Almost every machine with moving parts has wheels, yet no one knows exactly when

Almost every machine with moving parts has wheels, yetno 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 in2002 in Slovenia. It is over 5,100 years old. Evidence suggests that wheels fortransport didn’t become popular for a while, though. This could be becauseanimals 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 surfacesweren’t going to be constructed until there was plenty of demand for them.Eventually, road surfaces did become smoother, but this difficult situationappeared again a few centuries later. There had been no important changes inwheel and vehicle design before the arrival of modem road design.

In the mid-1700s, a Frenchman came up with a newdesign of road—a base layer (层) of large stones coveredwith a thin layer of smaller stones. A Scotsman improved on this design in the1820s and a strong, lasting road surface became a reality. At around the samelime, metal hubs (the central part of a wheel) came into being, followed by thepneumatic tyre(充气轮胎) in 1846. Alloy wheels were invented in1967, sixty years after the appearance of tarmacked roads (柏油路). As wheel design took off, vehicles got faster andfaster.

1.What might explain why transport wheels didn’tbecome popular for some time?

A．Few knew howto use transport wheels.

B．Humanscarried farming tools just as well.

C．Animals werea good means of transport.

D．The existenceof transport wheels was not known.

2.What do we know about road design from the passage?

A．It was easierthan wheel design.

B．It improvedafter big changes in vehicle design.

C．It waspromoted by fast-moving vehicles.

D．It providedconditions for wheel design to develop.

3.How is the last paragraph mainly developed?

A．By givingexamples.

B．By makingcomparisons.

C．By followingtime order.

D．By makingclassifications.

4.What is the passage mainly about?

A．The beginningof road design.

B．Thedevelopment of transport wheels.

C．The historyof public transport.

D．The inventionof fast-moving vehicles.

试题答案

【答案】

1.C

2.D

3.C

4.B

【解析】

【语篇解读】本文是一篇说明文，题材是车轮。全文讲述了车轮的发展历程以及道路设计对车轮发展的影响。本解

1.推理判断题。难度：中等。根据第二段Thiscould be because animals did a perfectly good job of carrying farming tools andhumans around.（这或许是因为动物在拉运农具人们的方面做得不错。）可知由于当时动物使用的方便让轮子没能够普及。

2.推理判断题。难度：较难。根据第3段 There had been no important changes in wheel andvehicle design before the arrival of modem road design.（在现代道路设计之前，轮子和交通工具的设计都没有重大变化）。第4段接着讲述了随着道路设计的进步，各种新型的轮子(包括充气轮胎)随之发展，而且也促进了车辆的发展。由此可知，道路设计的发展促进了车轮的发展。

3.推理判断题。难度：较易。根据第四段时间数字，Inthe mid-1700s、in the 1820s、in1846、in 1967，只有C项符合。

4.主旨大意。难度：中等。全文讲述了车轮的发展历程以及道路设计对车轮发展的影响，故选C项。