Written in Bone

You may never write words on an oracle bone (甲骨) or tortoise shell, but you might see them in a museum. They are what we call “the oracle bone scripts(手迹)”.

    12    (celebrate) the 120th anniversary of the discovery of     13     (this) scripts, the National Museum of China is running an exhibition called ZhengGu ZeJin(证古泽今). It runs through December 22.

According to China Daily, the exhibition addresses the     14    (significance) meaning of the oracle bones to the past and present of an ancient continually evolving civilization.

The earliest confirmed evidence shows that more than 3,000 years ago, people in the late Shang Dynasty     15    (start) to write characters on pieces of bones and turtle shells. The oracle bone scripts are records of divinations (占卜) and prayers to the gods from people in that era.

The scripts are pictograms(象形文字). They come from pictures of the objects     16     they refer to. “The oracle bone scripts, as     17     earliest known and mature form of Chinese characters, present the beauty and uniqueness of a language that has been passed down     18    (continuous), ” said Chen Nan, a professor of Tsinghua University’s Academy of Art and Design. Apart     19     learning the past, oracle bone scripts also have an influence on today.

The society producing the oracle bone scripts shared many of the characteristics     20    (recognize) today as typically Chinese. “These valuable inscriptions from China show that the memory recorded in the documentary heritage(遗产)is an irreplaceable way of transmitting tradition, culture and historical     21    (aware),” Marielza Oliveira, director of UNESCO’s Beijing office, told China Daily.

Mary waited anxiously for her turn in the empty dressing room. Never had she been so nervous before. This competition was of great importance to her comeback. “If I can win today,” she said to herself, “I can dance on the national stage next month.” Three months ago, her left arm was seriously injured in a car accident. After the medical treatment, she began to recover slowly. She practiced over and over again in order to regain her dancing skills.

“Hi, Mary,” in rushed her friend Jessica. “How is your arm? Is it going to influence your performance?”

“I guess it can be tolerated for I am to win the match.” said Mary with a determined look.

“Admirable! But I hear that a girl called Linda is really gifted and strong. She can be your real well-matched competitor. Come on!”

After Jessica left, Mary decided to practice her most difficult spin (旋转). “If I don’t try harder, I won’t grasp this chance.” She thought. But her arm began to hurt, making her worried. “Mary, what makes you think you have a chance tonight?” she said to herself. After the pain was gone, she continued to warm up.

A slim girl hurried in and put down an equipment bag on the chair. Then, she took out her dance dress quickly and put it on skillfully. Seeing Mary, she smiled politely and said “Hi, I’m Linda. I am the next one to you!” Mary nodded in reply but felt uncomfortable. “This is just my competitor. Because of her, I may lose tonight.” Her mind was wandering when Linda let out a scream, “Oh, God, I can’t find my music tape!” Linda searched her bag but in vain (徒劳). “It may be missing on the way.” With these words, she then rushed out.

Suddenly, Mary caught sight of a black box under the chair where Linda put her bag.