7.
Automobiles were originally developed in Europe.German engineers Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz built the first successful gasoline engines in 1885.After 1900,however,the United States became a leader in automobile production.
The first cars were handmade and very expensive.Only people in rich cities could afford them.The first company to make gasoline cars in the U.S.was the Duryea Motor Wagon Company.Then,in 1901,Ransom E.Olds Began mass-producing his car,the Oldsmobile.In 1913Henry Ford made great strides in the mass production of cars by using an assembly line in his factory.Mass production meant that each car was less expensive to make.Now car ownership was affordable for the average person.By 1916there were more than one million cars in the United States.
The automobile gave people the freedom to travel anywhere there were passable roads.Families that lived great distance apart could travel by automobile to visit each other.People could visit places they had never seen before.
Before the mass production of cars,people lived close to work.Their means of transportation included walking,riding a bicycle,using a horse and carriage,or taking a train.The automobile gave people the ability to live farther away from work.The result was that gradually people moved out of the cities to the less crowded suburbs.
The automobile industry created millions of jobs.The jobs were not just in the auto factories,where the cars were assembled.Workers were needed to make auto parts,run gas stations and repair shops,and work at new motels and restaurants that served people who traveled by car.Jobs became available at car rental companies.People were needed to build roads.These jobs and many others still exist because of the automobile.
54.The first gasoline cars that were produced wereB.
A.very affordable
B.very expensive
C.mass-produced
D.bought by many people
55.The rise of the automobile industryC.
A.destroyed many jobs
B.made travel more difficult
C.created many jobs
D.had no effect on suburbs
56.Cars that were mass-producedD.
A.made people move to the cities
B.were bought by only a few people
C.made nature enjoying more difficult
D.were possible for more people to afford
57.Before the automobile was mass-produced,people traveled in the following ways
exceptA
A.by airplane.
B.on foot.
C.by horse and carriage.
D.by bicycle.