1 . The Chinese name system has a long history. Today, there are over 700 different Chinese family names, but as few as twenty cover most of the Chinese family names. Most Chinese family names have only one character, but there are a few with two. Chinese family names are written first, something that often causes confusion among those from countries where the family name usually comes last.
Generally speaking, Chinese given names have one or two characters, and are written after the family names. When a baby was born, parents often give him/her a “milk name” or “little name” such as Xiaobao. The given name is then chosen somewhat later, but the parents may continue to use the nickname. Given names of males are linked with strength and firmness while females with beauty and flowers. Females sometimes have names that repeat a character.
Chinese personal names may also reflect periods of history. For example, many Chinese born during the Cultural Revolution have “revolutionary names”, such as “Guoqiang”, “Dongfeng”, or even “Wenge”!
Chinese married women usually keep their maiden names (娘家姓) as their family names, rather than use the names of their husband, and children usually use their fathers’ family name.
With a limited supply of family names, Chinese depend on using given names to introduce variety in naming. Almost any character with any meaning can be used. However, it is not considered appropriate (合适) to name a child after a famous person and highly impolite after an older member among the family or even distant relatives.
1. From the passage, we know that ________.| A．women should change their family names after getting married |
| B．children’s nicknames are not used when they grow up |
| C．people usually name their children after some famous people |
| D．Chinese family names usually have only one character |
| A．Chinese family names are written at the beginning before given names |
| B．Chinese family names are written at the end of the full names |
| C．there are so many Chinese people using the same family name |
| D．there are only 700 Chinese names for people to choose from |
| A．Some Chinese family names may have two characters. |
| B．Only a few characters could be used as given names. |
| C．Children don’t like their nicknames given by their parents. |
| D．Children can be named after their grand-parents' names. |
