阅读理解。
Robert Owen was born in Wales in 1771. At the age of ten he went to work. His employer had a large
Private library, so Owen was able to educate himself. He read a lot in his spare time and at nineteen he was
given the job of superintendent (监工) at a Manchester cotton mill. He was so successful there that he
persuaded his employer to buy the New Lanark mill in Scotland.
When he arrived at New Lanark it was a dirty little town with a population of 2,000 people. Nobody paid
any attention to the workers' houses or their children's education. The conditions in the factories were very
bad. There was a lot of crime and the men spent most of their wages on alcoholic drinks.
Owen improved the houses. He encouraged people to be clean and save money. He opened a shop and
sold the workers cheap, well-made goods to help them. He limited the sale of alcoholic drinks. Above all, he
fixed his mind on the children's education. In 1816 he opened the first free primary school in Britain.
People came from all over the country to visit Owen's factory. They saw that the workers were healthier
and more efficient than in other towns. Their children were better fed and better educated. Owen tried the
same experiment in the United States. He bought some land there in 1825, but the community was too far
away. He could not keep it under control and lost most of his money.
Owen never stopped fighting for his idea. Above all he believed that people are not born good or bad.
He was a practical man and his ideas were practical. "If you give people good working conditions," he
thought, "they will work well and, the most important thing of all, if you give them the chance to learn, they
will be better people."
1. For Owen, his greatest achievement in New Lanark was _____.[ ]
A. improving worker's houses
B. helping people to save money
C. preventing men from getting drunk
D. providing the children with a good education
2. From the passage we may infer that Owen was born _____. [ ]
A. into a rich family
B. into a noble family
C. into a poor family
D. into a middle class family
3. Owen's experiment in the United States failed because _____. [ ]
A. he lost all his money
B. he did not buy enough land
C. people who visited it were not impressed
D. it was too far away for him to organize it properly
4. We may infer form the passage that no children in Britain could enjoy free education until _____. [ ]
A. 1771
B. 1816
C. 1825
D. 1860
