Have you ever picked up a pen to write some characters, but you can't {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(记得) what they look like?

    You're not alone. CCTV-10 started a show {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(叫做) Chinese Character Dictation Com-petition (《中国汉字听写大会》) last year. On the show, only three out of 10 adults{#blank#}3{#/blank#}（正确地）wrote bingjiling (ice cream 冰激凌), and no one could   write out penti (sneeze喷嚏). According to a survey, 94.1% of people said they had memory lapses (差错) when {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(写) some characters.

    It seems that Chinese characters are in danger. Since the digital(数码) age began, fewer and {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(少) people use pens and paper. Most people now write Chinese on keyboards using pinyin. As a{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(结果), many people would forget the features（特征）of a Chinese character, such as its structure and {#blank#}7{#/blank#}（意思）easily.

    Chinese characters are one of the world's{#blank#}8{#/blank#}（古老的）written languages, dating back (追溯到) to 1100 BC. It's not only a way for us to record things,{#blank#}9{#/blank#}（而且）it's important to pass on Chinese culture. For example, the character nan (male男) is made up of two{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(部分), tian (farmland田) and li (strength力). We can tell from it that in the old times Chinese men were in charge of (负责) working on the farmland.

    Athena was born and grew up in India. Her parents wanted {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (she) to become a lawyer or a doctor. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} she always knew she wanted to paint. She also found a career in painting could not be possible{#blank#}3{#/blank#} she stayed in her country.

    She tried her best to do everything well. But she never really took it to the high level because few {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (artist) in her country {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (be) very good at painting. So she knew if she still stayed in her country, she would never be able to make money or be {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (success) at all.

    So, Athena came to the United States when she was fourteen years old. Athena first worked at {#blank#}7{#/blank#} food store. She began to paint on the store's menu. A customer praised her skill and {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (ask) if she would help paint faces at street fairs. Athena said it was a good beginning. Then she went to FABAIC {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(start) body painting.

    Body painting is quite different {#blank#}10{#/blank#} other paintings. And she loved it very much. She said, "I like this kind of art. When I paint, I can't stop."

    There are about fifteen hundred languages in the world. But only a few. of them are very important. English is one of them. Many, many people use it, not {#blank#}1{#/blank#}in England and the USA, but also in other parts of the world. About 400, 000, 000 people speak it {#blank#}2{#/blank#}their own language. It is difficult {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(say) how many people are learning it as a foreign language.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(million) of people are trying to do so. Is it easy or difficult to learn English？Different people may have different{#blank#}5{#/blank#}（answer）.

    The only language that seems easy to learn is the mother tongue. We should remember that we all learned our own language {#blank#}6{#/blank#}when we were children. If we could learn English {#blank#}7{#/blank#}the same way, it would not seem so difficult. Think of {#blank#}8{#/blank#}a small child does. He listens to what people say. He tries what he hears.

    So it is hard to say that {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(learn) English is easy. We must do a lot of practice. And practice needs great efforts(努力) and takes much time. Good teachers, records, tapes, books, and dictionaries will be{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(help) , but they cannot do the student's work for him.