Làm thử Đề thi thử tốt nghiệp THPT · Tiếng Anh · Đề 112

All swimmers are required (1) ____ shower before entering the pool. Children under eight must be accompanied (2) ____ an adult at all times. Diving is only allowed in the deep end, (3) ____ is marked with a red flag. Lifeguards on duty may ask swimmers (4) ____ leave the pool if the water becomes too crowded. Running around the poolside is strictly forbidden, (5) ____ wet tiles can cause someone to slip and fall. Any swimmer who breaks these rules (6) ____ be asked to leave without a refund.

All swimmers are required (1) ____ shower before entering the pool. Children under eight must be accompanied (2) ____ an adult at all times. Diving is only allowed in the deep end, (3) ____ is marked with a red flag. Lifeguards on duty may ask swimmers (4) ____ leave the pool if the water becomes too crowded. Running around the poolside is strictly forbidden, (5) ____ wet tiles can cause someone to slip and fall. Any swimmer who breaks these rules (6) ____ be asked to leave without a refund.

All swimmers are required (1) ____ shower before entering the pool. Children under eight must be accompanied (2) ____ an adult at all times. Diving is only allowed in the deep end, (3) ____ is marked with a red flag. Lifeguards on duty may ask swimmers (4) ____ leave the pool if the water becomes too crowded. Running around the poolside is strictly forbidden, (5) ____ wet tiles can cause someone to slip and fall. Any swimmer who breaks these rules (6) ____ be asked to leave without a refund.

All swimmers are required (1) ____ shower before entering the pool. Children under eight must be accompanied (2) ____ an adult at all times. Diving is only allowed in the deep end, (3) ____ is marked with a red flag. Lifeguards on duty may ask swimmers (4) ____ leave the pool if the water becomes too crowded. Running around the poolside is strictly forbidden, (5) ____ wet tiles can cause someone to slip and fall. Any swimmer who breaks these rules (6) ____ be asked to leave without a refund.

All swimmers are required (1) ____ shower before entering the pool. Children under eight must be accompanied (2) ____ an adult at all times. Diving is only allowed in the deep end, (3) ____ is marked with a red flag. Lifeguards on duty may ask swimmers (4) ____ leave the pool if the water becomes too crowded. Running around the poolside is strictly forbidden, (5) ____ wet tiles can cause someone to slip and fall. Any swimmer who breaks these rules (6) ____ be asked to leave without a refund.

All swimmers are required (1) ____ shower before entering the pool. Children under eight must be accompanied (2) ____ an adult at all times. Diving is only allowed in the deep end, (3) ____ is marked with a red flag. Lifeguards on duty may ask swimmers (4) ____ leave the pool if the water becomes too crowded. Running around the poolside is strictly forbidden, (5) ____ wet tiles can cause someone to slip and fall. Any swimmer who breaks these rules (6) ____ be asked to leave without a refund.

Cold and flu season is approaching, so the health centre would like to remind everyone (7) ____ take a few simple precautions. Wash your hands regularly, especially after coughing or (8) ____ your nose. Free flu vaccinations are available to anyone (9) ____ is over sixty-five or has a long-term health condition. If you start feeling unwell, please stay home rather (10) ____ coming into work or school, since this helps prevent the virus from spreading further. Vaccination appointments can be booked online, and walk-ins are welcome (11) ____ appointments are unavailable. Anyone with a high fever should seek medical advice (12) ____ delay.

Cold and flu season is approaching, so the health centre would like to remind everyone (7) ____ take a few simple precautions. Wash your hands regularly, especially after coughing or (8) ____ your nose. Free flu vaccinations are available to anyone (9) ____ is over sixty-five or has a long-term health condition. If you start feeling unwell, please stay home rather (10) ____ coming into work or school, since this helps prevent the virus from spreading further. Vaccination appointments can be booked online, and walk-ins are welcome (11) ____ appointments are unavailable. Anyone with a high fever should seek medical advice (12) ____ delay.

Cold and flu season is approaching, so the health centre would like to remind everyone (7) ____ take a few simple precautions. Wash your hands regularly, especially after coughing or (8) ____ your nose. Free flu vaccinations are available to anyone (9) ____ is over sixty-five or has a long-term health condition. If you start feeling unwell, please stay home rather (10) ____ coming into work or school, since this helps prevent the virus from spreading further. Vaccination appointments can be booked online, and walk-ins are welcome (11) ____ appointments are unavailable. Anyone with a high fever should seek medical advice (12) ____ delay.

