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 . The First Americans

There was a time long ago when a land bridge connected Asia and North America. The first settlers in North America crossed this land bridge from what is now Siberia to Alaska. The people who made this initial crossing were probably following the animals they used for food.

Eventually, the oceans rose and the land bridge between the continents disappeared. The settlers, who I shall call the “First Americans”, could not return to their homeland.     1    

For the next few thousand years, the First Americans migrated south and east throughout North and South America. They made the journey all the way from Alaska to the southern tip of South America, a distance of more than 10,000 miles.     2    

In the far north, above the Arctic Circle, the First Americans became hunters of the ocean.     3     In the brief summer, they gathered berries and other plants. In the winter, they stayed in lodges much of the time preparing for the next summer. It was a hard life, but they learned to survive in these harsh conditions.

Farther south, in what is now Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, the First Americans became cliff dwellers (悬崖居民). They began by living in caves that already existed in the cliffs.     4     The dwellings they constructed in many ways resembled today’s apartment buildings.

    5     They built a system of dams and canals so they could store and use water almost any time of the year. They were so successful that they could raise fruits and vegetables that were not found naturally in the desert.

In Mexico and South America, the First Americans founded civilizations that were among the greatest in the world. They built huge pyramids, lived in fabulous cities» and made great advances in science and mathematics long before the Europeans arrived.