Wheels are everywhere around you and me, yet no one knows exactly when the first wheel was invented or what it was used for. We do know, however, that they existed over 5,500 years ago in ancient Asia.
The oldest known transport wheel was discovered in 2002 in Slovenia. It is over 5,100 years old. Evidence suggests that wheels for transport didn’t become popular for a while, though. This could be because animals did a perfectly good job of carrying farming tools and humans around.
But it could also be because of a difficult situation. While wheels need to roll on smooth surfaces, roads with smooth surfaces weren't going to be constructed until there was plenty of demand for them. Eventually, road surfaces did become smoother, but this difficult situation appeared again a few centuries later. There had been no important changes in wheel and vehicle design before the arrival of modern road design.
In the mid-1700s,a Frenchman came up with a new design of road--a base layer (层)of large stones covered with a thin layer of smaller stones. A Scotsman improved on this design in the 1820s and a strong, lasting road surface became a reality. At around the same time, metal hubs(the central part of a wheel)came into being, followed by the pneumatic tire (充气轮胎) in 1846. Alloy wheels were invented in 1967, sixty years after the appearance of tarmacked roads(柏油路). As wheel design took off, vehicles go faster and faster.
1.What might be the reason why transport wheels wasn’t that popular for some time?
A. Few knew how to use transport wheels.
B. Humans carried farming tools just as well.
C. Such animals as horses and bulls were still a good means of transport.
D. The existence of transport wheels was not known.
2.How is the last paragraph mainly developed?
A. By giving examples.
B. By following time order
C. By making comparisons.
D. By making classifications.
3.What is the passage mainly about?
A. The beginning of road design.
B. The history of public transport.
C. The developmentt of transport wheels.
D. The invention of fast-moving vehicles.
2021到2022学英语报15期56版试题答案
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Years ago, when I was a poor artist trying to sell my paintings in local galleries, I_1. (live) in the heart of a city. The rent for my apartment was really cheap 2. it was in the middle of one of the busiest neighborhoods in town. People who visited me used to ask me