Peoplehavebeenpaintingpicturesforatleast 30,000 years. Theearliestpictureswerepaintedbypeoplewhohuntedanimals. Theyusedtopaintpicturesoftheanimalstheywantedtocatchandkill. PicturesofthiskindhavebeenfoundonthewallsofcavesinFranceandSpain. Nooneknowswhytheywerepaintedthere. Perhapsthepaintersthoughtthattheirpictureswouldhelpthemtocatchtheseanimals. Orperhapshumanbeingshavealwayswantedtotellstoriesinpictures.
About 5,000 yearsago, theEgyptiansandotherpeopleintheNearEastbegantousepicturesaskindofwriting. Theydrewsimplepicturesorsignstorepresentthingsandideas, andalsotorepresentthesoundsoftheirlanguage. Thesignsthesepeopleusedbecameakindofalphabet.TheEgyptiansusedtorecordinformationandtotellstoriesbyputtingpicturewritingandpicturestogether. Whenanimportantpersondied, scenesandstoriesfromhislifewerepaintedandcarvedonthewallsoftheplacewherehewasburied. Someofthesepicturesarelikemoderncomicstripstories. IthasbeensaidthatEgyptisthehomeofthecomicstrip. But, fortheEgyptians, picturesstillhadmagicpower. Sotheydidnottrytomaketheirwayofwritingsimple. Theordinarypeoplecouldnotunderstandit.
Bytheyear 1,000 BC, peoplewholivedintheareaaroundtheMediterraneanSeahaddevelopedasimplersystemofwriting. Thesignstheyusedwereveryeasytowrite, andtherewerefewerofthemthanintheEgyptiansystem. Thiswasbecauseeachsign, orletter, representedonlyonesoundintheirlanguage. TheGreeksdevelopedthissystemandformedthelettersoftheGreekalphabet. TheRomanscopiedtheidea, andtheRomanalphabetisnowusedallovertheworld.
Thesedays, wecanwritedownastory, orrecordinformation, withoutusingpictures. Butwestillneedpicturesofallkinds: drawing, photographs, signsanddiagrams. Wefindthemeverywhere: inbooksandnewspapers, inthestreet, andonthewallsoftheplaceswhereweliveandwork. Pictureshelpustounderstandandrememberthingsmoreeasily, andtheycanmakeastorymuchmoreinteresting.?
1. PicturesofanimalswerepaintedonthewallsofcavesinFranceandSpainbecause ?___ ___?.?
A. thehunterswantedtoseethepictures?
B. thepainterswereanimallovers?
C. thepainterswantedtoshowimagination?
D. thepictureswerethoughttobehelpful?
2. TheGreekalphabetwassimplerthantheEgyptiansystemforallthefollowingreasonsEXCEPTthat ?______.
A. theformerwaseasytowrite?
B. therewerefewersignsintheformer?
C. theformerwaseasytopronounce?
D. eachsignstoodforonlyonesound?
3. WhichofthefollowingstatementsisTRUE??
A. TheEgyptiansignslaterbecameaparticularalphabet.?
B. TheEgyptianslikedtowritecomic?stripstories.?
C. TheRomanalphabetwasdevelopedfromtheEgyptianone.?
D. TheGreekscopiedtheirwritingsystemfromtheEgyptians.?
4. Inthelastparagraph, theauthorthinksthatpictures ?______?.?
A. shouldbemadecomprehensible?
B. shouldbemadeinteresting?
C. areofmuchuseinourlife?
D. havedisappearedfromourlife