第4章 Lesson 4: Writing-The Greatest Invention

Writing is fun, but it can also be a serious endeavor. Writing can be art or science and is a great way to communicate information and feelings. Writing can inform and entertain. It can incite and reassure. It can change people's lives. It can change the world. Writing is humankind's greatest invention.

Evidence of man's earliest attempt to communicate by "writing" things down can be found in caves. The 30,000 year old hunting journals of cavemen have been found on the walls in caves near Avignon, France.

Egyptian civilization also had their own form of picture art/communication, called hieroglyphics. The ancient Assyrians (in what is now northern Iraq) had a system called cuneiform. The Chinese pictograph system of writing began thousands of years ago. Over time, all of these pictographic systems incorporated phonetic elements as well. The Korean and Japanese alphabets, developed later, are phonetic in nature. Other Asian languages, such as Thai, are also phonetic, meaning that the written symbols are based on sounds, not pictures or ideas.

The western alphabet was first developed in the Middle East, by the Phoenicians, in the area that is now Lebanon and Greece. With this phonetic system, we need only a small number of symbols, which can be combined in an unlimited number of ways, to write all the words we need. It is generally agreed that pictograph-based languages such as Chinese, are harder to master, but not impossible. For example, there are 130,000 Chinese characters in existence, but the average Chinese person only needs to know about 2,000 to be able to read a newspaper.

From cave-wall art to the printing press and the World Wide Web, the expression of ideas through writing has become accessible to so many people. Through blogs, for example, we can know what people are thinking and feeling on the other side of the world! We are truly living in a global village.

I. Word List

endeavour: something important that someone tries to do

incite: to cause strong feelings

phonetic: a system of sounds

II. Facts—Write one true thing about each of these terms.

1. hieroglyphics: ____________________________________________

2. the Thai language: ________________________________________

3. cuneiform: ______________________________________________

4. phonetic-based language: __________________________________

5. pictograph-based language: ________________________________

6. the Chinese system of writing: _______________________________

7. Phoenicians: _____________________________________________

III. Answer the following questions.

1. What was the earliest attempt by humans to communicate by writing?

___________________________________________________________.

2. Where did the western alphabet begin?

___________________________________________________________.

3. Which is easier to learn—phonetic-based or pictograph-based language?

___________________________________________________________.

4. What, according to the writer, is the most important use of writing?

___________________________________________________________.

5. What can we learn from blogs?

___________________________________________________________.

IV. What's the word? Find the correct words in the reading.

1. big holes in rocks used as shelter: c _ _ _ _

2. languages that are based on sounds: p _ _ _ _ _ _ _

3. a country in Europe: G _ _ _ _ _

4. an Asian language: C _ _ _ _ _ _

5. something new made by people: i _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

6. something that many people read every day: n _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _