①Paper，like many other things that the world uses today，was first made in China．In Europe，paper was not very commonly used before the year 1，400．Europeans used parchment（羊皮纸），for many hundreds of years．Parchment was very strong；it was made from the skin of certain young animals．
②The Chinese first made paper about 2，000years ago．China still has pieces of paper which were made as long as that．③But Chinese paper was not made from the wood of trees．It was made from the hairlike parts of certain animals．
④Paper was not made in southern Europe until about the year 1，100．Scandinavia—which now makes a GREat deal of the world's paper did not begin to make it until 1，500．⑤It was a German named Schaeffer who found out that one could make the best paper from trees．After that，the forest countries of Canada，Sweden，Norway，Finland，and the United States became the most important in paper making．
