Manypeoplebegintousepencilsfromanearlyage．Therearemanykindsofpencils：somehaveerasersontop；somearecolorful．Youmayhaveusedmanykindsofthemformanyyears，butdoyouknowthehistoryofpencils?
Manyyearsago，peopleinEgyptusedlead（铅）towrite．Now，pencilsaremadefromgraphite（石墨）insteadoflead．Inl564，peoplefoundthatgraphitecouldleaveblackmarks．Inthebeginning，thepeopleusedittomakemarksontheirsheep．Latertheyusedthegraphitetowrite．Theythoughtitwaslead．Graphiteleftablackermarkthanlead，butitwasnotstrongenoughsoitneededsomethingtoholdit．
In1565，ConradGesnerfirstputgraphiteintosomethingtoholdit．Later，inthe1600s，Germanpeoplemixedgraphitewithsomeotherthingsandusedthemforwriting．Later，Francecouldn'tgetpencilsfromboththeEnglishandtheGermans，soNicholasJacquesContebeganto makepencils．In France，therewaslittlegraphite，sohemixedgraphitewithclay（粘土）．
In1812，WilliamMunroemadethefistAmericanwoodpencils．Later，amanputasmalleraserontopofapencil．Anewkindofpencilwasborn．
1．Peoplebegantowritewithleadfirstin________．
A．Egypt B．England C．Germany
2．Graphiteis________thanlead．
A．blackerandsofter B．blackerandharder C．softerandlighter
3．Thefirstpeopletomixgraphitewithothermaterialsare________．
A．English B．German C．French
4．Thefirstpersontoputgraphiteintosomethingtoholdis________．
A．WilliamMunroe B．NicholasJacquesConte
C．ConradGesner
5．Thepassageismainlyaboutthe________ofpencils．
A．kinds B．history C．materials
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