G I M N A Z J U M E X A M P R A C T I C E

April 2009

© Pearson Longman 2009

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Read each section of the text carefully and decide which sentence agrees best with the text.

Section One

There are over 1 billion bicycles in the world.

A. This is true
B. This is probably true
C. We do not know if this is true

Section Two

2. The first bicycles were made

A. less than 200 years ago
B. exactly 200 years ago
C. more than 200 years ago

3. The first bicycles were

A. nice to sit on
B. not nice to sit on

The wor

ld’s favourite machine

Nobody knows how many bicycles there are in the world but is almost certainly more than 1 billion.

There are about 500 million bicycles just in China!

Some use their bikes for transport, some for fun, but it is probably fair to say that no other machine

is so popular in the world.

The first bicycle

The first bicycles were made almost 200 years ago but they looked very different from today’s bikes.

The first bikes were made of wood and had no pedals or chain; the rider pushed the bike along with his

feet. There was no saddle to sit on either, so the bikes were not very comfortable.

Later bikes were made which had pedals, but the pedals were on the front wheel and this wheel

was very big.

G I M N A Z J U M E X A M P R A C T I C E

April 2009

© Pearson Longman 2009

- 2 -

Section Three

4. Today’s bikes

A. never cost more than a car
B. sometimes cost more than a car
C. always cost more than a car

5. Modern bikes

A. are made only from aluminum
B. are never made from aluminum
C. are sometimes made from aluminum and sometimes from other materials

Section Four

6. The Tour de France

A. takes place only in France
B. takes place in France and one other country
C. takes place in many countries

Section Five

7. There are more bicycles

A. in China
B. in the Netherlands

Bicycles today

Today bicycles use a chain and gears - sometimes as many as thirty gears - to make them easier to

ride. We have specialist bikes for racing, for off-road, for commuting, for touring and for tricks, all with
different shapes and handlebars. Some modern bikes can cost as much as a car, or even more: a specialist
bike for some stages of the Tour de France can cost $20,000!

Modern bikes are very high-tech. They use strong and light materials for their frames such as

aluminum or carbon fibre. Some mountain bikes even have suspension to make them easier to ride off-
road. Today’s bikes are a long way from the first bikes!

Bicycle races

The most famous bike race in the world is, of course, the Tour de France. It takes place each year in

the summer, always in two countries and always finishes in Paris. The Tour is one of the most difficult
sports events in the world, with the riders going up and down mountains and riding over 3,500 km.

Bike lovers

China is the country with the most bicycles - there are 500 million just in that one country - but it is

probably the Dutch who love bicycles the most. In the Netherlands there are 18 million bicycles. That might
not sound like a great number compared to China, but there are only 16.3 million people in the Netherlands
so there are more bikes than people in that country!