Question

17．One of the first things you will notice about Britain is that they drive on the left，and the steering wheel is on the right．This causes a strange feeling，but driving on the left is not as unusual as you might think； about a quarter of the countries in the world drive on the left．Most of them are former British colonies like Australia，Sou th Africa，and Ireland，but Thailand，Japan and Indonesia also do so．This driving habit is strange to us，but there is a perfectly good reason for it：up till the late eighteenth century，everybody traveled on the left-hand side of the road because it was the best way for mostly right-handed people to protect themselves in violent societies．So when strangers passed the road，they walk on the left to make sure that their sword arm was between them．
After the French revolution in 1789，however，the French government changed sides as part of a great social reorganization．Later，Napoleon，the ruler of France，spread the change to the rest of the continental Europe．He did this because he was left-handed himself，and he wanted his armies to march on the right so that he could keep his left arm between himself and any enemy．From then on，any part of the world which became part of the British Empire marched on the left，and any part controlled by the French marched on the right．
After the American Revolutionary War （1775-1783），the US became independent and decided to make traffic drive on the right in order to cut its ties with Britain．Once America became the center of the car industry，if you wanted a good car，you bought an American-made right-hand drive vehicles．From then on many countries changed out of necessity．
Today，the EU would like Britain to be the same as the rest of Europe，but this is no longer possible．It would cost billions of pounds to change everything round．The last European country to convert to driving on the right was Sweden in 1967，but there were far fewer cars there，and the population was much smaller．
21．Why did people travel on the left before the late 18th century？A
A．They could be safer from attacks．
B．The government required them to do so．
C．There were more left-handed people back then．
D．They could prevent strangers passing by their left side．
22．What was Napoleon's attitude to walking on the left？C
A．Negative．B．Indifferent．
C．Supportive．D．Uncertain．
23．For Americans，driving on the right was a way to showD．
A．the connection with France was broken
B．the American Revolutionary War had ended
C．America was the center of the car industry
D．the US was no longer controlled by the UK
24．The underlined phrase"convert to"in the last paragraph meansC．
A．insist on                              B．give up
C．change into                            D．disagree with．

Answer 1

分析 本文屬于說(shuō)明文閱讀，作者通過(guò)這篇文章向我們介紹了英國(guó)是靠左行駛，而方向盤(pán)在右邊這一奇怪的現(xiàn)象，由此引發(fā)了下文的闡述．

解答 21．A  細(xì)節(jié)理解題．根據(jù)第一段中的up until the late eighteenth century，everybody travelled on the left-hand side of the road because it was the best way for mostly right-handed people to protect themselves in violent societies可知18世紀(jì)晚期之前習(xí)慣于靠左走是因?yàn)樗麄冏呗窌r(shí)可以用持劍的右手保護(hù)自己，這樣更安全，故選A．
22．C   細(xì)節(jié)理解題，根據(jù)第二段．Later，Napoleon，the ruler of France，spread the change to the rest of the continental Europe．He did this because he was left-handed himself，and he wanted his armies to march on the right so that he could keep his left arm between himself and any enemy．可知Napoleon是一個(gè)左撇子，因此他會(huì)支持靠左側(cè)行走，故選C．
23．D  細(xì)節(jié)理解題．根據(jù)倒數(shù)第二段中 的 After the American Revolutionary War （1775-1783），the US became independent and decided to make traffic drive on the right in order to cut its ties with Britain可知，美國(guó)人選擇靠右行駛是為了表明他們已經(jīng)完全脫離了英國(guó)，故選D．
24．C  詞義猜測(cè)題．根據(jù)最后一段中的 It would cost billions of pounds to change everything round 和 there were far fewer cars there，and the population was much smaller可知，由于瑞典當(dāng)時(shí) 車(chē)輛和人口較少，因此改成靠右行車(chē)，故選C．

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