Question

                             B

                             ★★★★★

       One of the first things you will notice about Britain is that they drive on the left,and the steering wheel ( 方向盘) 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(殖民地) like Australia,South 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 until the late eighteenth century,everybody ?avelled 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 on the road,they walked on the left to make sure that their sword (剑) arm was between them.

        After the French Revolution in 1789,howfever,the French government changed sides as part of a great social reorganisation. Later,Napoleon,the ruler of France,spread the change to the rest of 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 be.came the centre of the car industry,if you wanted a good car,you bought an American-made right-hand drive vehicle. 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.

6. Why did people travel on the left before the late 18th century?

   A. They could be safer from attacks.

   B. The governments required them to do so.

    C. There were more left-handed people back then.

   D. They could prevent strangers passing by their left side.

7. What was Napoleon's attitude to walking on the left? 

     A.He was againstit

   B. He paid no attention to it.

   C.He couldn't understand it.

   D. He was uncertain about it.

8. For Americans,driving on the right was a way to show.

   A. the connection with France was broken

   B. die American Revolutionary War had ended

   C. America was the centre of the car industry   

   D. the US was no longer controlled by the UK

9. The underlined phrase “convert to” in the last

paragraph means .

   A. insist on      B. give up

   C. change into    D. disagree with

10. What would be the best title for the text?

   A. How did France influence Europe?

   B. How did Europeans travel on the road?

    C. Why do British people drive on the left?

   D. Why does the US make right-hand drive cars?

Answer 1

6. A 7. A 8. D 9. C

6. A.细节理解题。根据第一段中的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世纪晚期之前习惯于靠左走是因为他们走路时可以用持剑的右手保护自己，这样更安全。

7. A.推理判断题。

8. D.细节理解题。根据倒数第二段中 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，美国人选择靠右行驶是为了表明他们已经完全脱离了英国。

9. C.词义猜测题。根据最后一段中的 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，由于瑞典当时 车辆和人口较少，因此改成靠右行车

10.C。标题归纳题。本题解释了英国人习惯靠左行驶的原因，也顺便介绍了其他一些国家靠右行驶的来历。C 项标题能够起到统领全文的作用。