Unit 4 Pygmalion reading课时作业

Ⅰ.短文填空

　　In 1854, the British government gave 5.approval to the construction of an underground railway in the centre of London.The initial tunnels were opened in 1863.In 1884，two companies 6.linked up and provided underground service in the middle of the city.Because of the smoke from the steam engines, early underground lines needed large holes leading to the surface at regular 7.intervals.

　　The first railway tunnel under the River Thames was dug in 1884.The City and South London Railway opened the first 8.electric underground railway in 1890.Over the next twenty­five years, six independent deep underground lines were 9.constructed.The underground system had some unusual uses during World War Ⅱ and it is working to 10.transport huge numbers of people as it has done for many years.

Ⅱ.阅读理解

　　There are more bicycles than residents in the Netherlands, and in cities like Amsterdam and The Hague up to 70% of all journeys are made by bike. The BBC's reporter, Anna Holligan, examines what made everyone get back in the saddle (车座)．

　　Before World War Ⅱ， journeys in the Netherlands were mainly made by bike, but in the 1950s and 1960s, as car ownership increased quickly, this changed. As in many countries in Europe, roads became increasingly crowded.

　　The jump in car number caused a huge rise in the number of deaths on the roads. In 1971 more than 3,000 people were killed by motor vehicles, and 450 of them were children. In response a social movement demanding safer cycling conditions for children was formed. Called Stop de Kindermoord, it took its name from the headline of an article written by journalist Vic Langenhoff whose own child had been killed in a road accident.

The Dutch love of the motor vehicle was also shaken by the Middle East oil crisis of 1973, when oil­producing countries stopped export to the US and Western Europe.