原文：

　　現(xiàn)代中國(guó)人的姓名通常由姓(家庭姓氏)和名(個(gè)人所起的名字)組成，并且姓在前，名在后。因此，王小平被稱為王先生，個(gè)人的名字為小平。但是，在中國(guó)古代，起名字非常復(fù)雜。一個(gè)人通常有好幾個(gè)名字，包括姓、氏、名、字，每一個(gè)都表達(dá)不同的意思。姓和氏演變?yōu)楝F(xiàn)在的姓，名和字則演變?yōu)楝F(xiàn)在的名�，F(xiàn)在人們通常用姓氏來(lái)指一個(gè)人的姓，用名字來(lái)指一個(gè)人所起的名。對(duì)中國(guó)古代文獻(xiàn)的研究表明，“姓”最初指不同的母系部落(matriarchal tribes)的名字，和人們的居住地也有某些關(guān)系。研究表明，“姓”出現(xiàn)于母系社會(huì)時(shí)期，大約四千至五千年之前。

　　參考答案：

　　A modern Chinese usually has a surname (family name) or xing and a given name (first name), or ming (or mingzi), always in that order. Thus Wang Xiaoping is Mr. Wang with the personal name Xiaoping. In ancient China, however, naming was very complicated and one person usually had several names, including xing, shi, ming, and zi. Each of these four words meant a different thing. Xing and shi together formed today’s surname, and ming and zi today’s given name. Nowadays, people use xingshi to refer to a person’s surname, mingzi to refer to one’s give name. Study of ancient Chinese documents shows that xing originally referred to the names of different matriarchal tribes. It also had something to do with the place where people live. Researches show that xing came into being during the matrilineal society period, around four or five thousand years ago.