>>> a=[[3,4,9],[1,3,4],[9,0,2]]
>>> b=a[:2]
>>> b
[[3, 4, 9], [1, 3, 4]]
>>> c=[None]*3
>>> for i in range(len(c)):
c[i]=[0]*3
>>> c
[[0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0]]
>>> c[0:1]=b[1:2]
>>> c
[[1, 3, 4], [0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0]]
>>>