2 . The invention of the printing press eventually led to our modern world.

What does the printing press do and why is it important?

A printing press is any form of technology that applies pressure between an inked surface and a print medium (like paper or cloth). _______, it is a means of transferring ink from an inked surface to the medium.

The modern printing press was an enormous improvement on the _______ system. People used to record by hand using a “pen” and ink or brushing and rubbing repeatedly to achieve ink transfer. Such methods were historically used primarily for texts, which _______ a small circulation (流通) and a high prize.

However, the invention of the printing press _______ bookmaking and distribution around the world. As the prices of book production fell, less wealthy members of society could suddenly gain access to this former _______ item.

Where was the printing press invented?

When someone mentions the printing press, the western world will _______ think of Johannes Guttenberg’s revolution in the 15th Century. While his invention was a(n) _______, it wasn’t the first printing press to be developed.

Actually, its initiation stretches back to the 3rd Century in a small number of areas, with its _______ into wide use during the Tang Dynasty. 

Despite this fact, Guttenberg _______ his place in history for the fantastic mass-production of books for the first time. Before his invention, ideas were spread in a(n) ________ process. That effectively meant access to the printed world was limited to those who could ________ its high price.

Did the Chinese invent the printing press?

The earliest copy of The Diamond Sutra (《金刚经》) was discovered inside a cave near Dunhuang, which was printed in the 9th Century. This text is described as “the earliest complete ________ of a dated printed book”. Its discovery ________ what the westerners thought they knew about the development of the printing press.

Printing process was heavily ________ in the 11th Century after Bi Sheng, who was born into a common family, developed a form of early movable type. Although little else is known about Bi, his ________ method of producing hundreds of individual characters was a huge stepping-stone on the path to the modern printing press.

3 . Black people left the South for multiple reasons, including severe Jim Crow laws that denied black people their civil rights and economic conditions that made advancement next to impossible. They saw _______ for them to get in northern cities, where workers were needed during labor shortages _______ by World War I. Between 1915 and about 1960, northern industrial cities _______ five million black people, becoming majority black.

Many went to the northern city of Harlem - a New York neighborhood that had once been a rural _______ white area. During a real estate crash at the turn of the 20th century, the _______ of property became more willing to rent to black renters. Property values then _______ as white residents attempted to offload their real estate and move away. _______, the area became majority black, and Harlem tuned into an attraction for migrants _______ economic chance and a rich cultural and social life.

These _______ weren’t just from the American South: A group of people came from Caribbean countries like Jamaica, Antigua, and Trinidad, ________ economic downturns because of the decline of sugar prices throughout the West Indies.

That cultural ________ stimulated new types of expression and thought. Promoted by black churches and businesses, Harlem ________ life. There, a poor black worker could brush ________ with educated, wealthy black residents. They could take part in entertainment by black people, for black people. The Jamaica - born black, Marcus Garvey, even ________ the Universal Negro Improvement Association to ________ racial pride and economic independence.