input: Make use of the article to answer the questions. As young Chinese increasingly forget how to write characters because they don't have to, using keyboards and touch screen technology on mobile phones is changing the trend.

For Yin Liang, a 26-year-old purchasing agent at a company, his embarrassment over forgetting how to write characters has gradually disappeared since he started to use the handwriting input method on his iPhone 4 a month ago.

"When you write on the touch screen, you use your finger, instead of a mouse or keyboard," Yin says.

"Actually, your finger is like a pen, writing the complicated characters that have long been spelled by pinyin, an alphabet-based input system. Whether typing on computers or texting on phones, most users in China type by phonetically spelling out the sounds of the characters and the software then gives a menu of characters that fit the pronunciation, so users only need to recognize the character.

Handwriting technology on a mobile phone touch screen has been around for years and became popular with the iPhone, which recognizes the input and offers a wide selection of characters.

"It's efficient and accurate," Yin says.

Chinese characters are the oldest continuously used system of writing in the world, but as pinyin-based typing has become more widespread, youths have started forgetting how to write out characters. This was one of the main topics for debate at the first Cross-Straits Chinese Character Art Festival, held recently in Beijing, which attracted experts from Taiwan and the mainland.

According to Zhang Zikang, president of the Culture and Art Publishing House, writing with a pen on the touch screen brings handwriting into the digital age. It is even better when you write with your finger, feeling the flow of the cursive script and the grace and art of Chinese characters, he says.

"Smart gadgets don't take life from the square-shaped characters, instead they offer a new and advanced platform to show the charm of Chinese characters, which are always evolving," Zhang says. 1. How old is Yin Liang?
2. what has he started using?
3. Why system is oldest and continuously in use?
4. On which device has he used it?
5. What brings handwriting into the digital age?
6. What is changing the trend on Smartphones?
numbered_answers: 1. 26
2. the handwriting input method
3. Chinese characters
4. his iPhone 4
5. the touch screen
6. using keyboards and touch screen technology

input: Make use of the article to answer the questions. CHAPTER VI

EXAMINATION DAY

It was plain that Fred and Charley had spread the news of their descent into the Pit, and of their battle with the Simpson clan and the Fishes. He heard the nine-o'clock bell with feelings of relief, and passed into the school, a mark for admiring glances from all the boys. The girls, too, looked at him in a timid and fearful way--as they might have looked at Daniel when he came out of the lions' den, Joe thought, or at David after his battle with Goliath. It made him uncomfortable and painfully self-conscious, this hero-worshiping, and he wished heartily that they would look in some other direction for a change.

Soon they did look in another direction. While big sheets of foolscap were being distributed to every desk, Miss Wilson, the teacher (an austere-looking young woman who went through the world as though it were a refrigerator, and who, even on the warmest days in the classroom, was to be found with a shawl or cape about her shoulders), arose, and on the blackboard where all could see wrote the Roman numeral "I." Every eye, and there were fifty pairs of them, hung with expectancy upon her hand, and in the pause that followed the room was quiet as the grave.

Underneath the Roman numeral "I" she wrote: "_(a) What were the laws of Draco? (b) Why did an Athenian orator say that they were written 'not in ink, but in blood'?_"

Forty-nine heads bent down and forty-nine pens scratched lustily across as many sheets of foolscap. Joe's head alone remained up, and he regarded the blackboard with so blank a stare that Miss Wilson, glancing over her shoulder after having written "II," stopped to look at him. Then she wrote: 1. Who had spread the news?
2. What was the teacher's name?
3. What were her salient qualities?
4. and?
5. Did she dress in a summery fashion?
6. What biblical story is referenced?
7. and?
8. What characterized the glances from the boys?
9. How many eyes were looking at the teacher's hand?
10. was the classroom hushed?
11. Who does she quote concerning Draconian laws?
12. Did all the children know the answer to her question?
numbered_answers: 1. Fred and Charley
2. Miss Wilson
3. austere-looking
4. went through the world as though it were a refrigerator
5. No
6. David vs Goliath
7. the Simpson clan and the Fishes
8. the nine-o'clock bell
9. fifty pairs
10. Yes
11. What were the laws of Draco?
12. Yes

input: Make use of the article to answer the questions. CHAPTER VI

THE BLUNDERING OF ANDREW

They came face to face in the hall of the Grand Hotel. Duncombe had just returned from his call upon the Marquise. Andrew was leaning upon the arm of a dark, smooth-shaven man, and had apparently just descended from the lift. At the sound of Duncombe's little exclamation they both stopped short. Andrew turned his heavily spectacled eyes in Duncombe's direction, but it was obvious that he saw nothing.

"You here, Andrew!"

"Yes! Why not?"

The tone was curt, almost discourteous. Duncombe understood at once.

"Let us sit down somewhere, and talk for a few minutes," he said. "I did not expect you. You should have let me know that you were coming."

Andrew laughed a little bitterly.

"I scarcely see why," he said. "To tell you the truth, I see no advantage to either of us in any intercourse."

Duncombe took him by the arm and led him towards the smoking-room.

"Andrew," he said, "perhaps I have behaved badly--at least from your point of view, but remember that I warned you. Let us sit down here. Who is your friend?"

"Never mind," Andrew answered. "You can say what you have to before him. He is in my confidence."

Duncombe glanced around. The man had taken the chair next to them, and was evidently prepared to listen to all that was said. His clothes and bearing, and quiet, unobtrusive manners, all seemed to suggest truthfully enough his possible identity--an English detective from an advertised office. Duncombe smiled as he realized the almost pitiful inadequacy of such methods. 1. WHat did the man look like that Andrew was leaning on?
2. where were they?
3. Where did he come from?
4. What did Duncombe ask?
5. how did he respond?
6. Were they friendly?
7. how was the tone?
8. and?
9. Where did Duncombe take him to?
10. How does Andrew believe he acted?
11. who was Duncombe talking about?
12. who was?
13. from where?
14. Did Andrew speak about him?
15. why not?
16. was the man there?
17. where?
18. far away?
19. where?
20. was he there to talk?
numbered_answers:
1. dark and smooth-shaven
2. Grand Hotel
3. the lift.
4. You here, Andrew
5. Yes! Why not?
6. no
7. curt
8. discourteous
9. the smoking-room.
10. badly
11. Andrew's friend
12. English detective
13. advertised office.
14. no
15. He was in his confidence."
16. yes
17. a chair
18. no
19. next to them
20. no