Question

A TV program has become popular in China recently. It has made people all over China become interested in writing Chinese characters(漢字).

The increasing use of computers and smart phones has left most young people hardly able to write by hand. Many of them are even unable to remember the 10,000 charactersused in daily life without electronic(電子的) help.

CCTV Started the Chinese Character Dictation Competition to improve the population’s handwriting skills. Contestants(參與者) on the show were school pupils, but it was found that 70％of adults in the audience were unable to remember how to write the word “chan chu”.

Because computers allow people to type characters simply by entering pinyin, they don’t need to remember how to write them. “The keyboard age has had a big influence on the handwriting of Chinese characters,” Guan Zhengwen, who designed and directed the show, said. “The influence of technology on people’s writing habits is irreversible. There is nothing we can do about it.” However, he added that he hoped to encourage people to keep it alive as an art form.

Educated young Chinese know that they have forgotten how to write all but the most common Chinese words. “I usually write very slowly,” Zang Xiaosong, 29, a newspaper reporter from Nanjing said. “Most of the time, it seems the characters are somewhere in my head, and it’s just that I can’t remember how to write them.” Sometimes I use a computer to help me remember them.”

Hao Mingjian, an editor of a magazine putting his heart into Chinese characters, said, “Learning Chinese characters goes on throughout your life. If you stop using them for a long time, it is likely that you will forget them.”

1. CCTV started the Chinese Character Dictation Competition to _____.

A. get more money

B. become famous

C. improve people’s handwriting skills

2.Contestants on the show were _____.

A. pupils B. teachers C. parents

3.The underlined word “irreversible”, means “_____” in Chinese.

A. 不可逆轉(zhuǎn)的 B. 不可理解的 C. 不可饒恕的

4.What can you learn from the passage?

A. Hao Mingjian is 29 years old and works in a school.

B. Computers have a big influence on the handwriting of Chinese characters.

C. Most of the adults in the audience were able to write common Chinese words.

Answer 1