The story of printing is a long and complex one. Before the invention of printing, the spread of knowledge depended either on word of mouth or handwriting. Both took time and errors happened easily. 2000 years ago in the Western Han Dynasty, stone-tablet rubbing(拓印) was common for spreading Confucianism or Buddhism. This led in the Sui Dynasty (581-618) to the use of carving writing or pictures on a wooden board, which became known as block printing(木版印刷).

The first book with an exact date of printing appeared in China in 868. In the Tang Dynasty (618-907), this technology was gradually introduced to Korea, Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Block printing reached its golden age during the Song dynasty (960-1279) as the government encouraged the publication of large numbers of books. Yet block printing had its drawbacks. All the boards became useless after the printing was done and a single mistake in carving could ruin a whole block. In the Song Dynasty, a man named Bi Sheng carved individual characters on pieces of fine clay(粘土). Then he hardened the clay by a slow baking process, resulting in pieces of movable type.

Movable type printing has a very important position in the history of printing, for all later printing methods such as wooden type, copper type and lead type printing all developed on the basis of movable clay types. During the 13-14th centuries, This technology spread to Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Europe. Later, German Johann Gutenberg invented movable type made of metal in the 15th century.

48. The main idea of this passage is about ____.

A.    the advantages of China’s printing

B.    the history of movable type writing

C.    the development of China’s printing

D.    the spread of China’s printing

49. The underlined word in the third paragraph probably means____.

A. features     B. benefits    C. disadvantages   D. styles

50. According to the passage, which of the following is right in order of time?

① lead type printing  ② copper type printing  ③movable clay type printing  ④ wooden type printing  ⑤block printing    ⑥ stone-tablet rubbing

A. ①⑥③④  B. ⑥⑤③④  C. ④⑥③①   D. ⑥④②⑤