The Chinese language differs from Western languages in that，instead of an alphabet （字母表），it uses characters which stand for ideas，objects or deeds.Chinese words are formed by putting together different characters.In many cases，a single character can also make up a word.As one kind of the most ancient characters，Chinese characters have played an important role in the development of Chinese culture.At first，ancient Sumerian and ancient Egyptian symbols existed （存在），but only Chinese characters remain today.The history of the Chinese language can be examined by looking at how these characters developed.
   Chinese writing began thousands of years ago.According to an ancient story，a man named Cang Jie invented Chinese writing.One winter day while he was hunting，he saw the footprints of animals in the snow and noticed that the appearance of each one was different.Then he had the idea that he could use different shapes to represent different objects.The first Chinese characters were drawings of physical objects.Some characters have been simplified （簡(jiǎn)化） and others have been made more difficult over time.
   However，as a whole，the characters have developed from drawings into standard forms.The character for a mountain was at first three mountaintops together.This became one mountaintop and three lines，and over time turned into the character used nowadays.
   Sometimes to express ideas，some characters were made by combining two or more characters together.For example， "rest" was made up of the characters for a man and a tree.The character "prisoner" was formed with a "man" inside a square.Other characters were developed for directions and numbers.It is easy to distinguish （區(qū)別） their meanings by looking at them，for example，the characters for "up" and "down"，which are opposites of each other.
   Though these kinds of characters indicate meanings，one of their shortcomings is that they do not show how they should be pronounced. Therefore，a method was developed to have one part of a character represent the meaning and the other suggest the pronunciation.Many Chinese characters used today were made this way.
   In the 1950s the Chinese government introduced simplified Chinese characters in the hope to make learning to read and write more understandable to the general population，which would increase literacy （讀寫能力） across the country.And now they have widespread use in China's mainland.
（1）The writer introduced the Chinese characters by

A

A

.
A．giving examples
B．providing causes
C．expressing opinions
D．comparing facts
（2）The following sentence would best be placed at the beginning of

C

C

.
A．Paragraph 5
B．Paragraph 4
C．Paragraph 3
D．Paragraph 2
（3）Which Chinese character used the underlined （下劃線的） method？

D

D

A．
B．
C．
D．
（4）What can we learn from the passage？

B

B

A．Chinese characters have turned into standard forms，which are easier than before.
B．Chinese characters we use today have been accepted by large numbers of people.
C．Chinese characters existed at the very beginning and remain today like other ancient symbols.
D．Chinese words and English words are both formed by putting alphabets and characters together.