Question

  　Have you ever used a typewriter? If not, you've surely seen one. This useful machine has a most interesting history.

　　Although you may think that the typewriter is a modern invention, the idea goes as far back as the early 1700s. It was then, in 1714, that England's Queen Anne granted Henry Mill the first patent（专利）for a machine that typed letters. Called An Artificial Machine or Method For Impressing Letters, the machine remained just a design on paper.

　　Various other typing machines were invented over the next hundred years or so. However, all of them had the same problem: they required more time to use than writing the same material by hand. Things improved a little around 1829 when an American named William Burt invented a machine called the desired letter. He also pressed a bar to link the paper. The machine printed letters well, but it had a top speed of only five words a minute.

　　Finally, in 1874, a more practical machine was introduced to the public. Invented by an American Christopher $holes and some of his companions, the machine was set up by E. Remington and Sons and called the“Remington Model No.1”. It was the first typewriter to have the kind of typewriter keyboard we know today.

　　You may have a look at the typewriter keyboard and wonder about the strange arrangement of letters. The arrangement, strangely enough, has nothing to do with making typing easier or faster. As a matter of fact, the keys were so arranged to force typists to type lower. Typing too fast caught the keys of Remington 1 pressed together. They still follow this early arrangement of letters of the keyboard.

(1) What does the writer mainly talk about in this passage?

[　　]

A．What a typewriter is.

B．How the typewriter was invented.

C．The function and use of a typewriter.

D．Remington and his invention.

(2) “An Artificial Machine”was______.

[　　]

A．the first typewriter that was made by Henry Mill

B．highly praised by England's Queen as the first typewriter.

C．hardly produced at all

D．made as the first typewriter in 1714

(3) The first typewriters were made_______.

[　　]

A．from 1700 to 1714

B．in the eighteenth century

C．in the nineteenth century

D．in the twentieth century

(4) That the keyboard was designed so as today is because_______.

[　　]

A．the inventor wanted to make typing easier than writing

B．the inventor meant to prevent the keys from being pressed together

C．that it was arranged strangely

D．it has nothing to do with Remington

(5) We can infer from the passage that modern typewriters are better than and different from the one invented by Sholes and his companions except for ________.

[　　]

A．the size

B．the keyboard

C．the form of letters

D．the arrangement of the letters

Answer 1

答案：B;C;C;B
解析：

(1) 这篇短文主要讲的是打字机是怎样发明的How the typewriter was invented. 而不是What a typewriter is. 打字机是什么或The function and use of a typewriter.打字机的功能及用途或Remington and his invention．Remington及其发明。 (2) 根据文中所述，由Henry Mill设计的“An Artificial Machine”只是a design on paper，并没有真正制成机器。 (3) 由于Henry Mill设计的“An Artificial Machine”只是纸上的设计而不是真正的打字机，因此最初的打字机要在the next hundred years or so才出现。因此，C项较为合理。 (4) 现在打字机的键盘设计的形式实际上主要是为了尽可能避免字母键缠打在一起to prevent the keys from being pressed together。 (5) 现在的打字机比Sholes发明的打字机好而且不同，但字母的安排形式the arrangement of the letters是一样的。