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.

    It was the last lesson before the holidays. The students were very happy. Their English teacher was very happy, too. The teacher played interesting games with them. They also sang some nice s{#blank#}1{#/blank#}. Everyone had a smile on the face. The teacher went to the blackboard and wrote "SMILES" on it. "This is one of the l{#blank#}2{#/blank#}words in English", he said to the class. The whole class laughed, and then one girl s{#blank#}3{#/blank#}up and said, "Why is it one of the longest words in English?" The teacher said n{#blank#}4{#/blank#}for a while. Then he smiled and said, "B{#blank#}5{#/blank#} there is a mile between the first letter and the last."

    The Brown family lived in a very small house. One day they decided to buy two new beds for it. Mr and Mrs Brown went to a s{#blank#}1{#/blank#} and paid for two new beds. The shop made a mistake and sent four beds. The Browns were u{#blank#}2{#/blank#} because they didn't have enough room for so many beds.

    Mrs Brown called the shop about the problem. The truck f{#blank#}3{#/blank#} the shop came, but it didn't take back the extra(额外的) beds. It brought two more, and then there were six beds. Mrs Brown called the shop again. The truck c{#blank#}4{#/blank#}, but it did not take away the four extra beds. It brought four more beds and then there were t{#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

    There were beds everywhere. Mr and Mrs Brown were much worried. They didn't know what to do with so many beds. They were afraid to call the shop again, b{#blank#}6{#/blank#} they had to ask the shop to take back those extra beds.