
| C．63 years ago |
| D．a few years ago |
| A．why people started using Pinyin |
| B．how people began using Pinyin |
| C．why Pinyin is a big part of our life |
| D．what will happen to Pinyin |
| A．helps foreigners learn Pinyin |
| B．is more popular in China |
| C．has more Chinese characters than before |
| D．has more Pinyin than before |
| A．Pinyin helps foreigners learn Chinese. |
| B．Pinyin has hundreds of English words. |
| C．Pinyin is as old as Chinese words. |
| D．Pinyin is as easy as English words. |
