¡¡¡¡Bicycles, a long-forgotten vehicle that seems to belong to the last century, are returning to the streets of Guangzhou, as the city starts to ban the running of motorcycle in urban Guangzhou£®
¡¡¡¡¡°Business has never been so good for my shop,¡± said Chen Yongwu, a bicycle shop owner at the city's Donghua West Road, ¡°I have to work 12 hours a day to meet the demand of my customers£®¡±
¡¡¡¡¡°Even my wife and brother-in-law have to give me a hand lately£®¡±
¡¡¡¡Chen originally ran a motorcycle repair shop£®He grasped the opportunity of the motorcycle ban, and started his bicycle business soon after hearing about the banning£®
¡¡¡¡¡°I sold 23 bicycles on January 2 alone£®¡± Said Chen£®
¡¡¡¡Bicycle is more convenient and healthier
¡¡¡¡¡°My home is one kilometer from the metro station,¡± said a middle-aged man who is waiting for his bicycle at Chen's shop, ¡°it is too tiresome to walk to the station, but taking a bus for such a short distance is a waste of money£®¡±
¡¡¡¡¡°So I decided to buy a bicycle£®¡±
¡¡¡¡The bicycle costs around 600 yuan, which is equal to the bus fare of half a year£®
¡¡¡¡¡°Besides, riding a bicycle to work is much healthier than riding a bus£®¡±
¡¡¡¡The bicycle buyers can be categorized into two groups£®One group of buyers buy the bicycles for the transportation of small commodities; the other ride the bicycles to work£®
¡¡¡¡Arising problems
¡¡¡¡Riding a bicycle to work may be healthy, but it is not without problems£®
¡¡¡¡The lack of bicycle lanes has posed a big threat to the safety of the bicycle riders in Guangzhou£®
¡¡¡¡¡°I was riding my bicycle on Huifu West Road on day,¡± said Mr£®Zhang, ¡°then suddenly the bus pulled over besides me near the bus station£®¡±
¡¡¡¡¡°I was so frightened at the time, because the bus nearly hit me£®¡±
¡¡¡¡The sideways in Guangzhou are usually crowded with foot passengers, so citizens also could not use the sideways£®
¡¡¡¡¡°It is worse than walking£®¡±
¡¡¡¡Besides, finding a place a park the bicycles could be very difficult, much more difficult then finding a place to park your car£®
(1)
What is the min topic of the passage?
[¡¡¡¡]
A£®
Motorcycle ban£®
B£®
Bicycles'returming
C£®
Convenience of riding a bicycle
D£®
Problems brought by bicycles
(2)
What is the purpose of the 2nd paragraph to the 5th paragraph?
[¡¡¡¡]
A£®
To prove that more people choose to ride bicycles£®
B£®
To persuade people into buying bicycles£®
C£®
To ensure that there are enough bicycles to buy£®
D£®
To prove that the bicycle business helps get a lot more profit£®
(3)
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
[¡¡¡¡]
A£®
A lot of motorcycle repair shop started their bicycle business after the ban£®
B£®
Taking a bus is much healthier than riding a bike£®
C£®
Guangzhou has designed lanes particularly for bicycle riders£®
D£®
Finding a parking space for bikes can be more difficult than for cars£®
You may never heard of Ladislao Biro, but you have certainly heard of the pen he invented£the ballpoint pen(Ô²Öé±Ê), or biro£®Before Biro invented his pen, people wrote with fountain pens(¸Ö±Ê)£®The ink sometimes went out£®In the 1930s, Biro was a magazine editor in Budapest in Hungary£®He noticed that the inks which the magaxine's printers used dried very quickly£®Biro wondered if quick£drying inks could be used in pens£®He came up with the idea of a tube(¹Ü×Ó)of ink with a free£moving ball on the end£®As a person wrote, the ball collected ink from the tube and rolled(¹ö¶¯)it on to the paper£®The pen would be cheap and could be thrown away when the ink was used up£®
¡¡¡¡
Biro began to work on his invention but he soon left Europe for Buenos Aires in Argentina, a country in South America, because of the Second World War£®Biro and his brother George, who was a chemist, began to improve the pen£®In the early 1940s, Biro began to produce his new pen, the biro£®In 1944, he sold his invention to another company, which began to produce the pen for Britain and America£®
¡¡¡¡
Biro was pleased that his pen was popular, but he did not get much from his invention£®The bieo was later sold to the French company, Bic, which now sells twelve million pens a day£®Biro sank into obscurity in South America£®His name, however, has become famous around the world£®
(1)
Biro is the name of ________£®
[¡¡¡¡]
A£®
a chemist
B£®
a fountain pen
C£®
a company
D£®
a ballpoint pen
(2)
According to the passage, Biro's new pen was first produced in ________£®
[¡¡¡¡]
A£®
Hungary
B£®
France
C£®
Argentina
D£®
Britain and America
(3)
Which of the following can be filled in the box to show how Biro invented his new pen?
came up with an idea¡úworked on his invention¡ú?¡úproduced his pen
[¡¡¡¡]
A£®
improved his pen
B£®
sold his invention
C£®
worked as an editor
D£®
left for South America
(4)
The underlined part¡°sank into obscurity¡±is the closest in meaning to¡°________¡±£®