Children’s games in ancient China

During ancient times, children didn’t have smart phones, iPads or computers to entertain them. Instead, they came up with interesting games to play in their childhood. Let’s take a look.

Playing hide-and-seek Hide-and-seek is a traditional game for children, popular around the nation. There are two ways to play: covering a child’s eyes while other kids run around to play a trick on him or more commonly, others hide and one child must try to find them.
Setting off firecrackers (鞭炮) Firecrackers have a history of more than 2, 000 years. It is said that there was a beast (野兽) named Nian in ancient China, and people burnt bamboo joints (竹节) to make them blast (爆炸) to drive away the beast. After gunpowder which is one of the four ancient Chinese inventions was invented, it gradually replaced the bamboo joints. Nowadays, firecrackers are still set off during Spring Festival.
Watching shadow plays The most similar thing to watching a film during ancient times was going to see a shadow play. The artists controlled puppets (木偶) behind the screen to make the puppets move like people and tell stories. People liked listening to the music and enjoyed the beautiful puppets.
Kicking stone balls During the Qing Dynasty (1644—1911), kicking a stone ball around was a popular sport in the northern part of China, and it was often played in the winter to keep warm. Stones were cut into small balls and kicked along with feet.

【小题1】How can hide-and-seek be played?

A．One hides and others try to find.	B．One covers a child’s eyes and others run.
C．One tries to find and others hide.	D．One runs and others try to catch.

【小题2】________ has something to do with the four ancient Chinese inventions.

A．Hide-and-seek

B．Firecrackers

C．Shadow plays

D．Stone balls

【小题3】According to the passage, the game of kicking a stone ball was ________.

A．often played with hands

B．played to get the body warm

C．has the longest history of the four games.

D．popular in the 18th century in southern China

【小题4】From the passage we can learn that ________.

A．people burnt bamboo joints to welcome the beast

B．the puppets could move like people with the artists’ controlling

C．kicking a stone ball was a popular game before the Qing Dynasty

D．all the children must cover their eyes while playing hide-and-seek

【小题5】Where is the passage probably from?

A．A travel guide.	B．A news website.
C．A culture magazine.	D．A science report.