50. What may other birds think when a cuckoo lays an
egg in their nest?
A. They push it out of their nests.
B. It seems that they don’t
know what has happened.
C. They don’t know like it
but can’t do anything about it.
D. They welcome the egg and the young cuckoo.
B
Bicycles are very
popular around the world today. People ride their bicycles for exercise and
enjoyment. In some places, people use a bicycle to get to work. In other
places, bicycle riding is a very popular exercise to people who live in cities.
But who invented the first bicycle ? In 1791, a Frenchman named Comte de Sivrac
invented and owned the first bicycle. Mrs. Sivac rode the bicycle in Paris. The
handles(把手)and the seat were
wooden. This bicycle was very difficult to move. A rider even had to pick up
the front wheel to change direction. Finally, the bicycle had no brakes for
stopping or pedals for the feet! Riding a bicycle was a great risk.
In 1817, a German
named Baron von Drais de Sauerbrun made the first bicycle better. The seat
became more comfortable. The wheel could now change direction. His ride in the
forest took only one hour instead of three hours on foot, which surprised
people at that time.
Sauerbrun brought this kind
of bicycle from Germany to France. Then Denis Johnson, an Englishman, made a
bicycle for women. It had space for their dresses to hang down. But these
bicycles still had no brakes or pedals, and riders often got hurt. These
bicycles and the people who rode them were not very popular.
It took another
forty-five years for the bicycle to become popular. More than100 years later,
bicycle riding is more popular than ever. In fact, in India and China, there
are still many more bicycles than cars.
