# The history of bikes - 科目：雅思听力真题（Part 4） - 考频：中频 - 最近考试：2018.5.24/2017.1.12/2010.1.23 - 题目数：2 - 来源页：https://www.yaquan.site/paper/afeb40a8-5ee3-453f-8937-d3eeb1b8c412（在线机考练习与音频请访问该页面） - 数据更新：2026-10-29 ## 题目原文 00:00:00,920 Section four. You will hear an introduction of the exhibition named Two Centuries of the Bike. First, you have some time to look at questions thirty-one to forty. 00:00:22,140 Now listen carefully and answer questions thirty-one to forty. 00:01:00,140 Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome you to our exhibition, Two Centuries of the Bike. Let's stroll around the exhibition, shall we? 00:01:10,380 Although there were a few early efforts back in the seventeen hundreds, you didn't really see many bikes till, say, the eighteen thirties in England. Bikes were a response to the rapid growth of cities early in the nineteenth century. Cities like London were getting too big to walk across. The early bike let people travel with less effort than walking. Plus, a bike was a lot cheaper than a horse. Think of it. No one invited a bike for, what, five thousand years of human history. Why did people do it then? Probably because this was the start of the machine age. People wanted machines to do all the work. There were some drawbacks, however. For one thing, there were no pedals. You simply pushed yourself along using your feet, kind of like today's skateboard. That meant you went fairly slow, and uphill, you actually worked harder pushing that two-wheeler. Plus, the wheels were made of wood covered with metal, as you can see from this model. So the downside was that the ride was quite uncomfortable on most roads. Only a few gadget lovers had or used them. By the eighteen sixties, though, improvements were being made. As you can see from this specimen, metal frames had become the rule. They're more durable than wood, and they don't warp in the rain. The biggest improvement, however, was the development of the chain and sprocket system. They're connected. This meant you did not push the bike. You used pedals just like today. You had to try harder to balance, so it took some practice to figure out how to use the pedals, but it made the ride so much easier. As a result, the good thing was that you could ride a lot more smoothly and with very little effort. 00:02:52,100 By the eighteen eighties, another big change was the use of rubber wheels. These became pretty common at that time. Though the first ones were solid rubber, the ride was a good deal more comfortable than the old iron and wood system. This is a big consideration because the faster you go, the more you feel every bump. Air-filled tires, pneumatic tires, didn't really come into use till around the year nineteen hundred, as you can see from this exhibition over here. That made the ride even more comfortable. So by eighteen ninety or so, people were going a lot faster and a lot more smoothly. There was one problem when you were going quickly and comfortably. Oh, no, how do I stop? Yes, we all laugh now, but for a long time, the only way to stop was to drag your feet. That didn't work very well, and it would be dangerous if you were going fast. In the crowded cities of those years, New York, Chicago, and so on, you'd get killed if you couldn't stop for, say, a streetcar. Plus, look at this bike. The front wheel is nearly a meter and two-thirds tall. They made them that way so you could see over people in wagons, but you couldn't drag your feet. This model is called the velocipede, a speed pedal. Another characteristic of the bike in this period is that it has two equal-sized wheels, which signaled a big change in bikes, for with the velocipede, brakes appeared. If you wanted to stop, you just pushed the pedal backwards. Doing that stopped the back wheel of the bike. This technique worked a lot better than dragging your feet or jumping off the high seat there. This meant that bikes became a great deal safer. It would have been safer if people wore helmets, but the first bicycle helmet wasn't invented until years later, and even then, it was little more than a leather ball cap. It really wasn't until the nineteen seventies that the bike helmet was modified to provide some real protection. 00:04:48,100 Before continuing on to look at developments since the eighteen nineties, let's say a word more about safety. Everyone knows if you're going downhill, you can get going dangerously fast. To go more than a hundred kilometers an hour isn't all that difficult. But even on level ground, it's easy to go too quickly. On a city street, today's bicycles can be ridden at a speed of over forty miles an hour over a short distance. That's about sixty-four kilometers an hour. Remember, you're on a bike, not in a car. There's nothing to protect you. People are killed in single bicycle accidents every day just from hitting the road. A good rule to remember is if you're going faster than the cars, slow down, and please wear a helmet. Nearly one quarter of the epilepsy cases come from head injuries in accidents on bikes and motorcycles. I don't mean to scare you, but safety is everyone's business. What? Now, that's a good question. Why are today's bikes so much faster? Well, it's not just that today's athletes are faster. The answer is partly mechanical. If you look closely here at the back wheel, you'll see a number of gears. Changing gears is what makes those fast speeds possible. You can shift gears depending on the terrain and how hard you wish to pedal. So you can put it on a higher gear for downhill and a lower gear for uphill travel to make it easier to climb that slope. You'll notice this gear-shifting mechanism is attached to the back wheel, and when the rider shifts on the handlebar gear shifter, the chain moves to the appropriate sprocket. And speaking of changing gears, let's look over here at our Tour de France exhibit. 00:06:29,220 That is the end of section four. You now have half a minute to check your answers. ## 题目与答案 ### 31-37. | Years/Time | Feature | Advantage | Disadvantage | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1830s | wooden wheels covered with metal | need 31_____ than walking | quite 32_____ | | 33_____ | Chain and sprocket are 34_____ | easier and 35_____ ride | Harder to balance | | 1880s | use 36_____ | more comfortable | the faster you go, the more you feel every bump | | 1890s | equal-sized wheels | 37_____ | dangerous before brakes appeared | | Years/Time | Feature | Advantage | Disadvantage | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1830s | wooden wheels covered with metal | need 31_____ than walking | quite 32_____ | | 33_____ | Chain and sprocket are 34_____ | easier and 35_____ ride | Harder to balance | | 1880s | use 36_____ | more comfortable | the faster you go, the more you feel every bump | | 1890s | equal-sized wheels | 37_____ | dangerous before brakes appeared | **答案**：less effort|||uncomfortable|||1860s|||connected|||more smoothly|||rubber wheels|||safer 原文定位：The early bike let people travel with less effort than walking;So the downside was that the ride was quite uncomfortable on most roads;By the eighteen sixties, though, improvements were being made;The biggest improvement;was the development of the chain and sprocket system. They’re connected;you could ride a lot more smoothly and with very little effort;By the eighteen eighties, another big change was the use of rubber wheels;This meant that bikes became a great deal safer ### 38-40. 38-40 The invention of different gears on a bicycle affected which THREE of the following? 38-40 The invention of different gears on a bicycle affected which THREE of the following? - wheel size - balance - rate of speed - the back wheel - safety - downhill travel **答案**：rate of speed,the back wheel,downhill travel 原文定位：Changing gears is what makes those fast speeds possible. You can shift gears depending on the terrain;You can put it on a higher gear for downhill and a lower gear for uphill travel;This gear-shifting mechanism is attached to the back wheel --- 以上内容由鸭圈雅思真题库（www.yaquan.site）提供，收录近期雅思考试真题回忆，支持在线机考模式免费练习。