In China, children like to make promises by hooking pinkies(用小手指拉钩)with each other and saying, "A pinkie promise must be kept for 100 years. ”Then, they may press their thumbs (按拇指)together to _______ the promise. Sometimes, couples will hook pinkies and promise to be _______ together.

How did the pinkie promise come out? Some say it comes from a nursery thyme(童谣). Others say it was introduced from the West-born out of a love _______ where a man and a woman hooked fingers.

It is said that it may have something to do with the role of fingers in Chinese _______. The Chinese character (汉字) for "finger" also means "aim"-people's thoughts. So hooking fingers can be seen as the exchanging of thoughts. Therefore, the fingers _______ an important role in making a promise: they can not only be used to complete a promise, but also be cut _______ making a blood promise. _______ someone swears to heaven (对天发誓), they use their fingers to point to the sky.

Generally, hooking fingers means making a _______ promise. In some movies, if a person breaks a promise, he may even have his little finger _______ ! Of course, this kind of thing is not very likely to happen in the ________ world. But we can still see how important "pinkie promises" can be.