小刚 and 小美 discuss the origin of Chinese characters and the features of modern Chinese.

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《English Translation》

小刚: 小美, Chinese characters are very interesting. Do you know how they originated?
小美: Hmm, I heard that Chinese characters have existed for a long time. The earliest ones were oracle bone inscriptions.
小刚: That's right. Oracle bone script was carved on bones by ancient people—it's very old.
小美: Later, Chinese characters gradually changed, from seal script to clerical script, and then to simplified characters.
小刚: Yes, even though the shapes changed, many characters still keep their original meanings.
小美: Some Chinese characters are really interesting. For example, '山' looks just like a mountain.
小刚: Exactly! Chinese characters have many different components, and sometimes you can guess their meanings.
小美: So, what are the features of modern Chinese?
小刚: Modern Chinese has four tones. If the tone changes, the meaning changes too.
小美: Yes, learning Chinese characters takes time, but it's really fun!