Cold and flu season is approaching, so the health centre would like to remind everyone (7) ____ take a few simple precautions. Wash your hands regularly, especially after coughing or (8) ____ your nose. Free flu vaccinations are available to anyone (9) ____ is over sixty-five or has a long-term health condition. If you start feeling unwell, please stay home rather (10) ____ coming into work or school, since this helps prevent the virus from spreading further. Vaccination appointments can be booked online, and walk-ins are welcome (11) ____ appointments are unavailable. Anyone with a high fever should seek medical advice (12) ____ delay.

Cold and flu season is approaching, so the health centre would like to remind everyone (7) ____ take a few simple precautions. Wash your hands regularly, especially after coughing or (8) ____ your nose. Free flu vaccinations are available to anyone (9) ____ is over sixty-five or has a long-term health condition. If you start feeling unwell, please stay home rather (10) ____ coming into work or school, since this helps prevent the virus from spreading further. Vaccination appointments can be booked online, and walk-ins are welcome (11) ____ appointments are unavailable. Anyone with a high fever should seek medical advice (12) ____ delay.

Cold and flu season is approaching, so the health centre would like to remind everyone (7) ____ take a few simple precautions. Wash your hands regularly, especially after coughing or (8) ____ your nose. Free flu vaccinations are available to anyone (9) ____ is over sixty-five or has a long-term health condition. If you start feeling unwell, please stay home rather (10) ____ coming into work or school, since this helps prevent the virus from spreading further. Vaccination appointments can be booked online, and walk-ins are welcome (11) ____ appointments are unavailable. Anyone with a high fever should seek medical advice (12) ____ delay.

Question 15. a. As numbers slowly recovered, the same fishermen who once resented the rule became its strongest defenders.
b. Twenty years ago, the coral reef near the island was almost empty of fish, stripped bare by decades of overfishing.
c. A small marine reserve was created, banning all fishing within a narrow strip of water.
d. Local fishermen protested loudly at first, certain that the ban would ruin their livelihoods.
e. Today, that same strip of reef supplies far more fish to the surrounding waters than it ever did before the ban.

A growing number of people are choosing to put their phones away, sometimes for a weekend, sometimes for a full month, in what has become known as a digital detox. The idea is simple: step back from constant notifications, social media feeds and endless scrolling, and see what changes. What started as a niche habit among a handful of tech workers in California has spread far beyond that small circle, with retreat centres, apps and even entire hotels now built around the promise of a screen-free break.

Nguyen Van Minh, a university student who tried a two-week detox last year, describes the first few days as surprisingly uncomfortable. He kept reaching for a phone that was not there, and without a screen to fill every quiet moment, he noticed how anxious he felt simply sitting still. By the second week, however, he says the urge had faded, and he found himself reading more, sleeping better and noticing details on his daily walk that he had never paid attention to before. Not every experience is this positive, though; some participants report feeling isolated from friends and family who continue to communicate mainly through messaging apps.

Psychologists who study digital habits caution against treating a detox as a permanent cure. Dr. Le Thi Hoa, who has researched screen use among young adults for over a decade, argues that the real goal should not be avoiding technology altogether but learning to use it more deliberately. She points out that a two-week break rarely changes long-term habits on its own; without a plan for what to do differently afterwards, most people simply return to their old patterns within days of picking their phone back up.

A growing number of people are choosing to put their phones away, sometimes for a weekend, sometimes for a full month, in what has become known as a digital detox. The idea is simple: step back from constant notifications, social media feeds and endless scrolling, and see what changes. What started as a niche habit among a handful of tech workers in California has spread far beyond that small circle, with retreat centres, apps and even entire hotels now built around the promise of a screen-free break.

Nguyen Van Minh, a university student who tried a two-week detox last year, describes the first few days as surprisingly uncomfortable. He kept reaching for a phone that was not there, and without a screen to fill every quiet moment, he noticed how anxious he felt simply sitting still. By the second week, however, he says the urge had faded, and he found himself reading more, sleeping better and noticing details on his daily walk that he had never paid attention to before. Not every experience is this positive, though; some participants report feeling isolated from friends and family who continue to communicate mainly through messaging apps.

Psychologists who study digital habits caution against treating a detox as a permanent cure. Dr. Le Thi Hoa, who has researched screen use among young adults for over a decade, argues that the real goal should not be avoiding technology altogether but learning to use it more deliberately. She points out that a two-week break rarely changes long-term habits on its own; without a plan for what to do differently afterwards, most people simply return to their old patterns within days of picking their phone back up.

