Question

Among all the pen productions, writing brush (máo bǐ) is a kind of special writing tool made in China mainly. Archaeologists(考古學家) said that writing brush or some pens like brush first appeared more than 5000 years ago. It wasn’t widely used until the Warring States Period (476BC-221BC). Hengshui, Xuancheng and Huzhou were three centers for making writing brushes in Chinese history. People in the hometown of writing brush—Hengshui—still celebrate the invention of brush every year.

________ Materials(材料) for the head part includes rabbit hair, horse hair, pig hair and so on. If you want to buy a Chinese brush as a gift for your friends, you can choose the one with soft hairs, mixed hairs or hard hairs according to their writing styles. There’s also a tradition that Chinese people like to make a writing brush from the first haircut a baby gets. It’s believed that a writing brush made from the hair of new born babies will bring good luck while taking exams. As for stalks(筆桿), normal materials are usually wood, but we can also see some special ones made from ivory, gold and some other valuable materials.

It is considered that writing brush is the most important one among Four Treasures of Chinese Study. The other three are ink stick, paper, and ink stone. In Chinese calligraphy(書法) and Chinese painting, writing brush is widely used. In old China, children had to learn calligraphy and try to write a good hand. Even the emperors(皇帝) themselves were good at calligraphy. Nowadays, Chinese people still practice calligraphy with writing brush from a very young age. When writing, many calligraphers will forget all worries and even themselves, turning all thoughts into the beauty of art. People think it helps improve a person’s temper(脾氣). It is not only a means of communication, but also a means of expressing a person’s inner world.

1.According to the article, the hometown of writing brush is ________.

A.Hengshui B.Xuancheng C.Huzhou D.Hangzhou

2.Which of the following sentences can be put into the blank “________”in Para. 2?

A.It’s important to see that there can be both soft and hard brushes.

B.A good writing brush must be provided with four advantages.

C.The head of writing brush is made of different materials.

D.A writing brush can be divided into two parts: head and stalk.

3.In the underlined sentence, the writer mentions “the emperors” to show that _______.

A.writing brush is difficult to learn

B.people paid great attention to calligraphy in old China

C.the Chinese emperors were all good at calligraphy

D.the emperors improved their temper with calligraphy

4.We may know from the passage that _______.

A.people started to use the writing brush 4000 years ago

B.writing brush made from the human hair will help you get good grades

C.writing brush is the most important one among Four Inventions in China

D.Chinese people now still use writing brush in many fields

Answer 1