Question

You may have never heard of Ladislao Biro, but you have certainly heard of the pen he invented—the ballpoint pen, or biro. Before Biro invented his pen, people wrote with fountain pens. The ink sometimes went out. In the 1930s Biro was a magazine editor in Budapest in Hungary. He noticed that the inks which the magazine’s printers used dried very quickly.Biro wondered if quick-drying ink could be used in pens. He came up with the idea of a tube(管) of ink with a free-moving ball on the end. As a person wrote, the ball collected ink from the rube and rolled(滾動) it on to the paper. The pen would be cheap and could be thrown away when the ink ran out.

　 Biro began to work on his invention, but the Second World War broke out before he could patent(取得…的專利) it. Biro left war-torn Europe and went to Buenos Aires in Argentina. There, he and his brother George, who was a chemist, began to improve the pen. In the early 1940s Biro began to produce his new pen, the biro. In 1944, he sold his invention to another company, who began to mass-produce the pen for the British and American armed forces(武裝部隊).

　 Biro was pleased that his pen was popular, but he did not gain much from his invention. The biro was later sold to the French firm, Bic, who now sell twelve million pens a day. Biro sank into obscurity in South America. His name, however, has become a household word．

（ ）61.Biro is the name of _______.

A. a magazine　 B. a fountain pen C. a company　 D. a ballpoint pen

(　 )62. According to the passage, Biro’s new pen was first produced in ______.

A.　　 Hungary　 B.France　　　　 C. Argentina　 D.America

(　 )63. Which of the following can be filled in No.3 in the box to show how Biro invented his new pen?

　　　

1.came up　 -----2.worked on　 -------3.? ------4.produded with an idea　　 his invention　　　　　　　　 his pen

　　　 A. improved his pen　　　　　　 B. sold his invention

　　　 C. worked as an editor　　　　　 D. left for South America

（　 ）64. The underlined part “sank into obscurity” is the closest in meaning to”__”.

A. was very popular　　　　　　 B. Lost a lot of money

C. lost interest in business　　　 D. was unknown to many people

(　 )65. What does the passage mainly tell us about Biro?

A.He was a popular writer.　　　 B.He was a famous magazine editor

C. He was an important inventor　 D. He was a successful businessman

　　　　　　　　

Answer 1

DCABC