Johann Gutenberg, who worked as a goldsmith (金匠), took what had already been discovered, and created a small invention that changed history. He created a machine that allowed him to move small blocks of letters in such a way that written material could be printed and mass-produced. Few people could read before Guttenberg made the invention, but once books became less expensive, more Europeans could read and write.
Block printing existed long before Gutenberg. The Chinese had been using wood blocks to print books as early as 868, but a new set of woodcuts (木刻印版) had to be made for each book. Producing one book was not easy; producing all kinds of books was more difficult.
Writing ink dates from about 2500 BC in Egypt and China. Gutenberg used an oil-based printing ink that would last longer than other inks used in his time. We don’t know much about Gutenberg because he was not famous during his lifetime. He was born in Germany about 1400. In 1448, Gutenberg developed signatures for each number, letter, and punctuation mark (标点符号). He then built the molds (模型) to hold the signatures in place. Gutenberg published the first mass-produced book: a 1,282 page Bible. To this day, more copies of the Bible have been printed than any other book.
Copies of Gutenberg’s invention spread throughout Europe, but the German goldsmith did not get rich from his invention. Some officials denounced the invention of printing because they feared that it would spread bad ideas. By 1500 there were 1,700 printing presses in Europe. The presses had already produced about 20 million volumes (册) of 40,000 different books.
【小题1】What happened after Johann Gutenberg’s invention?A．People could afford to read books.B．People became interested in inventing.C．It was still difficult to print all kinds of books.D．Punctuation mark began to be used in printing.【小题2】 Compared with block printing in China, Johann Gutenberg’s method . A．was difficult to runB．needed harder paperC．used a new kind of inkD．was put into use earlier【小题3】The underlined word “denounced” in the last paragraph means . A．fought against B．acceptedC．laughed at D．supported【小题4】What is the best title for the text?A．A famous 1,282 page BibleB．The life of a famous inventorC．An invention that changed historyD．The development of printingA
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(答案→)A
解析：本文主要讲述的是Johann Gutenberg,所发明出的新型的印刷方法改变了整个人类的历史。
【小题1】A 细节题。根据文章第一段最后一句Few people could read before Guttenberg made the invention, but once books became less expensive, more Europeans could read and write.可知在他的发明出现以后，很多人都可以阅读和写作了。故A正确。
【小题2】C 细节题。根据文章第三段1,2行Writing ink dates from about 2500 BC in Egypt and China. Gutenberg used an oil-based printing ink that would last longer than other inks used in his time可知他使用的是一种新型的墨水。故C正确。
【小题3】A 推理题。根据本句. Some officials denounced the invention of printing because they feared that it would spread bad ideas可知很多官员反对这项发明，是担心它会传播一些坏的思想。故A正确。
【小题4】C 主旨大意题。本文主要讲述的是Johann Gutenberg,所发明出的新型的印刷方法改变了整个人类的历史。故C正确。