A growing number of people are choosing to put their phones away, sometimes for a weekend, sometimes for a full month, in what has become known as a digital detox. The idea is simple: step back from constant notifications, social media feeds and endless scrolling, and see what changes. What started as a niche habit among a handful of tech workers in California has spread far beyond that small circle, with retreat centres, apps and even entire hotels now built around the promise of a screen-free break.

Nguyen Van Minh, a university student who tried a two-week detox last year, describes the first few days as surprisingly uncomfortable. He kept reaching for a phone that was not there, and without a screen to fill every quiet moment, he noticed how anxious he felt simply sitting still. By the second week, however, he says the urge had faded, and he found himself reading more, sleeping better and noticing details on his daily walk that he had never paid attention to before. Not every experience is this positive, though; some participants report feeling isolated from friends and family who continue to communicate mainly through messaging apps.

Psychologists who study digital habits caution against treating a detox as a permanent cure. Dr. Le Thi Hoa, who has researched screen use among young adults for over a decade, argues that the real goal should not be avoiding technology altogether but learning to use it more deliberately. She points out that a two-week break rarely changes long-term habits on its own; without a plan for what to do differently afterwards, most people simply return to their old patterns within days of picking their phone back up.

A growing number of people are choosing to put their phones away, sometimes for a weekend, sometimes for a full month, in what has become known as a digital detox. The idea is simple: step back from constant notifications, social media feeds and endless scrolling, and see what changes. What started as a niche habit among a handful of tech workers in California has spread far beyond that small circle, with retreat centres, apps and even entire hotels now built around the promise of a screen-free break.

Nguyen Van Minh, a university student who tried a two-week detox last year, describes the first few days as surprisingly uncomfortable. He kept reaching for a phone that was not there, and without a screen to fill every quiet moment, he noticed how anxious he felt simply sitting still. By the second week, however, he says the urge had faded, and he found himself reading more, sleeping better and noticing details on his daily walk that he had never paid attention to before. Not every experience is this positive, though; some participants report feeling isolated from friends and family who continue to communicate mainly through messaging apps.

Psychologists who study digital habits caution against treating a detox as a permanent cure. Dr. Le Thi Hoa, who has researched screen use among young adults for over a decade, argues that the real goal should not be avoiding technology altogether but learning to use it more deliberately. She points out that a two-week break rarely changes long-term habits on its own; without a plan for what to do differently afterwards, most people simply return to their old patterns within days of picking their phone back up.

A growing number of people are choosing to put their phones away, sometimes for a weekend, sometimes for a full month, in what has become known as a digital detox. The idea is simple: step back from constant notifications, social media feeds and endless scrolling, and see what changes. What started as a niche habit among a handful of tech workers in California has spread far beyond that small circle, with retreat centres, apps and even entire hotels now built around the promise of a screen-free break.

Nguyen Van Minh, a university student who tried a two-week detox last year, describes the first few days as surprisingly uncomfortable. He kept reaching for a phone that was not there, and without a screen to fill every quiet moment, he noticed how anxious he felt simply sitting still. By the second week, however, he says the urge had faded, and he found himself reading more, sleeping better and noticing details on his daily walk that he had never paid attention to before. Not every experience is this positive, though; some participants report feeling isolated from friends and family who continue to communicate mainly through messaging apps.

Psychologists who study digital habits caution against treating a detox as a permanent cure. Dr. Le Thi Hoa, who has researched screen use among young adults for over a decade, argues that the real goal should not be avoiding technology altogether but learning to use it more deliberately. She points out that a two-week break rarely changes long-term habits on its own; without a plan for what to do differently afterwards, most people simply return to their old patterns within days of picking their phone back up.

A growing number of people are choosing to put their phones away, sometimes for a weekend, sometimes for a full month, in what has become known as a digital detox. The idea is simple: step back from constant notifications, social media feeds and endless scrolling, and see what changes. What started as a niche habit among a handful of tech workers in California has spread far beyond that small circle, with retreat centres, apps and even entire hotels now built around the promise of a screen-free break.

Nguyen Van Minh, a university student who tried a two-week detox last year, describes the first few days as surprisingly uncomfortable. He kept reaching for a phone that was not there, and without a screen to fill every quiet moment, he noticed how anxious he felt simply sitting still. By the second week, however, he says the urge had faded, and he found himself reading more, sleeping better and noticing details on his daily walk that he had never paid attention to before. Not every experience is this positive, though; some participants report feeling isolated from friends and family who continue to communicate mainly through messaging apps.

