From Lanterns to Street Lights
Written by Studio AM.
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Before modern street lighting, many city streets were dark at night. A traveler might carry a lantern, a lamp held inside a case, or pay someone with a torch to lead the way. In some towns, rules required householders to put lamps outside their doors.
Gas lighting made it possible to supply many lamps through pipes. In 1807, gas lights were demonstrated in London's Pall Mall. Instead of carrying fuel to each lamp, workers could send gas through a network beneath the street.
The lamps still needed care. A lamplighter walked from one to the next to light them in the evening. A street could have a modern fuel supply and still depend on a person making a daily round.
Later, electric lighting spread. Many electric street lights could be controlled together, reducing the need to visit every lamp. The change was not instant, and some gas lamps remain today. Street lighting changed through several systems, not one sudden invention.
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Questions
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Question 1 of 4
What is the passage mainly about?
The answer is A: The change from lanterns to gas and electric streetlights.
The passage traces several changes in how street lights received fuel and were controlled.
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Question 2 of 4
According to the passage, what did some towns order every household to do?
The answer is A: Put a lamp outside its door.
The first paragraph describes rules requiring lamps outside householders' doors.
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Question 3 of 4
In this passage, a "lantern" is
The answer is B: a light you carry, with the flame held inside a case
The passage defines a lantern as a lamp held inside a case.
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Question 4 of 4
Why could electric systems reduce visits to individual street lamps?
The answer is D: Many lights could be controlled together.
The final paragraph connects controlling many lights together with fewer visits to individual lamps.
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