Dreams of Flight

The story of man's dream of flight, of his desire to reach the stars, is as old as mankind itself. According to Greek legend, Daedalus was the first man to fly. He and his son had been kept on an island. In order to escape, Daedalus shaped wings of wax (2) into which he stuck bird feathers. During their flight, his son flew too high and the sun melted the wax. He was drowned in the sea. The father was supposed to have continued his flight and reached Sicily, several hundred miles away.

There is also an English legend of King Bladud who, during his rule in the ninth century B.C., used wings to fly. But his flight was short-lived and he fell to his death. The dream of flying continued, but in all the legends, the flier rose like a bird only to fall like a stone. It took hundreds of years that men flew up into the air and returned to earth safely.

The first man to approach flying on a scientific basis was an Englishman who lived during the thirteenth century. He looked at the air about us as a sea, and he believed that a balloon could float on the air just as a boat did on water. Almost four hundred years later, an Italian priest applied his principle of air flight. He designed a boat, which would be held in the air by four hollow spheres (空心球).ach of the four balls was to be 20 feet in diameter (直徑) and made of very thin copper. But his boat was never built since it was not possible to make spheres of such thin metal and such size in those days.

After studying the flight of birds and the movement of the air, a great scientist of the fifteenth century concluded that birds flew because they flapped (擺動) their wings and that it was possible for man to do the same. So a kind of flapping-wing flying machine was invented. Many men tried and failed to fly with flying machines. It was not until 1890 that people discovered why this method would never succeed - man could not develop sufficient power with his arms and legs.

41 How did Daedalus manage to escape to Sicily, according to the passage?

A He killed the guards and got out of the island.

B A god came to rescue him and took him away.

C His son came to rescue him and took him away.

D He made wings of wax and flew away from the island.

42 According to the English legend, King Bladud lost his life because

A he flew too far.

B he flew too high.

C he fell to the ground.

D he was hit by a stone.

43 The first scientific air flight was designed by

A a Greek.

B an Englishman.

C a Chinese.

D an Italian.

44 The priest failed to build the boat because

A he could not raise enough money.

B his design was not scientific.

C he could not find enough copper.

D copper spheres could not be made as designed

45 According to the last paragraph, man could not fly with flapping-wing flying machines because

A he could not develop adequate power with his arms and legs.

B he knew nothing about the movement of the air.

C they were made of heavy metal.

D they were made of light feathers.

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