原文：

　　現(xiàn)代中國人的姓名通常由姓(家庭姓氏)和名(個人所起的名字)組成，并且姓在前，名在后。因此，王小平被稱為王先生，個人的名字為小平。但是，在中國古代，起名字非常復(fù)雜。一個人通常有好幾個名字，包括姓、氏、名、字，每一個都表達不同的意思。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指一個人的姓，用名字來指一個人所起的名。對中國古代文獻的研究表明，“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)于母系社會時期，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.