Next time you hold a book in your hands, stop and think. Like most other things in the modern world, it is the result of thousands of years of human invention.

    First, came the invention of writing,{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(probable) about 5500 year ago. With writing, people did not have to remember everything in their heads. They could communicate with people that they never {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(see) and share their knowledge with future generations.

    Later, the Greeks were well-done for their literature( 文学 ) and science, but their “books” looked very different {#blank#}3{#/blank#}the books of today. They were called scrolls(卷轴).

    They were different to use and took a lot of space in a library. About 2,000 years ago, books with lots of pages {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(invent).

    For more than a thousand years, the pages of books were made from animal skin. That changed in {#blank#}5{#/blank#}thirteenth century, when Europeans learned about a very {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(use) Chinese invention: paper.

    But the biggest change for books in Europe came in 1439, when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. Before that, books in Europe were copied by hand, so they were very expensive. Many more people could afford the books {#blank#}7{#/blank#}were produced on a printing press.

    These days it is difficult {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(imagine) a world without books. But human invention does not stop. Every year, more {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(story) are bought as e-books and read on a screen.

    Will anyone turn the pages of a traditional book in the future,{#blank#}10{#/blank#}will books, like scrolls soon disappear?

    My seventh grade English teacher was named Mr. Forest. He had dark hair and a bushy(浓密的) beard. All of the student liked him because he picked out really good stories for us{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(read) in class. Well, we all liked him until he{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (return) our graded homework.

    When he gave back my paper, it looked like it{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(cover) in blood. He{#blank#}4{#/blank#} (check) everything and made comments with a red pen .There were so many marks and comments that you couldn't even tell what I had written. Mr. Forest wanted me{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(fix) everything.

    At that time, I was sure Mr. Forest didn't understand anything about being in the seventh grade. Why was he was strict with us? It seemed unfair! When I got older, though, I realized I was getting fewer and fewer of those red marks in my homework. By the time I got to high school, I was already a pretty good writer.

    Now I am a teacher and I put red marks of my own on students" papers. I don't understand their problems. But I do it so that my students can be the best.

    {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (learn)is like building a house. If you don't have strong bricks on the bottom, the home{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(stand). If Mr. Forest had not been so strict with me with his red pen, I wouldn't be who I am today.

    A farmer had a donkey and a dog. Both the donkey and the dog {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (help) their master in many ways. One night, two thieves broke in the farmer's {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. The dog heard them and started barking. The farmer got {#blank#}3{#/blank#} and so did the neighbors. So they caught the two thieves.

    The farmer said, "I'm glad I had this dog." The neighbors also thought so.

    From that day, the donkey decided to show his master that he could also be {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (use) just like the dog.

    One night, the thieves again entered the farmer's house. As the thieves looked in, they saw the dog {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (sit) just outside the main door. "It seems the dog is quite watchful," said one thief.

    "We {#blank#}6{#/blank#} better go at once," the other thief said and then the two thieves went away. But unknown to the thieves, the donkey was watching all this. He thought, "It is a good chance for me to show {#blank#}7{#/blank#} master that I can be useful. The thieves have run away. If I start {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (shout), the master will thank me." So the donkey started braying(驴叫) {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (loud).

    When the farmer heard the donkey, he {#blank#}10{#/blank#} angry. He came out with a stick and hit the donkey hard. "This will teach you not to bray at night," he thought.