高中英语人教版 必修5 Unit 2 The United Kingdom.docVIP

Ⅰ.阅读理解(建议用时16′) A [2015·哈六中期中考试]Life is so much simpler these days. Everything revolves around a single button! With the introduction of washing machines, washing clothes became easier. The machines would dry clothes at least 70 to 80 percent and already half-dried clothes would be done in no time. Do you want to know how washing machines evolved? The first washing machine was called the scrub (擦洗) board and was invented in the year 1797. In 1851, American man, James King, discovered and patented the first washing machine to use a drum.However, it was still hand-powered and did not work by itself. Then, in 1858, William Blackstone of Indiana built a washing machine for his wife.This washing machine removed and washed away dirt from the clothes. This was the first official washing machine that could be used at home. In 1908, the Hurley Machine Company of Chicago invented the Thor machine. This was the first washing machine that was electrically powered, and it had a galvanized (电镀的) metal tub and an electric motor. The earlier washing machine had a heavy, cast-iron mechanism mounted on the tub lid, making the machine heavy and difficult to move. The introduction of a metal tub and reduction gears (减速齿轮) in later years replaced this heavy equipment and by 1920 the production of wooden tub washing machines completely stopped. But the new machines made a lot of noise because of their bulky metal tubs. A modification that was made was covering the tubs with white enameled (磁漆的) sheet metal to make the cleaning process easier. By the early 1950s, American companies started producing washing machines with a spin dry feature， and this replaced the old wringer, which, while drying the clothes, would remove the buttons or cause accidents involving the hair and hands.In 1957, the first washing machine with five plus buttons was introduced. These controlled the wash temperature, rinse temperature and spin speed. Slowly, more features were added, and today we have a variety of