Question

How would we travel without maps? It would be a bit adventurous (冒險的) to set off from Oxford University to go to London Bridge if there wasn't a map of the London Underground at each station. In fact, a lot of the early map-makers were adventurers and explorers, especially in the 15th and 16th centuries.

    So what did people do before there were maps? Well, it was quite easy to use natural signs like mountains and rivers if you were travelling on foot or riding a horse. People took small boats down rivers and followed coastlines. And it was much more logical (合理的) to use time, not distance, to measure (計量) journeys: the next village is a three-hour ride, for example.

    In fact, in the earliest maps, people didn't draw landmarks. They drew the stars. It was very easy to see the night sky and use it for navigation (航行). The sky was a lot clearer before the light pollution from cities that we have today. When towns and cities were built, people drew road maps which gave correct distances and directions.

    The London Underground was opened in 1863 and it also used a road map style. But a man called Henry Beck realized that travelling by train wasn't the same as driving your car across London. Passengers only needed to know which stations to change at. His new design (設計) for the Underground map wasn't very popular with the train companies at first. But the passengers loved it and in 1933, 700,000 copies were printed.

    These days, of course, you can ride a bike, drive a car or go through a forest and know where you are exactly, using a GPS. It's really difficult to get lost!

1.What was drawn in the earliest maps?

A. Stars.                             

B. Landmarks.

C. Cities and towns,                    

D. Mountains and rivers.

2.When did road maps come out?

A. Around 15th and 16th centuries.         

B. When people began to travel by train.

C. When people began to travel by sea.      

D. When cities and towns appeared.

3.Which of the following is true?

    A. A GPS helped people to travel long time ago.

    B. Ancient people could travel on a horse without maps.

    C. The sky was polluted by light before cities were built.

    D. Henry Beck's map wasn't popular with the passengers.

4.What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Maps have a long history.           

B. We never get lost these days.

C. We can't travel without maps.          

D. Henry Beck designed a new map.

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.A

2.D

3.B

4.A

【解析】文章體裁為說明文。文章主要圍繞地圖進行講述，內容包括地圖的用途，地圖何時被使用，在沒有地圖的時候，人們怎么旅游和判斷方向。

1.細節題。答案在原文的第三段第一句和第二句"In fact, in the earliest maps, people didn't draw stars. They drew stars."

2.細節題。答案在原文的第三段第五句即本段的最后一句"When towns and cities were built, people drew road maps which gave correct distances and directions."

3.推斷題。答案在原文的第二段第二句。"it was quite easy to use natural signs like mountains and rivers if you were travelling on foot or riding a horse."

4.主旨大意題。第一段講15，16世紀愛冒險的人沒有地圖如何旅行；第二段講在沒有地圖之前人們怎么出行；第三段講早期地圖的使用；第四段講近期地圖的設計和使用；第五段講現代的我們用GPS。所以整篇文章講的是地圖的發展，介紹地圖的歷史過程。