单选题 The airplane, like many other milestone inventions throughout history, was not immediately recognized for its potential. During the very early 1900s, prior to World War I (1914 - 1918), the airplane was degraded mostly to the county-fair circuit, where daredevil pilots drew large crowds but few investors. One exception was the United States War Department, which had long been using balloons to observe the battlefield and expressed an interest in heavier-than-air craft as early as 1898. In 1908, the Wrights demonstrated their airplane to the U.S. Amay's Signal Corps at Fort Myer, Virginia. In September of that year, while circling the field at Fort Myer, Orville crashed while carrying an army observer, Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge. Selfridge died from his injuries and became the first fatality from the crash of a powered airplane.
On July 25, 1909, French engineer Louis B16riot crossed the English Channel in a B16riot XI, a monoplane of his own design. Bleriot's channel crossing made clear to the world the airplane's wartime potential, and this potential was further demonstrated in 1910 and 1911, when American pilot Eugene Ely took off from and landed on warships. In 1911, the U.S. Army used a Wright brothers' biplane to make the first live bomb test from an airplane. That same year, the airplane was used in its first wartime operation when an Italian captain flew over and observed Turkish positions during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911 to 1912. Also in 1911, American inventor and aviator Glenn Curtiss introduced the first practical seaplane which was a biplane with a large float beneath the center of the lower wing and two smaller floats beneath the tips of the lower wing.

单选题 The airplane's major function after the immediate turning of the twentieth century was ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】本文出现的时间较多，在第一遍阅读时就应给予明显的标记以便做题时查找。本题的时间为二十世纪初，原文为“During the very early 1900s，prior to World War I(1914～1918)”，那个时候只被用于小地方集市上的巡演，吸引了很多观众。其他的答案都是后来发生的事情。
单选题 The U.S. Army's Signal Corps had the Wrights demonstrated their airplane at Fort Myer in 1908 because ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】此题的答案在原文的第三句。美国军方一直用气球探测敌情，早在1898年就希望能有比气球更好的重于空气的飞行器，因此有了与怀特兄弟的飞行展示。答案A和C在本文并没有提及，答案B并不是原因。
单选题 French engineer Louis Bleriot has his own importance in the airplane history because ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】第二段提到路易用他自己设计的单翼飞机飞越了英吉利海峡，向世界显示了飞机用于战争的潜力，由此选择答案B。
单选题 Which of the following may describe the plane's first use in a real war?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】本题原文在第二段后半部分。在意大利对土耳其的战争中，一名意大利空军上校飞越土耳其阵地上空进行侦察，开始了飞机用于战争的现代军事历史。其他答案都没有出现在真正的战争中，和问题不符。
单选题 According to Glenn Curtiss, a biplane can float on the sea because ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】此题原文在文章的末尾，双翼飞机的机翼分上下两部分，格伦在下机翼中间和两端分别安装上浮筒就可以成为海上飞机了。