Psychologists who study digital habits caution against treating a detox as a permanent cure. Dr. Le Thi Hoa, who has researched screen use among young adults for over a decade, argues that the real goal should not be avoiding technology altogether but learning to use it more deliberately. She points out that a two-week break rarely changes long-term habits on its own; without a plan for what to do differently afterwards, most people simply return to their old patterns within days of picking their phone back up.

A growing number of people are choosing to put their phones away, sometimes for a weekend, sometimes for a full month, in what has become known as a digital detox. The idea is simple: step back from constant notifications, social media feeds and endless scrolling, and see what changes. What started as a niche habit among a handful of tech workers in California has spread far beyond that small circle, with retreat centres, apps and even entire hotels now built around the promise of a screen-free break.

Nguyen Van Minh, a university student who tried a two-week detox last year, describes the first few days as surprisingly uncomfortable. He kept reaching for a phone that was not there, and without a screen to fill every quiet moment, he noticed how anxious he felt simply sitting still. By the second week, however, he says the urge had faded, and he found himself reading more, sleeping better and noticing details on his daily walk that he had never paid attention to before. Not every experience is this positive, though; some participants report feeling isolated from friends and family who continue to communicate mainly through messaging apps.

Psychologists who study digital habits caution against treating a detox as a permanent cure. Dr. Le Thi Hoa, who has researched screen use among young adults for over a decade, argues that the real goal should not be avoiding technology altogether but learning to use it more deliberately. She points out that a two-week break rarely changes long-term habits on its own; without a plan for what to do differently afterwards, most people simply return to their old patterns within days of picking their phone back up.

A growing number of people are choosing to put their phones away, sometimes for a weekend, sometimes for a full month, in what has become known as a digital detox. The idea is simple: step back from constant notifications, social media feeds and endless scrolling, and see what changes. What started as a niche habit among a handful of tech workers in California has spread far beyond that small circle, with retreat centres, apps and even entire hotels now built around the promise of a screen-free break.

Nguyen Van Minh, a university student who tried a two-week detox last year, describes the first few days as surprisingly uncomfortable. He kept reaching for a phone that was not there, and without a screen to fill every quiet moment, he noticed how anxious he felt simply sitting still. By the second week, however, he says the urge had faded, and he found himself reading more, sleeping better and noticing details on his daily walk that he had never paid attention to before. Not every experience is this positive, though; some participants report feeling isolated from friends and family who continue to communicate mainly through messaging apps.

Psychologists who study digital habits caution against treating a detox as a permanent cure. Dr. Le Thi Hoa, who has researched screen use among young adults for over a decade, argues that the real goal should not be avoiding technology altogether but learning to use it more deliberately. She points out that a two-week break rarely changes long-term habits on its own; without a plan for what to do differently afterwards, most people simply return to their old patterns within days of picking their phone back up.

The bicycle familiar today, with its pedals, chain and pair of equally sized wheels, took nearly a century to develop. Its earliest ancestor, a wooden frame with two wheels and no pedals at all, appeared in Germany in 1817. Riders pushed themselves along with their feet, much like walking while seated, and steering the front wheel let them balance without stopping. Clumsy as it looked, the invention caused a brief craze across parts of Europe before fading from fashion within a few years.

[I] Pedals were not added until the 1860s, when French mechanics attached them directly to the front wheel, producing a machine nicknamed the 'boneshaker' for its harsh ride over cobbled streets. [II] Because pedalling the front wheel directly limited how fast a rider could go, inventors soon made that wheel larger, reasoning that a bigger wheel would cover more ground with each turn of the pedals. [III] The result, known today as the penny-farthing, could reach impressive speeds but was notoriously unstable and dangerous to mount. [IV] Riders sat so high above the ground that a sudden stop could throw them head first over the handlebars, an accident common enough to earn its own nickname, 'taking a header'.

The breakthrough that finally did away with the danger of the penny-farthing came in the 1880s, when the chain-driven 'safety bicycle' was introduced. By connecting the pedals to the rear wheel through a chain, engineers could keep both wheels roughly the same size, lowering the rider's seat and making the whole machine far easier to mount, ride and stop. Within a decade, the safety bicycle had almost entirely replaced the penny-farthing, and cycling, once dismissed as a dangerous novelty, came to be seen as a practical and respectable way to get around.

