2007年12月英語六級考試閱讀沖刺模擬訓練(6)

　　Look at the keyboard of any standard typewriter or computer. "Q," "W," "E," "R," "T" and "Y" are the first six letters. Who decided on this arrangement of the letters? And why?

　　People tried for centuries to invent the typewriter. In 1714 in England, Henry Mill filed a patent for a machine called An Artificial Machine or Method for the Impressing or Transcribing of Letters, Singly or Progressively one after another, as in Writing, whereby all Writing whatsoever may be Engrossed in Paper or Parchment so Neat and Exact as not to be distinguished from Print. That machine probably didn' t sell because no one could remember its name!

　　The first practical typewriter was patented in the United States in 1868 by Christopher Latham Sholes. His machine was known as the type-writer. It had a movable carriage, a lever for turning paper from line to line, and a keyboard on which the letters were arranged in alphabetical order.

　　But Sholes had a problem. On his first model, his "ABC" key arrangement caused the keys to jam when the typist worked quickly. Sholes didn' t know how to keep the keys from sticking, so his solution was to keep the typist from typing too fast.Sholes asked his brother-in-law to rearrange the keyboard so that the commonest letters were not so close together and the type bars would come from opposite directions. Thus they would not clash together and jam the machine.The new arrangement was the QWERTY arrangement typists use today. Of course, Sholes claimed that the new arrangement was scientific and would add speed and efficiency. The only efficiency it added was to slow the typist down, since almost any word in the English language required the typist' s fingers to cover more distance on the keyboard.

　　The advantages of the typewriter outweighed the disadvantages of the keyboard. Typists memorized the crazy letter arrangement, and the typewriter became a huge success. By the time typists had memorized the new arrangement of letters and built their speed, typewriter technology had improved, and the keys didn' t stick as badly as they had at first.

　　Questions 1 to 5 are based on the passage above.

　　1.We know from the passage that the inventor of the first practical typewriter is_____.
　　A.Henry Mill        B.Christopher Latham Sholes
　　C.Sholes'brother-in-law         D.Allbert Einstein

　　2.The author thinks the machine invented by Henry Mill could not be sold because_____.
　　A.it was difficult for people to accept new things
　　B.there were great disadvantages of the keyboard
　　C.the machine could not be distinguished from print
　　D.the name of the machine was too long

　　3.Sholes decided the QWERTY arrangement of the keyboard in order to_____.
　　A.arrange the letters in alphabetical order
　　B.cause the keys to jam when the typist worked quickly
　　C.solve the problem of the keys jamming
　　D.compete with "ABC" key arrangement

　　4.It is inferred that the QWERTY arrangement of the keyboard_____.
　　A.is the most scientific arrangement          B.adds speed and efficiency of typists
　　C.keeps the typist from typing too fast          D.is easy for typists to memorize

　　5.Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
　　A.The Arrangement of The Letters on Keyboard
　　B.The Story of Christopher Latham Sholes
　　C.How to Invent The Typewriter
　　D.The First Practical Typewriter

　　文章精要

　　說明文。本文主要介紹了鍵盤上QWERTY這種字母排列順序的來由。

　　斟詞酌句

　　1.patent n. 專利，專利權
　　adj. (有關)專利(權)的，受專利保護的
　　vt. 得到……的專利權
　　*The government patented the device to its inventor. 政府給予發(fā)明者專利權。

　　2.transcribe vt. 轉錄;抄寫;改編，改寫
　　*He transcribed the poem written by Edgar Allan Poe last night. 他昨晚抄下了埃德加·愛倫·坡的詩。

　　3.whereby adv. 靠那個，借以
　　*The law whereby all children receive free education has been passed by the Congress. 國會通過了使用所有兒童享受免費教育的法律。

　　4.whatsoever adv. (用于否定句中以加強語氣)任何
　　*I have no money whatsoever. 我一點兒錢都沒有。

　　5.lever n. 杠，杠桿;途徑，工具，手段
　　vt. (用杠桿)撬動，撬起
　　*The worker is levering at the rock. 工人用杠桿移動巖石。

　　試題精析

　　1.選B。本題為主要細節(jié)正誤題。第三段第一句說“The first practical typewriter was patented in the United States in 1868 by Christopher Latham Sholes.”，由此可知，B選項正確。

　　2.選D。本題為觀點態(tài)度推斷題。第二段最后一句“That machine probably didn't sell because no one could remember its name!”可推知，坐著認為機器可能賣不出去是因為它的名字太長了，沒有人能記住。

　　3.選C。本題為觀點態(tài)度推斷題。從第四段“……h(huán)is "ABC" key arrangement caused the keys to jam when the typist worked quickly. ”可知，肖爾斯決定“QWERTY”這種排列是為了解決“ABC”鍵這種排列所引起的“鍵堵塞”問題。

　　4.選C。本題為主要細節(jié)正誤題。從第四段中的“……h(huán)is solution was to keep the typist from typing too fast.”和“The only efficiency it added was to slow the typist down……”可知，QWERTY排列只能讓打字員的打字速度慢下來，C選項與其意思一致。

　　5.選A。本題為主旨歸納題。第一段的“Who decided on this arrangement of the letters? And why?”是全文的主旨句，文章后面的內容都是圍繞這兩個問題展開的。

　　全文翻譯

　　看看任何標準的打字機或計算機的鍵盤。Q、W、E、R、T和Y是最開始的六個字母。是誰決定的這種字母排列順序?又是為什么呢?

　　人們用了幾個世紀的時間發(fā)明出打字機。1714年在英國，亨利·米爾為一臺機器申請專利。這種機器叫謄印字母的人造機器或工具，用它可以像書寫一樣，一個字母單獨寫，或數個字母連續(xù)寫，所有書寫內容都可以整潔準確地謄抄在紙張或羊皮紙上，與印刷的不相上下。那種機器可能無人問津，因為沒有人記住它的名字。

　　1868年克里斯托弗·萊瑟姆·肖爾斯在美國為第一臺實用的打字機申請專利。他的機器被稱為打字機。它有活動的架子，有讓打字紙轉行的控制桿，還有按字母表順序排列的鍵盤。

　　但是肖爾斯碰到一個問題。在他最初的模型上，他鍵盤上ABC字母的排列，在打字員快速擊鍵時常常引起鍵堵塞。肖爾斯想不出如何使各鍵互不干擾，他的解決辦法就是讓打字員別打太快。肖爾斯請求他的內兄重排鍵盤，不要把最常用的字母排得太近，要讓打字桿能夠朝正反兩個方向運動，這樣它們就不會碰撞在一起，堵塞機器。新的排列便是打字員今天使用的QWERTY排列。肖爾斯自然聲稱，新的排列是科學的，能夠提高速度和效率。其實它所提高的惟一效率就是讓打字速度慢下來，因為不管打英語中哪個詞，幾乎都需要打字員在鍵盤上更長地伸展手指。

　　打字機的利當然是大于鍵盤的弊。打字員們記住了奇怪的字母排列，打字機一下就獲得了巨大的成功。到打字員熟記了字母的新排列，打字速度不斷提高，打字機制作技術也有了改進，字母鍵也不再像最初那樣容易撞車了。

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