The makers of the Constitution knew that changes would be necessary and that if there was no way of making them, the Constitution would no longer be useful. They, therefore, made it possible for Americans to change the Constitution by adopting amendments to it, (31)     . All amendments written into the Constitution have been made in accordance with rules (32)

     . An amendment may be proposed by two-thirds of both houses of Congress or by a convention called by Congress (33)     . It must then be approved by three-fourths of all the states. Then and only then (34)     .

     Since 1789 (35)     . Ten of them were adopted almost immediately (36)     . They are the amendments (37)     because they protect the rights of individuals．Some amendments have extended the right to vote by forbidding discrimination in respect to the fight to vote on account of race，color or sex，and (38)     ．One great amendment abolished slavery in the United States．The Fourteenth Amendment，(39)     ，has done much in recent years to bring greater justice to black people and others．Other amendments have changed the method of electing senators(40)     ，and increased the taxing power of Congress．By amendment we have sought to overcome defects in the Constitution and thus to keep it alive．

 (From The Constitution of the United States)

[A] accepted after the Civil War

[B] laid down in the original document

[C]in order to make it more democratic

[D] that we call the Bill of Rights

[E] by interpretation on the part of the Supreme Court

[F] twenty-six amendments to the Constitution have been adopted

[G] that Congress had no power under the Constitution to pass such a law

[H]at the request of two-thirds of the state legislatures

[I]but they did not make it easy to do so

[J] does the change become part of the Constitution

[K] after the Constitution went into effect

[L]by lowering the voting age to eighteen

 （31）