Historians studying the period often point to the safety bicycle as an unlikely engine of social change. Freed from the expense of keeping a horse, working-class riders could travel farther for jobs and leisure than ever before. For many women, having gained a cheap and independent means of transport, the bicycle became closely tied to the wider push for greater freedom in dress and movement at the turn of the twentieth century. One prominent campaigner of the era went so far as to credit the bicycle with doing more for women's independence than almost any other invention of her lifetime.

The bicycle familiar today, with its pedals, chain and pair of equally sized wheels, took nearly a century to develop. Its earliest ancestor, a wooden frame with two wheels and no pedals at all, appeared in Germany in 1817. Riders pushed themselves along with their feet, much like walking while seated, and steering the front wheel let them balance without stopping. Clumsy as it looked, the invention caused a brief craze across parts of Europe before fading from fashion within a few years.

[I] Pedals were not added until the 1860s, when French mechanics attached them directly to the front wheel, producing a machine nicknamed the 'boneshaker' for its harsh ride over cobbled streets. [II] Because pedalling the front wheel directly limited how fast a rider could go, inventors soon made that wheel larger, reasoning that a bigger wheel would cover more ground with each turn of the pedals. [III] The result, known today as the penny-farthing, could reach impressive speeds but was notoriously unstable and dangerous to mount. [IV] Riders sat so high above the ground that a sudden stop could throw them head first over the handlebars, an accident common enough to earn its own nickname, 'taking a header'.

The breakthrough that finally did away with the danger of the penny-farthing came in the 1880s, when the chain-driven 'safety bicycle' was introduced. By connecting the pedals to the rear wheel through a chain, engineers could keep both wheels roughly the same size, lowering the rider's seat and making the whole machine far easier to mount, ride and stop. Within a decade, the safety bicycle had almost entirely replaced the penny-farthing, and cycling, once dismissed as a dangerous novelty, came to be seen as a practical and respectable way to get around.

Historians studying the period often point to the safety bicycle as an unlikely engine of social change. Freed from the expense of keeping a horse, working-class riders could travel farther for jobs and leisure than ever before. For many women, having gained a cheap and independent means of transport, the bicycle became closely tied to the wider push for greater freedom in dress and movement at the turn of the twentieth century. One prominent campaigner of the era went so far as to credit the bicycle with doing more for women's independence than almost any other invention of her lifetime.

The bicycle familiar today, with its pedals, chain and pair of equally sized wheels, took nearly a century to develop. Its earliest ancestor, a wooden frame with two wheels and no pedals at all, appeared in Germany in 1817. Riders pushed themselves along with their feet, much like walking while seated, and steering the front wheel let them balance without stopping. Clumsy as it looked, the invention caused a brief craze across parts of Europe before fading from fashion within a few years.

[I] Pedals were not added until the 1860s, when French mechanics attached them directly to the front wheel, producing a machine nicknamed the 'boneshaker' for its harsh ride over cobbled streets. [II] Because pedalling the front wheel directly limited how fast a rider could go, inventors soon made that wheel larger, reasoning that a bigger wheel would cover more ground with each turn of the pedals. [III] The result, known today as the penny-farthing, could reach impressive speeds but was notoriously unstable and dangerous to mount. [IV] Riders sat so high above the ground that a sudden stop could throw them head first over the handlebars, an accident common enough to earn its own nickname, 'taking a header'.

The breakthrough that finally did away with the danger of the penny-farthing came in the 1880s, when the chain-driven 'safety bicycle' was introduced. By connecting the pedals to the rear wheel through a chain, engineers could keep both wheels roughly the same size, lowering the rider's seat and making the whole machine far easier to mount, ride and stop. Within a decade, the safety bicycle had almost entirely replaced the penny-farthing, and cycling, once dismissed as a dangerous novelty, came to be seen as a practical and respectable way to get around.

Historians studying the period often point to the safety bicycle as an unlikely engine of social change. Freed from the expense of keeping a horse, working-class riders could travel farther for jobs and leisure than ever before. For many women, having gained a cheap and independent means of transport, the bicycle became closely tied to the wider push for greater freedom in dress and movement at the turn of the twentieth century. One prominent campaigner of the era went so far as to credit the bicycle with doing more for women's independence than almost any other invention of her lifetime.

