The history of Chinese characters dates back to ancient times，with the history of at least several thousand years.
   There are many tales and legends about the origin of hanzi，Chinese characters：there is Cangjie，the legendary inventor of Chinese character；the ancient practice of knot-tying；the eight trigrams （八卦）；and ancient painting legends to name a few.It is generally agreed that hanzi began as simple pictures，images that the ancient Chinese people drew，painted or carved to describe nature or their lives.Other ancient cultures developed picture-based writing systems as well，such as the hieroglyphs （象形文字） of ancient Egypt or the script of the ancient Mayan civilization.Hanzi，however，is the only one of these ancient writing systems to survive.
   Today，Chinese characters are the oldest continuously used system of writing in the world.Researchers generally agree that the oldest symbols recognizable as Chinese characters are those found on ancient oracle bones.These 3000-year-old symbols，known as，jiaguwen，were carved on turtle shells or bones of animals.The jiaguwen can give all of us in the modern era insight into how ancient Chinese saw the world around them and into their great creativity in expressing their observations.Take，for example，the modern character jia，meaning home or family.The jiaguwen character looks like a house with a nice pig inside，originating from the ancient idea that a good family home has plenty of food.Over thousands of years，this hanzi evolved into a variety of different forms but finally developed in a more stable manner after the unification of China under Emperor Qinshihuang.
   When you first look at Chinese characters，you will most likely feel that they are very complicated.However，if you know just a little about how these characters are formed，you will find that they are not nearly as difficult as they seem.About 80% of Chinese characters are composed of smaller parts.jye.ai as radicals （部首），which are combined in many different ways to form tens of thousands of hanzi. Fortunately，you need to know only about two or three thousand characters for use in daily life!
   As China takes its place in the international community，the Chinese writing system has spread to other countries.Today，many international students are studying Chinese，both the spoken and written language，and are coming to appreciate China's fascinating culture.And，as China's culture and society have continued to develop，the amazingly versatile Chinese characters （hanzi） have been adapted for use in digital format on computers and other devices.And so written Chinese lives on，spreading Chinese culture wherever it goes.
（1）Why did the writer mention Emperor Qinshihuang in the passage？

C

C

A．Because he was the inventor of Chinese characters.
B．Because hanzi evolved into a variety of different forms.
C．Because he helped developed hanzi in a more steady form.
D．Because he unified China and created hanzi.
（2）What can we learn from the underlined sentence （劃線句子） in Paragraph 4？

A

A

A．Radicals are smaller parts which can be combined to form hanzi.
B．Chinese characters are composed of radicals.
C．Chinese characters can be combined.
D．Radicals can be combined into thousands of hanzi only.
（3）What may the writer probably talk about Chinese characters in the next paragraph？

B

B

A．The relation between Chinese characters and Chinese culture.
B．Tips for foreigners on how to learn Chinese well.
C．Another Chinese traditional culture.
D．The origin of Chinese characters.
（4）What is NOT true about the jiaguwen？

A

A

A．The jiaguwen is known as the oldest Chinese character，
B．From the jiaguwen，we can know how ancient Chinese saw the world.
C．The jiaguwen was invented 3000 years ago.
D．We can find the jiaguwen on turtle bones.