Almost every machine with moving parts has wheels，yet no one knows exactly when the first wheel was invented or what it was used for.We do know，however，that they existed over 5,500 years ago in ancient Asia.
The oldest known transport wheel was discovered in 2002 in Slovenia.It is over 5,100 years old.Evidence suggests that wheels for transport didn’t become popular for a while，though.This could be because animals did a perfectly good job of carrying farming tools and humans around.
But it could also be because of a difficult situation.While wheels need to roll on smooth surfaces，roads with smooth surfaces weren’t going to be constructed until there was plenty of demand for them.Eventually，road surfaces did become smoother，but this difficult situation appeared again a few centuries later.There had been no important changes in wheel and vehicle design before the arrival of modern road design.
In the mid­1700s，a Frenchman came up with a new design of road—a base layer(層) of large stones covered with a thin layer of smaller stones.A Scotsman improved on this design in the 1820s and a strong，lasting road surface became a reality.At around the same time，metal hubs (the central part of a wheel)came into being，followed by the pneumatic tyre(充氣輪胎) in 1846.Alloy wheels were invented in 1967，sixty years after the appearance of tarmacked roads(柏油路)．As wheel design took off，vehicles got faster and faster.                          (2013·重慶，C)
【小題1】What might explain why transport wheels didn’t become popular for some time?

A．Few knew how to use transport wheels.
B．Humans carried farming tools just as well.
C．Animals were a good means of transport.
D．The existence of transport wheels was not known.
【小題2】What do we know about road design from the passage?
A．It was easier than wheel design.
B．It improved after big changes in vehicle design.
C．It was promoted by fast­moving vehicles.
D．It provided conditions for wheel design to develop.
【小題3】How is the last paragraph mainly developed?
A．By giving examples.
B．By making comparisons.
C．By following time order.
D．By making classifications.
【小題4】What is the passage mainly about?
A．The beginning of road design.
B．The development of transport wheels.
C．The history of public transport.
D．The invention of fast­moving vehicles.


【小題1】C
【小題2】D
【小題3】C
【小題4】B

解析【小題1】　C
解析　細節(jié)理解題。從第二段中的“This could be because animals did a perfectly good job of carrying farming tools and humans around.”可知，正確答案為C項。
【小題2】　D
解析　推理判斷題。從第三、四段的描述我們可知，道路的設計為輪子的發(fā)展提供了條件。
【小題3】　C
解析　組織結構題。從最后一段中的In the mid­1700s；in the 1820s；At around the same time；in 1967等可看出該段是按時間順序組織起來的。
【小題4】　B
解析　主旨大意題。全文主要向我們介紹了車輪的發(fā)展歷程。

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In the study, scientists looked at the brains of 17 species of primates(靈長目動物), including monkeys, apes and humans. They found that in the process of evolution, brains didn’t keep growing as a whole. Certain regions of the brain grew prior to others in response to species’ needs, and in this way they could make the best use of their limited brain space.
For example, when early humans were struggling to survive, the brain region in charge of using tools and finding food grew in size more than other regions. But in modern times, the prefrontal cortex(前額皮質)—the region in charge of social cognition(認知), moral judgments and goal-directed planning—grew more than the rest of the brain.
Think of the brain as a room. If a big room is poorly organized, it doesn’t necessarily store more stuff than a smaller one.
Paul Manger, professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, explains this principle using the example of whales. He told Scientific American: “Whales have big brains, absolutely. But if you look at the actual structure of the brain, it’s not very complex. Brain size only matters if the rest of the brain is organized properly. ”
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A．they are a species of primates
B．they have much larger brains
C．their brain structure is more complex
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A．the brain kept growing in size to adapt to new environments
B．most regions of the brain didn’t change
C．the prefrontal cortex grew more than the rest of the brain
D．humans’ brains became increasingly simple so that humans could survive
【小題3】What can we conclude from the article?
A．Gender makes a difference in intelligence.
B．The size of the brain has nothing to do with intelligence.
C．Species whose brain is organized properly tend to be smarter.
D．Larger brains are usually organized better than smaller ones.
【小題4】The method the writer uses to develop the last paragraph is　　　.
A．by presenting research data
B．by giving examples
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