The bicycle familiar today, with its pedals, chain and pair of equally sized wheels, took nearly a century to develop. Its earliest ancestor, a wooden frame with two wheels and no pedals at all, appeared in Germany in 1817. Riders pushed themselves along with their feet, much like walking while seated, and steering the front wheel let them balance without stopping. Clumsy as it looked, the invention caused a brief craze across parts of Europe before fading from fashion within a few years.

[I] Pedals were not added until the 1860s, when French mechanics attached them directly to the front wheel, producing a machine nicknamed the 'boneshaker' for its harsh ride over cobbled streets. [II] Because pedalling the front wheel directly limited how fast a rider could go, inventors soon made that wheel larger, reasoning that a bigger wheel would cover more ground with each turn of the pedals. [III] The result, known today as the penny-farthing, could reach impressive speeds but was notoriously unstable and dangerous to mount. [IV] Riders sat so high above the ground that a sudden stop could throw them head first over the handlebars, an accident common enough to earn its own nickname, 'taking a header'.

The breakthrough that finally did away with the danger of the penny-farthing came in the 1880s, when the chain-driven 'safety bicycle' was introduced. By connecting the pedals to the rear wheel through a chain, engineers could keep both wheels roughly the same size, lowering the rider's seat and making the whole machine far easier to mount, ride and stop. Within a decade, the safety bicycle had almost entirely replaced the penny-farthing, and cycling, once dismissed as a dangerous novelty, came to be seen as a practical and respectable way to get around.

Historians studying the period often point to the safety bicycle as an unlikely engine of social change. Freed from the expense of keeping a horse, working-class riders could travel farther for jobs and leisure than ever before. For many women, having gained a cheap and independent means of transport, the bicycle became closely tied to the wider push for greater freedom in dress and movement at the turn of the twentieth century. One prominent campaigner of the era went so far as to credit the bicycle with doing more for women's independence than almost any other invention of her lifetime.

The bicycle familiar today, with its pedals, chain and pair of equally sized wheels, took nearly a century to develop. Its earliest ancestor, a wooden frame with two wheels and no pedals at all, appeared in Germany in 1817. Riders pushed themselves along with their feet, much like walking while seated, and steering the front wheel let them balance without stopping. Clumsy as it looked, the invention caused a brief craze across parts of Europe before fading from fashion within a few years.

[I] Pedals were not added until the 1860s, when French mechanics attached them directly to the front wheel, producing a machine nicknamed the 'boneshaker' for its harsh ride over cobbled streets. [II] Because pedalling the front wheel directly limited how fast a rider could go, inventors soon made that wheel larger, reasoning that a bigger wheel would cover more ground with each turn of the pedals. [III] The result, known today as the penny-farthing, could reach impressive speeds but was notoriously unstable and dangerous to mount. [IV] Riders sat so high above the ground that a sudden stop could throw them head first over the handlebars, an accident common enough to earn its own nickname, 'taking a header'.

The breakthrough that finally did away with the danger of the penny-farthing came in the 1880s, when the chain-driven 'safety bicycle' was introduced. By connecting the pedals to the rear wheel through a chain, engineers could keep both wheels roughly the same size, lowering the rider's seat and making the whole machine far easier to mount, ride and stop. Within a decade, the safety bicycle had almost entirely replaced the penny-farthing, and cycling, once dismissed as a dangerous novelty, came to be seen as a practical and respectable way to get around.

Historians studying the period often point to the safety bicycle as an unlikely engine of social change. Freed from the expense of keeping a horse, working-class riders could travel farther for jobs and leisure than ever before. For many women, having gained a cheap and independent means of transport, the bicycle became closely tied to the wider push for greater freedom in dress and movement at the turn of the twentieth century. One prominent campaigner of the era went so far as to credit the bicycle with doing more for women's independence than almost any other invention of her lifetime.

The bicycle familiar today, with its pedals, chain and pair of equally sized wheels, took nearly a century to develop. Its earliest ancestor, a wooden frame with two wheels and no pedals at all, appeared in Germany in 1817. Riders pushed themselves along with their feet, much like walking while seated, and steering the front wheel let them balance without stopping. Clumsy as it looked, the invention caused a brief craze across parts of Europe before fading from fashion within a few years.

