Look at the keyboard of any standard typewriter or computer. "Q," "W," "E," "R," "T" and "Y" are the first six letters. Who decided on this arrangement of the letters? And why?

　　People tried for centuries to invent the typewriter. In 1714 in England, Henry Mill filed a patent for a machine called An Artificial Machine or Method for the Impressing or Transcribing of Letters, Singly or Progressively one after another, as in Writing, whereby all Writing whatsoever may be Engrossed in Paper or Parchment so Neat and Exact as not to be distinguished from Print. That machine probably didn’ t sell because no one could remember its name!

　　The first practical typewriter was patented in the United States in 1868 by Christopher Latham Sholes. His machine was known as the type-writer. It had a movable carriage, a lever for turning paper from line to line, and a keyboard on which the letters were arranged in alphabetical order.

　　But Sholes had a problem. On his first model, his "ABC" key arrangement caused the keys to jam when the typist worked quickly. Sholes didn’ t know how to keep the keys from sticking, so his solution was to keep the typist from typing too fast.Sholes asked his brother-in-law to rearrange the keyboard so that the commonest letters were not so close together and the type bars would come from opposite directions. Thus they would not clash together and jam the machine.The new arrangement was the QWERTY arrangement typists use today. Of course, Sholes claimed that the new arrangement was scientific and would add speed and efficiency. The only efficiency it added was to slow the typist down, since almost any word in the English language required the typist’ s fingers to cover more distance on the keyboard.

　　The advantages of the typewriter outweighed the disadvantages of the keyboard. Typists memorized the crazy letter arrangement, and

　　1) It was a great achievement _______________(10个月建成一栋24层的楼).

　　2) It is necessary _______________(我们在考试前好好地睡一晚上觉).

　　3) It is generous _______________(你把这么多钱捐给灾区人民).

　　4) The teacher decided _______________(不惩罚那些上课迟到的学生).

　　5) Mr. Green was wondering _______________ (是否去看望在法国的儿子).

　　6) The gardener _______________(刚才警告我不要在中午给花浇水).

　　7) We _______________(请他给我们做有关现代艺术的讲座).

　　8) He feels it challenging _______________(在这么大一所大学做学生会主席).

　　9) We hope to have more opportunities _______________(把我们在课堂上学到的东西应用于实践).

　　10) The bad weather _______________(破坏了我们在露天放电影的计划).

　　11) The environmentalists are against _______________(在郊区建一座核电站的决定).

　　12) Sally Ride was the first _______________(探索外部空间的美国妇女).

　　13) They lifted a rock _______________(结果砸了自己的脚).

　　14) He was surprised _______________(在这个山村遇见一个中学同学).

　　15) I am sorry _______________(占用了您这么多时间).

　　16) I happened _______________(在他冲进来的时候站在门口).

　　17) She doesn’t like _______________(被当作客人).

　　18) If you want to save money, you’d better _______________(到校园书店买旧书).

　　19) We did nothing _______________(除了整天打桥牌).

　　20) We were made _______________(进屋之前在垫子上擦擦脚).

　　1) to complete a 24-story building in 10 months

　　(考点：不定式作主语时常用it作形式主语放在句首代替不定式，而将不定式移到谓语后面)

　　2) for us to have a good night’s sleep before the test

　　(考点：有时用“介词for + 代词/名词”来表示不定式的逻辑主语，这时整句的谓语描述的对象是事情，这种情况下谓语中常用的形容词有：necessary, important, possible, impossible, all right, essential等)

　　3) of you to donate so much money to the people in the disaster area

　　(考点：有时用“介词of + 代词/名词”来表示不定式的逻辑主语，这时整句的谓语描述的对象是人，这种情况下谓语中常用的形容词有：absurd, bold, brave, careful, careless, cowardly, cruel, foolish, generous, good, honest, kind, nice, polite, rude, selfish, silly, stupid, thoughtful, thoughtless, wicked, wise, wrong等)

　　4) not to punish those students who had been late for class

　　(考点：1. 用不定式结构作decide的宾语;2.不定式的否定形式是在to前加not)

