There are some very good inventions which, for one reason or another, don’t become popular. These inventions should be better known, even though I think that some of them are crazy. Let’s have a look at some of these inventions and see if you agree that they should be more successful.
The Australians had a great idea to stop people from drinking and driving. The idea was that if a driver wanted to start the car, she or he would have to blow into a bag first. If there was too much alcohol(酒精) in their breath, the car wouldn’t start. It sounded like a great idea to me, but people said that they might need to drive the car in an emergency even if they had drunk too much alcohol. Another idea I liked was an invention by a scientist who thought his children watched too much TV. He linked the TV to an exercise bike so that the electricity to power the TV was generated(产出) by the bike. If the children wanted to watch a lot of TV, they had to pedal(踩踏板) very hard. I found another invention on the Internet which was intended (倾向于) to encourage good habits. Believe it or not, this invention was an ashtray(烟灰缸) which spoke to you when you lit a cigarette! The “voice” of the ashtray was activated (启动) by the heat from the cigarette and reminded you how dangerous it is to smoke.
One of the strangest inventions I have come across is a bicycle which can cross rivers! The idea was that when you came to a river, you could
inflate a huge plastic ball all around the bike. You would then get into the ball which would float on the river while you pedaled the bike inside the ball! Why not use a bridge instead? A friend of mine at school once bought a strange pair of football shoes. On the bottom of the shoes there was a rotating pad of studs (转动钉垫). The idea was that you would change direction more quickly if the studs rotated with you. The problem was that every time you stopped you changed direction whether you wanted to or not! I think he wore those shoes twice! One thing I would like is a baseball cap with a built-in radio so you can listen to sport all day with your hands free. While we are on the subject of sport, the Americans invented a kind of robot for sports fans. If you were watching your team on TV on your own, you could press a button and the robot would do “high fives” with you! Fantastic! I wonder if you have any good ideas for inventions like these.
小题1:What’s the writer’s attitude towards the inventions mentioned in Paragraph 2?
| A．The writer regrets he knew nothing about the inventions. |
| B．The writer doubts if the inventions will be popular soon. |
| C．The writer thinks people will benefit from the inventions. |
| D．The writer finds these inventions are the strangest of all. |
小题2:What can we know from the passage?
| A．The father used his invention to stop children watching too much TV. |
| B．It was very bad for the drivers to blow into a bag before their driving. |
| C．The bike crossing rivers was considered one of the best inventions. |
| D．The invention of new shoes would make players run much faster. |
小题3:The underlined word “inflate” in the third paragraph means __________.
| A．check out | B．blow up |
| C．look into | D．turn over |
小题4:What’s the best title for the passage?
| A．Popular Inventions Today. |
| B．Technology and Invention. |
| C．The History of Invention. |
| D．Inventions with a Difference. |
