阅读短文,回答问题 What do you think is the most important invention in the last 1 ,000 years? Many people say that it's the printing press that allows us to print copies or books. Why is the printing press so important in human history?
Before the printing press was invented, books were copied by hand. An ancient Roman book trader sometimes sold as many as 5,000 copies of a book that had been copied by slaves(奴隶). However, copying a book took so much time and was so expensive. As a result, usually only a small part of the people learned to read and owned books.
In 1450, Johannes Gutenberg from Germany invented the modern printing press. The influence of his machine is sometimes compared to the invention of the Internet. Gutenberg's printing press was easy to use with languages such as English that had alphabetic(字母的) words. After 1450, thousands of copies of a book or a newspaper could be made quickly and cheaply. A great number of books and newspapers with ideas and pictures from all over the world came out.
Reading has stimulated amazing changes in science and technology. We' ve learned how to make money and even travel to far places. Computers, mobile phones, and the Internet have grown because millions of readers were created by the printing press.
Since 1450, more and more people have become readers. These readers help the world to make progress at a fast speed.