Most people consider skydiving (高空跳伞) a product of the 20th century, but its history actually goes further back than that. The Chinese attempted to parachute (跳伞) in the 10th century, a thousand years before we did. The Chinese did what we would today call base diving; that is, they jumped off a place that would allow them to float from a height to the ground.
The first person to attempt to parachute was a Frenchman named Jacques Garnerin. He jumped from his hot-air balloon at the end of the 18th century and did tricks on the way down and
stupefied the crowds by landing safely on the ground. At the end of the 19th century, Kathie Paulus, a brave German woman, became famous for her skydiving skills.
Once the airplane was invented, skydiving took on a whole new form. The airplane made it possible to dive from greater heights at greater speeds, allowing for more range in the movements in the air. A woman named Tiny Broadwick became the first woman to jump from a plane in 1913 and dive free fall in 1914.
Skydiving was not called skydiving until the middle of the 1950s, when Ronald Young invented the word. It had been called parachuting before this and was mainly used by the military (军事) to land troops in inland locations, or for pilots to jump out of their planes when necessary. Once World War I was over, parachuting became a sport, which we now call skydiving.
After World War II, this activity became more a hobby than a military action. Soldiers were trained in parachuting and enjoyed the thrill so much that they continued on for fun. From this, teams and competitions were formed. Skydiving schools appeared in the late 1950s and now it is a recognized extreme sport enjoyed by many.
小题1:The underlined word “stupefied” in paragraph 2 probably means “_______”.
| A．disappointed | B．encouraged | C．surprised | D．attacked |
小题2:Who was the first woman to jump from a plane?
| A．Jacques Garnerin. | B．Kathie Paulus. | C．Tiny Broadwick. | D．Ronald Young. |
小题3:Which of the following is TRUE?
| A．The Chinese attempted different skydiving skills in the 10th century. |
| B．Skydiving became popular after the airplane was invented. |
| C．The word skydiving was first used in a military action. |
| D．There were no skydiving schools until the late 1950s. |
小题4:What can we infer from the passage?
| A．Skydiving is not a military action any more. |
| B．Kathie Paulus is famous for her skydiving skills. |
| C．The first person who parachuted was from Germany. |
| D．The history of skydiving is longer than that of parachuting. |
小题5:What would be the best title for this text?
| A．The history of skydiving | B．The popularity of skydiving |
| C．What is skydiving? | D．Why is skydiving an extreme sport? |