雅思听力

🎧 Listening Transcript

Good morning. Today we're going to discuss the history of the bicycle. Now, you might think the bicycle was invented in the 19th century, but its earliest ancestor dates back to the 15th century in Italy. However, the first practical model, called the 'draisine', appeared in Germany in 1817. It had no pedals; riders pushed their feet against the ground. Later, in the 1860s, pedals were added to the front wheel in France, creating the 'velocipede'. But it was the British who improved it with rubber tires and a chain drive in the 1870s, making bicycles much safer and faster. So, the key innovation that made bicycles popular was actually the chain drive.