Transportation+Exercise

Reading

**Part 1:** ** //Instruction:// ** ** Here is a reading text about "Transportation". Read the text carefully and then start doing the exercises by clicking on the exercise link at the bottom of the page. **

** Transportation **  Archeologists are of a view that the first step towards man-made [|transportation]started with the invention of wheel either in Asia or Mesopotamia roughly around 4000 – 3500 BC. The very next valid evolutionary step from the wheel was the invention of the cart and chariot. Sumeria was the place where the two-wheel chariot had found its birthplace and is believed to be the [|world]’s first form of wheeled transportation. With the coping up of the boundaries of land travelling, man’s curiosity about the world around him increased. Origin of the dugout boat is one of the great mysteries of history. For the historians, they were unable to pinpoint when or where the very first water vessel was set afloat.  As time passed, a simple boat developed to include a large square of cloth mounted on a central pole. This cloth was called ‘sail’, it would turn the boat into a sail-propelled ship. However the evolution of water travel didn’t stop with the sail. The neatness of ships ultimately improved as they increased in size. It was in the 1800s that the ships started to shed their sails once again on the rivers. The [|technology]of transportation changed with the arrival of automation. Because of their bulky form and inability to turn easily, paddlewheel boats were restricted to river travel where maneuverability was easy because of the calm water current. The steamship was the next invention after paddlewheel. After that in 1912, the first diesel-powered ship was launched. That diesel engine design became the industrial and military standard until after WW II.Land travel was also improved because of automation. Mass transit became a standard originally through the <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','sans-serif';">steam engine <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">of the 18thcentury. Locomotives were launched in 1804 using steam to power a series of pistons a lot similar like that of steamship. During Second World War, the diesel engine was used extensively and steam was almost completely forgotten. Electricity was also experimented in the running of trains as early as 1895. The problem was that it was considered very costly and unreliable to run until the advent of the subway. The arrival of subway was the time when electricity became the easiest and cleanest means of underground motion. The [|technology]<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">of automation was however not reserved exclusively for mass transit. Jean Lenoir was a French scientist worked out an internal combustion engine in 1860 which ran on illuminating gas. Personal mobility was increased because of the technology of automobiles which permitted people to live at greater distances from their work. This led mankind to the formation of suburbs. The next pace in transportation was not to the land or the seas but this time it was the sky. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','sans-serif';">The inventors <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">of this new flying machine were the Wright brothers, two bicycle makers, Orville and Wilbur Wright. The aero plane gave people a great facility of covering great distances in less time cutting transatlantic travel time in half. <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;"> Man’s travel has only ever been limited by the scope of his imagination. After each new challenge is conquered, man looks beyond it to the next challenge. The history is evident that humans will continue to strive and step forward when particularly faced with challenges of transportation.

**Part 2:**

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #730d0d; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 32px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #730d0d; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 30px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Instruction: // ** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">** Here is a Close Test about "Transportation". Read the text carefully and then fill in the blanks by clicking on the exercise link below. **



<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #730d0d; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">** Back to Transportation ** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #730d0d; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">** Back to home **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 18px; vertical-align: auto;">** Contributor: Mohammad Ali Izadpanah **