【全國英語等級考試四級】Unit 2 計算機與信息II-passage(3/6)

Printing The invention of printing in China and later in Europe was probably the most important event in the history of writing. With movable type and a printing press, information could be printed onto paper and copied very quickly. In some countries, books and newspapers became common items in people's houses. More and more people learned to read, and information traveled faster over longer distances. But information still had to travel over land on foot, by horse, and, after the invention of the steam engine, by steam locomotive. Books, letters, newspapers, and magazines crossed the ocean by ship. It might take two or three weeks for people on the American continent to learn that a war in Europe was over and that everybody could stop fighting. Transmission of information was still slow.