IELTS Reading 練習 8 印刷機的發明（含題目+詳解）

The Invention of the Printing Press

Although movable-type printing had existed in Korea and China since the eleventh century, the device that would transform European society was developed independently around 1450 by Johannes Gutenberg, a goldsmith in the German city of Mainz. Gutenberg combined several pre-existing technologies — a screw press adapted from wine production, oil-based ink, and individually cast metal letters — into a system that could reproduce text at unprecedented speed and consistency.

Before Gutenberg, books in Europe were overwhelmingly produced by scribes, typically monks working in monastery scriptoria. Copying a single Bible by hand might occupy a skilled scribe for over a year, and the resulting book was prohibitively expensive. Gutenberg's workshop produced its famous 42-line Bible around 1455 in a print run estimated at 180 copies — a quantity it would have taken a scriptorium several decades to match. Within fifty years of this first edition, presses had been established in more than two hundred European cities, and an estimated twenty million printed books were in circulation.

The social consequences were profound. Literacy, previously confined largely to clergy and aristocracy, began a long expansion as cheaper books reached merchants and artisans. Standardised editions allowed scholars in different regions to refer to identical pages, accelerating scientific exchange. The Protestant Reformation, launched by Martin Luther in 1517, is widely regarded as the first mass movement enabled by print: his 95 Theses were reproduced and distributed across German-speaking Europe within weeks, a pace that would have been impossible under scribal conditions.

Economic structures also shifted. Printers and booksellers formed new urban trades; paper mills expanded to meet demand; copyright and censorship laws were drafted in response to the flood of material. Not all reactions were welcoming. Some contemporaries worried that cheap books would spread misinformation or destabilise political order — anxieties that anticipate modern debates about the internet. Yet by the seventeenth century, print had become so embedded in European life that its absence was scarcely imaginable.

1. Movable-type printing was used in East Asia before Gutenberg's press.
2. Gutenberg invented oil-based ink specifically for his press.
3. A handwritten Bible could take a scribe more than a year to complete.
4. Martin Luther's 95 Theses were printed against his wishes.

1. Gutenberg's press was based partly on machinery originally used for:

- A. papermaking - B. metalworking - C. wine production - D. textile weaving

1. According to the passage, one direct social effect of printing was:

- A. the elimination of monasteries - B. the widening of literacy beyond clergy and aristocrats - C. a rise in book prices - D. the abolition of copyright laws

1. The writer compares early anxieties about print to:

- A. modern concerns about the internet - B. fears about television - C. worries over scientific research - D. resistance to mechanised farming

Complete the summary using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage.

Gutenberg combined a screw press with oil-based ink and cast metal letters to produce his (8) ______ Bible around 1455. By 1505, presses had been set up in more than 200 cities, producing an estimated (9) ______ million books. Printing also enabled mass movements, most notably the (10) ______, launched by Martin Luther in 1517.

1. TRUE Supporting sentence: "movable-type printing had existed in Korea and China since the eleventh century". East Asia includes Korea and China. Directly supported.

2. NOT GIVEN Supporting sentence: "oil-based ink ... individually cast metal letters". The passage says Gutenberg used oil-based ink but does not state whether he invented it. Don't assume — choose NOT GIVEN.

3. TRUE Supporting sentence: "Copying a single Bible by hand might occupy a skilled scribe for over a year". Direct paraphrase.

4. NOT GIVEN Supporting sentence: "his 95 Theses were reproduced and distributed across German-speaking Europe within weeks". The passage says nothing about whether Luther approved or disapproved of the printing. Don't assume — NOT GIVEN.

5. C — wine production Supporting sentence: "a screw press adapted from wine production". Explicit statement.

6. B — the widening of literacy beyond clergy and aristocrats Supporting sentence: "Literacy, previously confined largely to clergy and aristocracy, began a long expansion as cheaper books reached merchants and artisans". Option C is a trap (books became cheaper, not more expensive).

7. A — modern concerns about the internet Supporting sentence: "anxieties that anticipate modern debates about the internet". Direct paraphrase.

8. 42-line Supporting sentence: "Gutenberg's workshop produced its famous 42-line Bible around 1455". Hyphenated compound counts as one word in IELTS marking.

9. twenty Supporting sentence: "an estimated twenty million printed books were in circulation". Single word, directly stated.

10. Protestant Reformation Supporting sentence: "The Protestant Reformation, launched by Martin Luther in 1517, is widely regarded as the first mass movement enabled by print". Two words, exactly matches summary grammar.