1 . The human story began around 65 million years ago, when animals first appeared on Earth. Over thousands of years, their bodies became almost human. Their brains became     1     (big), and they learned how to use language, light fires and make tools. Modern human-people like us-developed     2     these creatures about 100,000 years ago.

Many scientists believe modern humans first appeared in Africa. By 20,000 B.C., they had travelled and settled all over the world. They travelled farthest during     3     Ice Ages, when most seas were frozen, leaving bridges of dry land,     4     people could walk across.

The first farmers on Earth lived in the Middle East. Around 9,000 B.C., people     5     (find) that grains of wheat and barley dropped on the ground grew and produced seeds,     6     they cleared land and planted more seeds. By around 6000 B.C., people in Southeast Asia had discovered how to grow rice. By 5000 B.C., in Central and South America, people were growing     7     (potato) and corn.

Early peoples had to make the big discoveries-how to build homes, farm the land, communicate and protect     8     (they). The world we live in has been built on the work of past generations, and it is still changing today. As each year     9     (pass), it becomes another chapter in our     10     (amaze) history.

The Silk Road is a historically important international trade route （路线）between China and the Mediterranean（地中海）. It began during the Western Han Dynasty and has been     1     bridge between East and West for over 2,000 years. Some people may think it is    2    [ɪm'pɒsɪb(ə)l] to exist（存在）.Now let me tell you the history.

The ancient road started from Chang’an（now Xi’an) and ended in East Europe, near     3    （today）Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea. It was about 6,500    4    (kilometer) long and covered one     5     （four）of the planet. The Silk Road got its name because Chinese silk used to be carried along this road. Silk, jade（翡翠）, ceramics（制陶术）and iron    6     （go）west to Rome. And from the west came glass, gems and food     7    carrots and sesame（芝麻）.The Silk Road was very important to both China and the rest of the world. It was   more than an ancient international trade route. Besides trade, knowledge about     8     [‘səʊʃəl] arts, science , literature, crafts（工艺）and technologies was shared across the Silk Road. In this way, the languages and cultures developed       9    (quick)and influenced each other. Today, along the Silk Road there are     10     [‘sevrəl] places of interest, such as the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an and Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang. Now a new train line runs from Beijing across the Silk Road.

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,    1    (probable) about 5, 500 years ago. With writing, people did not have to remember everything in their heads. They could communicate with people that they never    2    (see) and share their knowledge with insure generations.

Later, the Greeks were well-known for their literature (文学) and science, but their "books" looked very different    3    the books of today. They were called scrolls (卷轴). They were difficult to use and took a lot of space in a library. About 2,000 years ago, books with lots of pages    4       (invent).

For more than a thousand years, the pages of books were made from animal skin. That changed in       5    thirteenth century, when Europeans learned about a very    6    (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    7    were produced on a printing press.

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

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