　　(能带不定式作宾语的动词常见的有：afford, agree, ask, attempt, beg, begin, bother, care, choose, claim, consent, decide, demand, desire, dislike, endeavor, expect, fail, fear, forget, happen, hate, help, hesitate, hope, intend, learn, like, love, manage, mean, neglect, offer, plan, pledge, prefer, prepare, pretend, promise, refuse, remember, resolve, start, threaten, undertake, venture, volunteer, vow, want, wish)

　　5) whether to visit their son in France

　　(考点：“疑问词+不定式”作动词wonder的宾语。能以这种结构作宾语的动词通常有ask, consider, decide, discover, explain, forget, guess, know, learn, observe, remember, see, tell, understand, wonder等)

　　6) warned me just now not to water flowers at noon

　　(考点：不定式作宾语补语)

　　7) invited him to give us a lecture on modern art

　　(考点：同上)

　　(能带不定式结构作宾语补语的动词有advise, allow, ask, beg, cause, challenge, command, compel, enable, determine, encourage, expect, feel, find, force, get, hate, have, hear, help, inform invite, let, like, make, mean, need, notice, notify, oblige, order, permit, persuade, remind, request, require, see, send, teach, tell, tempt, trouble, urge, want, warn, watch, wish等。注：划线的动词后面的不定式不带to)

　　8) to be the chairman of students’ union in so large a university

　　(考点：动词 + it + 形容词/名词 + 不定式。it是形式宾语，不定式是真正宾语)

　　9) to apply what we have learned in class to practice

　　(考点：不定式作定语)考试大论坛

　　(不定式常用作以下名词/代词的定语：ability, ambition, anything, attempt, capability, chance, curiosity, desire, decision, determination, effort, failure, intention, need, nothing, opportunity, place, plan, promise, reason, right, something, tendency, time, way, wish等)

　　10) ruined our plan to show the film in the open air

　　(考点：同上)

　　11) the decision to build a nuclear power station in the suburbs

　　(考点：同上)

　　12) American woman to explore the outer space

　　(考点：由only, last, next，序数词或形容词最高级修饰的名词常用不定式作定语)

　　13) only to drop it on their own feet

　　(考点：不定式作结果状语)

　　14) to meet a high school classmate in the mountain village

　　(考点：不定式作原因状语)

　　15) to have taken up so much of your time

　　(考点：1. 不定式作原因状语;2. 不定式的完成时)

　　16) to be standing in the doorway when he rushed in

　　(考点：不定式的进行式)

　　17) to be treated as a guest

　　(考点：不定式的被动形式)

　　18) go to the campus bookstore to buy used books

　　(考点：不带to的不定式)

　　19) but play bridge the whole day

　　(考点：同上)

　　20) to wipe our feet on the mat before going into the room

　　(考点：当动词see, make, hear等用于被动语态时，不定式要保留to)

　　the typewriter became a huge success. By the time typists had memorized the new arrangement of letters and built their speed, typewriter technology had improved, and the keys didn’ t stick as badly as they had at first.

　　1.We know from the passage that the inventor of the first practical typewriter is_____.

　　A.Henry Mill　B.Christopher Latham Sholes　C.Sholes’brother-in-law　D.Allbert Einstein

　　2.The author thinks the machine invented by Henry Mill could not be sold because_____.

　　A.it was difficult for people to accept new things　B.there were great disadvantages of the keyboard

　　C.the machine could not be distinguished from print　　D.the name of the machine was too long

　　3.Sholes decided the QWERTY arrangement of the keyboard in order to_____.

　　A.arrange the letters in alphabetical order　　B.cause the keys to jam when the typist worked quickly

　　C.solve the problem of the keys jamming　D.compete with "ABC" key arrangement

　　4.It is inferred that the QWERTY arrangement of the keyboard_____.

　　A.is the most scientific arrangement　　B.adds speed and efficiency of typists

　　C.keeps the typist from typing too fast　　D.is easy for typists to memorize

　　5.Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

　　A.The Arrangement of The Letters on Keyboard　　B.The Story of Christopher Latham Sholes

　　C.How to Invent The Typewriter　D.The First Practical Typewriter

　　答案：BDCCA