Daughter: Oh, I guess that makes sense. Father: So, what do you think of the dial then? Can you imagine dialling numbers instead of just touching the keypad?


Daughter: The dial’s this round bit on the front, right? I guess you put your fingers in the number you want and turn the dial?


Father: Exactly, the trouble was, though, that if you didn’t turn the dial right round far enough, the phone didn’t read that number. You were always getting wrong numbers.


Daughter: Mm, but that’s no different from not touching the number on the keypad hard enough.


Father: True. 038


in the centre of the front wheel. You see here how the relatively small pedals are attached to the hub. Each turn of the pedals took the rider further than the same turn would with a conventionally sized front wheel. The larger wheel also made for a more comfortable ride as the rider was high above the cobbled stones that were typical of the day.


Another important feature of the penny-farthing was the steel frame. Most bicycles had previously had a wooden frame. Steel was much stronger and meant more support and comfort for the rider. Around the same time, rubber tyres were introduced. It seems unthinkable now, but before rubber tyres, bicycles simply had wooden or metal wheels and were often known as bone-shakers because they literally shook the rider’s bones.


Unit 4 Listening 2


A You will hear three parts of a talk about the history of the bicycle. Listen and answer the questions. Voice: Bicycles were introduced in the 19th


century


and now number around one billion worldwide. Amazingly, that is twice as many as motor cars. They’re the principal means of transportation in many regions. Bicycles also provide a popular form of recreation for many, if not most, people and have been adapted for such uses as children’s toys, adult fitness, military and police applications, courier services and bicycle racing as a sport. The basic shape and configuration of a typical upright bicycle has changed little since the first chain-driven model was developed around 1885. However, many details have been improved, especially since the advent of modern materials and computer-aided design. The invention of the bicycle has had an enormous impact on society, both in terms of culture and of advancing modern industrial methods. Several components that played a key role in the development of motor vehicles were originally invented for the bicycle.


(Pause between parts) Now, these bicycles, which I’m sure you have all


seen before, were known by a number of names – high wheeler and high wheel roller were commonly used, but you’ll probably recognize them as penny-farthings. They were, of course, noted for the huge front wheel and much smaller back wheel. The name penny- farthing actually wasn’t used until they were almost defunct. The term originated when people noticed that the design resembled two coins of the day, a penny and a much smaller farthing, laid side by side. Now, let me say something about the design and


features of this type of bicycle. Let me find the slide – here we are. Now, the obvious feature is the much larger front wheel and that was there, of course, to enable much higher speeds. There were no gears back then and the pedals were welded directly to the hub


202 Pathway to IELTS 6.0


OK, so we know the penny-farthing had two wheels of very different sizes and from the picture, you can see that the rider was seated in the saddle pretty much over the front wheel – we’ve already said that pedals were fixed to the front wheel hub. This meant that it was often difficult for the rider to mount the bicycle – I mean get on the bicycle to ride it. You can see here that later designs had what is called a mounting step – a step that the rider could use to mount the bicycle. Now, one final thing about the design. You see


here the shape of the handlebars? Because the front wheel was so big, the rider’s knees came up and were very close to the handlebars. Often riders’ knees would hit the handlebars, especially if they were riding fast. This led to the design of what was called moustache handlebars – handlebars shaped like a moustache. The rider’s knees could pass comfortably below the bars as he, or she for that matter, rode along. Now, accidents. The height of the saddle and the …


(Pause between parts)


So, to bring us up to date. You’ll probably all know about modern bicycles so I’m not going to go into great detail – it wouldn’t be very interesting. What I would like to point out is some of the improvements that have been made and some of the details that have been made possible by technology.


As we said, the basic design has changed very little. I know the penny-farthing looked very different, but it was still ultimately two wheels attached to a frame and, in fact, the period of the high wheeler was rather unique. The bicycles that came before that were actually shaped more like modern bicycles of today. The first thing I want to point out is the cogset, which on a typical mountain or racing bicycle is now amazingly advanced. For years, bicycles had just one gear. The rider often had to push the bicycle up a steep hill. When gears were first introduced, there were usually three and later five gears. You can see here, that


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188  |  Page 189  |  Page 190  |  Page 191  |  Page 192  |  Page 193  |  Page 194  |  Page 195  |  Page 196  |  Page 197  |  Page 198  |  Page 199  |  Page 200  |  Page 201  |  Page 202  |  Page 203  |  Page 204  |  Page 205  |  Page 206  |  Page 207  |  Page 208  |  Page 209  |  Page 210  |  Page 211  |  Page 212  |  Page 213  |  Page 214  |  Page 215  |  Page 216  |  Page 217  |  Page 218  |  Page 219  |  Page 220  |  Page 221  |  Page 222  |  Page 223  |  Page 224  |  Page 225  |  Page 226  |  Page 227