In 1972, Richard Sears, a young American began learning Chinese because of his interest in traditional Chinese culture.
Drawn to the ancient language, he went to China to study Chinese in the 1990s.
In 1994, Richard Sears decided to put the ancient Chinese characters online. Then, in 2002, he did it. That is the beginning of the Chinese Etymology(汉字字源)website. "My website did not get much attention for the next few years. Until one day in 2011, it suddenly got a lot of attention.
I got a few thousand emails, and a few million visitors and people started calling me 'Uncle Hanzi', " Sears said with a smile. Hanzi means Chinese characters. He has put more than 96, 000 ancient Chinese characters onto the website. "When I study each character, I wonder what the ancient Chinese thought, " said Sears.
After visiting many Chinese cities, Sears learned more about China and ancient Chinese culture, He said when he came to China in the last century, few Chinese could speak good English "However, you can hear English in many places in China now. Chinese language and culture were mysterious and not known by people in most countries then, but now, more and more people in the world are learning Chinese, even Chinese history, traditional Chinese medicine and so on, "Sears added.
At present, the 70-year-old American has made his home in China. "When I die, I hope my website will live on, and I'm planning to write a book about my research. This will be my gift to China, " he said.
1. What does "Drawn to the ancient language" mean in Paragraph1?| A．Sears was interested in ancient Chinese. | B．Sears had to study Chinese characters. |
| C．Sears could draw Chinese characters well. | D．Sears could speak ancient Chinese very well. |
| A．1972 | B．1994 | C．2002 | D．2011 |
| A．Chinese history. | B．Ancient Chinese characters. |
| C．The daily life of Richard Sears | D．Traditional Chinese medicine. |
| A．become famous | B．get the nick name "Uncle Hanzi" |
| C．write a book about his research | D．make more people know about ancient Chinese characters |
| A．Great Changes in China | B．Mysterious Chinese Language and Culture |
| C．American "Uncle Hanzi" | D．A Young American and Traditional Chinese Culture |