[I] Pedals were not added until the 1860s, when French mechanics attached them directly to the front wheel, producing a machine nicknamed the 'boneshaker' for its harsh ride over cobbled streets. [II] Because pedalling the front wheel directly limited how fast a rider could go, inventors soon made that wheel larger, reasoning that a bigger wheel would cover more ground with each turn of the pedals. [III] The result, known today as the penny-farthing, could reach impressive speeds but was notoriously unstable and dangerous to mount. [IV] Riders sat so high above the ground that a sudden stop could throw them head first over the handlebars, an accident common enough to earn its own nickname, 'taking a header'.

The breakthrough that finally did away with the danger of the penny-farthing came in the 1880s, when the chain-driven 'safety bicycle' was introduced. By connecting the pedals to the rear wheel through a chain, engineers could keep both wheels roughly the same size, lowering the rider's seat and making the whole machine far easier to mount, ride and stop. Within a decade, the safety bicycle had almost entirely replaced the penny-farthing, and cycling, once dismissed as a dangerous novelty, came to be seen as a practical and respectable way to get around.

Historians studying the period often point to the safety bicycle as an unlikely engine of social change. Freed from the expense of keeping a horse, working-class riders could travel farther for jobs and leisure than ever before. For many women, having gained a cheap and independent means of transport, the bicycle became closely tied to the wider push for greater freedom in dress and movement at the turn of the twentieth century. One prominent campaigner of the era went so far as to credit the bicycle with doing more for women's independence than almost any other invention of her lifetime.

The bicycle familiar today, with its pedals, chain and pair of equally sized wheels, took nearly a century to develop. Its earliest ancestor, a wooden frame with two wheels and no pedals at all, appeared in Germany in 1817. Riders pushed themselves along with their feet, much like walking while seated, and steering the front wheel let them balance without stopping. Clumsy as it looked, the invention caused a brief craze across parts of Europe before fading from fashion within a few years.

[I] Pedals were not added until the 1860s, when French mechanics attached them directly to the front wheel, producing a machine nicknamed the 'boneshaker' for its harsh ride over cobbled streets. [II] Because pedalling the front wheel directly limited how fast a rider could go, inventors soon made that wheel larger, reasoning that a bigger wheel would cover more ground with each turn of the pedals. [III] The result, known today as the penny-farthing, could reach impressive speeds but was notoriously unstable and dangerous to mount. [IV] Riders sat so high above the ground that a sudden stop could throw them head first over the handlebars, an accident common enough to earn its own nickname, 'taking a header'.

The breakthrough that finally did away with the danger of the penny-farthing came in the 1880s, when the chain-driven 'safety bicycle' was introduced. By connecting the pedals to the rear wheel through a chain, engineers could keep both wheels roughly the same size, lowering the rider's seat and making the whole machine far easier to mount, ride and stop. Within a decade, the safety bicycle had almost entirely replaced the penny-farthing, and cycling, once dismissed as a dangerous novelty, came to be seen as a practical and respectable way to get around.

Historians studying the period often point to the safety bicycle as an unlikely engine of social change. Freed from the expense of keeping a horse, working-class riders could travel farther for jobs and leisure than ever before. For many women, having gained a cheap and independent means of transport, the bicycle became closely tied to the wider push for greater freedom in dress and movement at the turn of the twentieth century. One prominent campaigner of the era went so far as to credit the bicycle with doing more for women's independence than almost any other invention of her lifetime.

The bicycle familiar today, with its pedals, chain and pair of equally sized wheels, took nearly a century to develop. Its earliest ancestor, a wooden frame with two wheels and no pedals at all, appeared in Germany in 1817. Riders pushed themselves along with their feet, much like walking while seated, and steering the front wheel let them balance without stopping. Clumsy as it looked, the invention caused a brief craze across parts of Europe before fading from fashion within a few years.

[I] Pedals were not added until the 1860s, when French mechanics attached them directly to the front wheel, producing a machine nicknamed the 'boneshaker' for its harsh ride over cobbled streets. [II] Because pedalling the front wheel directly limited how fast a rider could go, inventors soon made that wheel larger, reasoning that a bigger wheel would cover more ground with each turn of the pedals. [III] The result, known today as the penny-farthing, could reach impressive speeds but was notoriously unstable and dangerous to mount. [IV] Riders sat so high above the ground that a sudden stop could throw them head first over the handlebars, an accident common enough to earn its own nickname, 'taking a header'.

The breakthrough that finally did away with the danger of the penny-farthing came in the 1880s, when the chain-driven 'safety bicycle' was introduced. By connecting the pedals to the rear wheel through a chain, engineers could keep both wheels roughly the same size, lowering the rider's seat and making the whole machine far easier to mount, ride and stop. Within a decade, the safety bicycle had almost entirely replaced the penny-farthing, and cycling, once dismissed as a dangerous novelty, came to be seen as a practical and respectable way to get around.

