Question

Margaret Knight was born on February 14, 1838, in Maine. She lived during a time when factories were springing up all over the United States and business were booming. Her father died when she was 10 years old and began working in a textile mill(紡織廠).

When she was 12, Knight saw an accident in which a part of one of the marhines flew off, seriously hurting a worker. So she decided to plan a way to prevent such accidents. Knight designed a safety feature that would stop the machines if something got caught in them. The machine soon became common in textile mills and is still used in some factories now.

Although factories were willing to use her first invention, Knight did not receive much in the way of reward for her effort. Because of her youth and her family's lack of(缺乏)of education, Knight was unable to patent(獲得專利)her safety machine to earn money from selling it.

In Knight's day, paper bags were shaped like envelopes(信封), which made them difficult to fill. While working at a paper bag factory, Knight thought of bags with flat, rectangular(長方形的)bottom. Then she tried to invent a machine that would produce them, and she succeeded.

Knight worked for months to perfect her work, but when she asked for a patent, a man named Charles Annan had seen an early model of Knight's idea and had tried to patent the machine as his own.

Knight insisted that the patent should be hers and ended up taking Annan to court(法庭). During the case; Annan said that a woman would not be able to invent such a complex and innovative(創(chuàng)新的)machine. But Knight provided evidence proving that the machine was hers and received patent in 1871.

Knight died in 1914, and one newspaper described her as a "woman Edison". At a time when women's hard work and knowledge were taken too lightly, she proved that women too could develop new ideas that would shape the future of industry.

1.Why didn't Margaret patent her safety machine at first?

A.She had no money to do it. B.She didn't consider it worth her effort.

C.She expected her invention to be of use to all. D.She had no sense of patent at that time.

2.We can infer from Margret's story that at Margret's time________ .

A.women didn't get well protected at work B.women got badly paid at factories

C.women weren't expected to achieve much D.women had no right to invent things

3.Why did the writer write the passage?

A.To tell the importance of role of women in society. B.To call on girls to learn from a woman scientist.

C.To encourage women to fight for equal rights. D.To introduce a famous woman inventor in America.

Answer 1