原文：

　　现代中国人的姓名通常由姓(家庭姓氏)和名(个人所起的名字)组成，并且姓在前，名在后。因此，王小平被称为王先生，个人的名字为小平。但是，在中国古代，起名字非常复杂。一个人通常有好几个名字，包括姓、氏、名、字，每一个都表达不同的意思。姓和氏演变为现在的姓，名和字则演变为现在的名。现在人们通常用姓氏来指一个人的姓，用名字来指一个人所起的名。对中国古代文献的研究表明，“姓”最初指不同的母系部落(matriarchal tribes)的名字，和人们的居住地也有某些关系。研究表明，“姓”出现于母系社会时期，大约四千至五千年之前。

　　参考答案：

　　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.