Historians studying the period often point to the safety bicycle as an unlikely engine of social change. Freed from the expense of keeping a horse, working-class riders could travel farther for jobs and leisure than ever before. For many women, having gained a cheap and independent means of transport, the bicycle became closely tied to the wider push for greater freedom in dress and movement at the turn of the twentieth century. One prominent campaigner of the era went so far as to credit the bicycle with doing more for women's independence than almost any other invention of her lifetime.

The bicycle familiar today, with its pedals, chain and pair of equally sized wheels, took nearly a century to develop. Its earliest ancestor, a wooden frame with two wheels and no pedals at all, appeared in Germany in 1817. Riders pushed themselves along with their feet, much like walking while seated, and steering the front wheel let them balance without stopping. Clumsy as it looked, the invention caused a brief craze across parts of Europe before fading from fashion within a few years.

[I] Pedals were not added until the 1860s, when French mechanics attached them directly to the front wheel, producing a machine nicknamed the 'boneshaker' for its harsh ride over cobbled streets. [II] Because pedalling the front wheel directly limited how fast a rider could go, inventors soon made that wheel larger, reasoning that a bigger wheel would cover more ground with each turn of the pedals. [III] The result, known today as the penny-farthing, could reach impressive speeds but was notoriously unstable and dangerous to mount. [IV] Riders sat so high above the ground that a sudden stop could throw them head first over the handlebars, an accident common enough to earn its own nickname, 'taking a header'.

The breakthrough that finally did away with the danger of the penny-farthing came in the 1880s, when the chain-driven 'safety bicycle' was introduced. By connecting the pedals to the rear wheel through a chain, engineers could keep both wheels roughly the same size, lowering the rider's seat and making the whole machine far easier to mount, ride and stop. Within a decade, the safety bicycle had almost entirely replaced the penny-farthing, and cycling, once dismissed as a dangerous novelty, came to be seen as a practical and respectable way to get around.

Historians studying the period often point to the safety bicycle as an unlikely engine of social change. Freed from the expense of keeping a horse, working-class riders could travel farther for jobs and leisure than ever before. For many women, having gained a cheap and independent means of transport, the bicycle became closely tied to the wider push for greater freedom in dress and movement at the turn of the twentieth century. One prominent campaigner of the era went so far as to credit the bicycle with doing more for women's independence than almost any other invention of her lifetime.

The bicycle familiar today, with its pedals, chain and pair of equally sized wheels, took nearly a century to develop. Its earliest ancestor, a wooden frame with two wheels and no pedals at all, appeared in Germany in 1817. Riders pushed themselves along with their feet, much like walking while seated, and steering the front wheel let them balance without stopping. Clumsy as it looked, the invention caused a brief craze across parts of Europe before fading from fashion within a few years.

[I] Pedals were not added until the 1860s, when French mechanics attached them directly to the front wheel, producing a machine nicknamed the 'boneshaker' for its harsh ride over cobbled streets. [II] Because pedalling the front wheel directly limited how fast a rider could go, inventors soon made that wheel larger, reasoning that a bigger wheel would cover more ground with each turn of the pedals. [III] The result, known today as the penny-farthing, could reach impressive speeds but was notoriously unstable and dangerous to mount. [IV] Riders sat so high above the ground that a sudden stop could throw them head first over the handlebars, an accident common enough to earn its own nickname, 'taking a header'.

The breakthrough that finally did away with the danger of the penny-farthing came in the 1880s, when the chain-driven 'safety bicycle' was introduced. By connecting the pedals to the rear wheel through a chain, engineers could keep both wheels roughly the same size, lowering the rider's seat and making the whole machine far easier to mount, ride and stop. Within a decade, the safety bicycle had almost entirely replaced the penny-farthing, and cycling, once dismissed as a dangerous novelty, came to be seen as a practical and respectable way to get around.

Historians studying the period often point to the safety bicycle as an unlikely engine of social change. Freed from the expense of keeping a horse, working-class riders could travel farther for jobs and leisure than ever before. For many women, having gained a cheap and independent means of transport, the bicycle became closely tied to the wider push for greater freedom in dress and movement at the turn of the twentieth century. One prominent campaigner of the era went so far as to credit the bicycle with doing more for women's independence than almost any other invention of her lifetime.