Midterm Test

ENG 102
Summer 2020
Total Marks- 20
Time: 45 minutes

Name: Shah Jalal Mohammad Bin Shamim

ID: 1910517
Sec No: 13
Date: 23rd August,2020

Write the answers on the answer page given at the end of the question.

I. Read the following passage and answer the questions.

Today, bicycles are elegantly simple machines that are common around the world.
Many people ride bicycles for recreation, whereas others use them as a means of
transportation. The first bicycle, called a draisienne, was invented in Germany in 1818
by Baron Karl de Drais de Sauerbrun. Because it was made of wood, the draisienne
wasn’t very durable nor did it have pedals. Riders moved it by pushing their feet against
the ground.
In 1839, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, a Scottish blacksmith, invented a much better bicycle.
Macmillan’s machine had tires with iron rims to keep them from getting worn down. He
also used foot-operated cranks, similar to pedals, so his bicycle could be ridden
at a quick pace. It didn’t look much like the modern bicycle, though, because its back
wheel was substantially larger than its front wheel. Although Macmillan’s bicycles could
be ridden easily, they were never produced in large numbers.
In 1861, Frenchman Pierre Michaux and his brother Ernest invented a bicycle with
an improved crank mechanism. They called their bicycle a vélocipède, but most people
called it a “bone shaker”because of the jarring effect of the wood and iron frame.
Despite the unflattering nickname, the velocipede was a hit. After a few years, the
Michaux family was making hundreds of the machines annually, mostly for fun-seeking
young people.

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Ten years later, James Starley, an English inventor, made several innovations that
revolutionized bicycle design. He made the front wheel many times larger than the
back wheel, put a gear on the pedals to make the bicycle more efficient, and lightened
the wheels by using wire spokes. Although this bicycle was much lighter and less tiring
to ride, it was still clumsy, extremely top-heavy, and ridden mostly for
entertainment.
It wasn’t until 1874 that the first truly modern bicycle appeared on the scene. Invented
by another Englishman, H. J. Lawson, the safety bicycle would look familiar to today’s
cyclists. The safety bicycle had equal-sized wheels, which made it much less
prone to toppling over. Lawson also attached a chain to the pedals to drive the rear
wheel. By 1893, the safety bicycle had been further improved with air-filled rubber tires,
a diamond-shaped frame, and easy braking. With the improvements provided by
Lawson, bicycles became extremely popular and useful for transportation. Today, they
are built, used, and enjoyed all over the world.

1. There is enough information in this passage to show that

a. several people contributed to the development of the modern bicycle.
b. only a few vélocipèdes built by the Michaux family are still in existence.
c. for most of the nineteenth century, few people rode bicycles just for fun.
d. bicycles with wheels of different sizes cannot be ridden easily.

2. Macmillan added iron rims to the tires of his bicycle to

a. add weight to the bicycle.
b. make the tires last longer.
c. make the ride less bumpy.
d. make the ride less tiring.

3. The word “revolutionized” of the fourth paragraph most nearly means

a. cancelled.
b. changed drastically.
c. became outdated.
d. exercised control over.

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4. The first person to use a gear system on bicycles was
a. H. J. Lawson.
b. Kirkpatrick Macmillan.
c. Pierre Michaux.
d. James Starley.

5. Which of the following statements from the passage represents the writer’s opinion?
a. The safety bicycle would look familiar to today’s cyclists.
b. Two hundred years ago, bicycles didn’t even exist.
c. The Michaux brothers called their bicycle a velocipede
d. Macmillan’s machine had tires with iron rims.

6. This passage was most likely written in order to

a. persuade readers to use bicycles for transportation.
b. describe the problems that bicycle manufacturers encounter.
c. compare bicycles used for fun with bicycles used for transportation.
d. tell readers a little about the history of the bicycle.

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II. Read the following passage and answer the question.
(A)
On-going project makes the concept of building a semi-autonomous community at sea a
reality. Ambitious plans to create a city in the sea, complete with homes, offices and
restaurants, are beginning to materialize. ‘Seasteading’ - the idea of building
autonomous, self- sustaining cities in international waters - has moved one step closer
to reality.
(B)
A pilot project underway in the coastal waters of French Polynesia (in the Pacific
Ocean) is set to become the first functioning ‘floating community’ by 2020, offering
homes for up to 300 people.
(C)
In a recent interview, Joe Quirk, president of the Seasteading Institute, outlined his
plans for cities in the ocean that are free from the constraints imposed by world
governments. “If you could have a floating city, it would essentially be a start-up
country,” Mr. Quirk told the New York Times, explaining his disillusionment with current
governments that “just don’t get better”, and are stuck in the past. He said he saw
seasteading as a way to escape this system.
(D)
For the time being, however, the seasteaders seem prepared to cooperate with existing
governments in order to get their initiative off the ground. Mr. Quirk’s company Blue
Frontiers and his collaborators are working with the local government of French
Polynesia to create a ‘Semi-Autonomous Floating Venice in Paradise’. Engineers and
architects have visited an undisclosed location where the project is set to begin. Their
ambitions extend to the creation of a research institute in the floating city, and even a
power plant to sell energy and clean water back to their host nation. The project is
projected to cost $167 million.
(E)
The team has made a deal with French Polynesia to create a “unique governing
framework” in a patch of ocean where their project can begin.
(F)
Mr. Quirk first became interested in the idea of seasteading at Nevada’s Burning Man
festival in 2011. The festival showed him the type of unconstrained society he would like
to see flourishing in offshore cities. The Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel has
invested $1.7 million in The Seasteading Institute, but has since fallen out of love with

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the idea. “They’re not quite feasible from an engineering perspective,” Mr. Thiel told the
New York Times in a separate interview. ”That’s still very far in the future.”
(G)
Indeed, past efforts to get seasteading off the ground have not been successful, with a
prototype planned for the San Francisco Bay in 2010 failing to appear.
(H)
But the team behind the Floating Island Project are sure of their new idea, and are
currently in the process of demonstrating the project’s viability to the French Polynesian
local government. They need to demonstrate what positive economic and environmental
impact it would have for their host nation.
(I)
If that all goes to plan, they anticipate work beginning on development of the pilot
project as early as 2018 and beyond that, many more. ”I want to see floating cities by
2050, thousands of them hopefully,” said Mr. Quirk.
Decide whether the following statements are true or false.
1. Sea cities will be subject to the same laws as the nearest country to them.
2. Sea cities societies will be tightly controlled.
3. The planned sea city will return a percentage of the power it generates back to
nearby islands.
4. A floating city was previously planned but never built.
5. From an engineering point of view, it’s not currently practical to build a city at sea.

III. Match the words to their definitions. The letters of the paragraphs of the
passage have been given in the parenthesis.
1. autonomous (A)
2. self-sustaining (A)
3. pilot project (B)
4 .disillusionment (C)
5. undisclosed (D)
6. constraint (F)
7. flourish (F)

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8. feasible (F)
9. prototype (G)

a. able to continue existing without help and resources

b. disappointed feeling you get when you discover something is not
c. full-scale working model for testing or display
d. having the freedom to govern itself
e. not made known to the public
f. possible to do
g. something that limits or restricts actions
h. activity planned as a trial
i. to grow successfully

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Student’s Name: Shah Jalal Mohammad Bin Shamim
Write down your answers below.
Exercise I
1. A
2. B
3. B
4. D
5. A
6. D

Exercise II
1. F
2. F
3. F
4. T
5. T

Exercise III

1. D
2. A
3. C
4. B
5. E
6. G
7. I

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8. F
9. H