Thomas Alva Edison

　　Thomas Alva Edison was born in 1847 in Ohio, America. As a little boy he was very inquisitive (好问的) . He always wanted to know how things were done. Very early in life he showed he was full of curiosity(好奇) , a quality(素质) which is so important to inventors. In 1869 he went to New York, where he worked for some time as a telephone operator. But soon he became interested in inventions. In a very short time they were his chief business. In order to carry on his business, which was to become his life's work, he built a lab at Menlo Park, where he had gone to live. His first great invention was a system of telegraphy (电报学) . Soon afterwards he invented the phonograph (留声机), the first form of the instrument that we now know as the gramophone or record player. The word “phonograph” means something that can “write” or record sound. Other scientists before Edison had thought of instruments which would do this, but Edison was the first to make an instrument which actually(实际地) worked. He also invented the incandescent lamp (白炽灯), the wire is heated by an electric current (电流) . People could now use electricity (电) to illuminate (照亮) their homes. By the time Edison died in 1931 he had about a thousand inventions.

1．As a little boy Thomas Alva Edison was ________ .

[　　]

2．Edison worked as a telephone operator ________ .

[　　]

A．when he was a little boy

B．because he was full of curiosity

C．in his twenties

D．when he became interested in inventions

3．Edison built a lab at Menlo Park ________ .

[　　]

A．because he wanted to live there

B．in order to carry on his business

C．to invent phonograph

D．because he had no room to live in in New York

4．Edison was the first to ________ before other scientists.

[　　]

5．The incandescent lamp ________ .

[　　]

A．was the first invention of Edison's

B．was invented just before the year 1931

C．was Edison's last invention

D．has been used to illuminate for more than 60 years since it was invented

You may have never heard of Ladislao Biro, but you have certainly heard of the pen he invented—the ballpoint pen, or biro. Before Biro invented his pen, people wrote with fountain pens. The ink sometimes went out. In the 1930s Biro was a magazine editor in Budapest in Hungary. He noticed that the inks which the magazine’s printers used dried very quickly.Biro wondered if quick-drying ink could be used in pens. He came up with the idea of a tube(管) of ink with a free-moving ball on the end. As a person wrote, the ball collected ink from the rube and rolled(滚动) it on to the paper. The pen would be cheap and could be thrown away when the ink ran out.

　 Biro began to work on his invention, but the Second World War broke out before he could patent(取得…的专利) it. Biro left war-torn Europe and went to Buenos Aires in Argentina. There, he and his brother George, who was a chemist, began to improve the pen. In the early 1940s Biro began to produce his new pen, the biro. In 1944, he sold his invention to another company, who began to mass-produce the pen for the British and American armed forces(武装部队).

　 Biro was pleased that his pen was popular, but he did not gain much from his invention. The biro was later sold to the French firm, Bic, who now sell twelve million pens a day. Biro sank into obscurity in South America. His name, however, has become a household word．

（ ）61.Biro is the name of _______.

A. a magazine　 B. a fountain pen C. a company　 D. a ballpoint pen

(　 )62. According to the passage, Biro’s new pen was first produced in ______.

A.　　 Hungary　 B.France　　　　 C. Argentina　 D.America

(　 )63. Which of the following can be filled in No.3 in the box to show how Biro invented his new pen?

　　　

1.came up　 -----2.worked on　 -------3.? ------4.produded with an idea　　 his invention　　　　　　　　 his pen

　　　 A. improved his pen　　　　　　 B. sold his invention

　　　 C. worked as an editor　　　　　 D. left for South America

（　 ）64. The underlined part “sank into obscurity” is the closest in meaning to”__”.

A. was very popular　　　　　　 B. Lost a lot of money

C. lost interest in business　　　 D. was unknown to many people

(　 )65. What does the passage mainly tell us about Biro?

A.He was a popular writer.　　　 B.He was a famous magazine editor

C. He was an important inventor　 D. He was a successful businessman