Do you know how long it's been since mobile phones were first invented?On April 3,over 40 years ago,the first public call___________(make)from a hand-held wireless phone.
Martin Cooper,a US researcher at Motorola,made the call from a corner in New York City in 1973.
People were very surprised at the phone, Cooper remembered. "We caused a great stir," he said.
The phone was a big thing by today's standards-it weighed almost 1kilogram and was about 25 cm long. Now, mobile phones fit into the palm of your hand and weigh a little more than a lemon.
But back then, it was a huge advancement, especially when compared with the car mobile phones that had been in use since the 1940s.
A car phone weighed more than 13 kilograms and cost thousands of dollars. An owner had to drill(钻)a hole in the car just to fix it.
At that time,Cooper was competing with Joel Engel,the head of research at a rival wireless communications company. So,he made the first call to him.
“I told him,‘Joel,I'm calling you from a real cell phone',”said Cooper. “I thought I heard gnashing of teeth(咬牙切齿)at the other end,but he was polite. ”
Since that first call,billions of people around the world have owned mobiles.
Today,they are multifunctional(多功能的)with more and more features,like short text messages,cameras and MP3 players. And people can also use it to get online.
However,Cooper still believes the"original dream"of a true mobile phone call is not yet a reality. That is:being able to use a phone to call anyone frorm anywhere. Cooper's dream phone is so small that it fits behind his. ear and automatically(自动地)dials out when he thinks about calling someone. And when there is an incoming call,it tickles(使发痒)instead of ringing.
【小题1】任务一:根据短文内容,选出画线单词“advancement”的意思。A.progress | B.surprise | C.mistake |