10.You may 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(鋼筆).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 inks could be used in pens.He came up with the idea of a tube of ink with a free-moving ball on the end.As a person wrote,the ball collected ink from the tube(管子) and rolled(滾動)it on to the paper.The pen would be cheap and could be thrown away when the ink was used up.
Biro began to work on his invention but he soon left Europe for Buenos Aires in Argentina,a country in South America,because of the Second World War.Biro and his brother George,who was a chemist,began to improve(改進)the pen.In the early 1940s,Biro began to produce(生產)his new pen,the biro.In 1944,he sold his invention to another company,which began to produce the pen for Britain and America.
Biro was pleased that his pen was popular,but he did not get much from his invention.The biro was later sold to the French company,Bic,which now sells twelve million pens a day.Biro sank into obscurity in South America.His name,however,has become famous around the world.
51.Biro is the name ofD.
A.a chemist
B.a fountain pen
C.a company
D.a ballpoint pen
52.According to the passage,Biro's new pen was first produced inC.
A.Hungary
B.France
C.Argentina
D.Britain and America
53.Which of the following can be filled in the box to show how Biro invented his new pen?
produced his pen?A
A.improved his pen
B.sold his invention
C.worked as an editor
D.left for South America
54.The underlined part"sank into obscurity"is the closest in meaning to"D"
A.was very popular
B.lost a lot of money
C.lost interest in business
D.was unknown to many people
55.What does the passage mainly tell us about Biro?B
A.He was a popular writer.
B.He was an important inventor.
C.He was a famous magazine editor.
D.He was a successful businessman.