In much of Asia, especially the so-called “rice bowl” cultures of China, Japan, Korea,     1     Vietnam, food is usually eaten with chopsticks.

Chopsticks are usually two long, thin pieces of wood or bamboo. They can also be made of plastic, animal bone or metal. Sometimes chopsticks are quite artistic. Truly elegant chopsticks might     2     (make) of gold and silver with Chinese characters. Skilled workers also combine various hardwoods and metal     3     (create) special designs.

The Chinese have used chopsticks for five thousand years. People probably cooked their food in large pots,     4     (use) twigs (树枝) to remove it. Over time,     5     the population grew, people began cutting food into small pieces so it would cook more quickly.

Food in small pieces could be eaten easily with twigs which     6    (gradual) turned into chopsticks.

Some people think that the great Chinese scholar Confucius,     7     lived from roughly 551 to 479 B.C., influenced the     8     (develop) of chopsticks. Confucius believed knives would remind people of killings and     9     (be) too violent for use at the table.

Chopsticks are not used everywhere in Asia. In India, for example, most people traditionally eat     10     their hands.

2 .     1    People use money to buy food, furniture, books, bicycles and hundreds of other things they need or want. When they work, they usually get paid in money.

Most of the money today is made of metal or paper.    2    One of the first kinds of money was shells.

Shells were not the only things used as money. In China, cloth and knives were used. In the Philippine Islands, rice was used as money for a long time. Elephant tusks, monkey tails and salt were used as money in parts of Africa.

The first metal coins were made in China. They were round and had a square hole in the centre.    3    

Different countries have used different metals and designs for their money.    4    Sweden and Russia used copper (铜) to make their money. Later some countries began to make coins of gold and silver.

But even gold and silver were inconvenient if you had to buy something expensive. Again the Chinese thought of a way to improve money.    5    The first paper money looked more like a note from one person to another than the paper money used today.

Money has had an interesting history from the days of shell money until today.