D

How would we travel without maps? It would be a bit adventurous to start from Oxford University to London Bridge if there wasn’t a map of the London Underground at each station. In fact, a lot of the early map-makers were adventurers and explorers, especially in the 15th and 16th centuries.

So what did people do before there were maps? Well, it was quite easy to use natural signs like mountains

and rivers if you were travelling on foot or riding a horse. People took small boats down rivers and followed coastlines. And it was much more logical (合理的) to use time, not distance, to measure (计量) journeys: the next village is a three-hour ride, for example.

In fact, in the earliest maps, people didn’t draw landmarks (路标). They drew the stars. It was very easy to see the night sky and use it for navigation (航行). The sky was a lot clearer than today. When towns and cities were built, people drew road maps that gave correct distances and directions.

The London Underground was opened in 1863 and it also used a road map style. But a man called Henry Beck realised that travelling by train isn’t the same as driving your car across London. Passengers only need to know which stations to change at. His new design for the Underground map wasn’t very popular with the train companies at first. But the passengers loved it and in 1933, 700,000 copies were printed.

These days, of course, you can ride a bike, drive a car or go through a forest and know where you are exactly, using a GPS. It’s really difficult to get lost!

(   )41. The underlined word “adventurous” means “　　　” in Chinese.

A. 有创意的   B. 冒险的

C. 轻松的   D. 激进的

(   )42. What was drawn in the earliest maps?

A. Stars.                B. Landmarks.

C. Cities and towns.  D. Mountains and rivers.

(   )43. When did road maps come out?

A. Around 15th and 16th centuries.

B. When people began to travel by train.

C. When people began to travel by sea.

D. When cities and towns appeared.

(   )44. Which of the following is true?

A. A GPS helped people to travel long time ago.

B. Ancient people could travel on a horse without maps.

C. The sky was badly polluted before cities were built.

D. Henry Beck’s map wasn’t popular with the passengers.

(   )45. What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Maps have a long history.

B. We never get lost these days.

C. We can’t travel without maps.

D. Henry Beck designed a new map.