Question

　　George Stephenson's father was a stoker（司炉）of a coal engine near Newcastleupon-Tyne in England. When George was fourteen he became his father's assistant at a shilling（先令）a day. He loved engines and spent all his spare time studying them. That was in 1795. And in those days all steam engines were stationary（不动的）. They were used to pull trucks along rails with a chain or rope.

　　In 1804, Richard Trevithick built an engine on wheels, and several other engineers built locomotives（火车头）, as they were called, each one trying to make a better machine than the others. George Stephenson set himself to build a locomotive.

　　Stephenson built his first locomotive in 1814, and he kept on trying to improve it. When the first public railway was opened between Stochton and Darlington in 1825, it was his engine, called Locomotion, that pulled the first goods train in the world, with a few passengers on board.

　　Stephenson's most famous engine was The Rocket, which his son Robert helped to design. In 1929, a prize of 500 pounds was offered to the designer of the best locomotive. Five engines took part in the tests and The Rocket proved to be the best in every way. It astonished everyone by pulling a train at the wonderful speed of 30 miles an hour. With Robert, George Stephenson became the leading railway engineer in the world both for building engines and making railways. Engines had interesting names in those days, and a very famous one was called Puffing Billy.

(1) Engines could be used to carry passengers ________ after the building of engines on wheels.

[　　]

A．ten years

B．twenty-five years

C．twenty-one years

D．thirty years

(2) The Rocket aroused people's interest because it ________.

[　　]

A．won the prize

B．could run much faster

C．was the best of the five locomotives

D．was designed by Stephenson

(3) Who played an important role in Stephenson's success in the engine tests?

[　　]

A．His father

B．Trevithick

C．The early engineers.

D．His son.

Answer 1

答案：C:B:D
解析：

(1)首台机车（即an engine on wheels）是1804年制造的，能载人的机车with a few passengers on board)是1825年制造的，两者相减为21年。 (2)从最后一段It astonished everyone by pulling a train at the wonderful speed of 30 miles an hour.可得知，“Rocket”最大的特点就是快，因此人 们才对其感兴趣，其设计者才获奖。 (3)最后一段的第一句告诉我们：Stephenson发明的最著名的引擎是The Rocket,是在他的儿子Robert的帮助下设计的。因此可以说：他的儿子在他的成功中起了重要作用。