The Horseless Carriage

Before you hear the roar of a supercar or the quiet hum of an electric vehicle, I want you to imagine a different kind of sound. Close your eyes and listen. You hear the steady clop-clop-clop of horseshoes on cobblestone streets, the jingle of harnesses, and the calls of drivers urging their animals onward. The air smells of hay, leather, and hard-working horses. This was my world in the late 1800s. My name is Karl Benz, and I was a man obsessed with a dream that most people thought was utterly ridiculous. While others saw horses as the only way to travel, I saw a future powered by something else entirely: the internal combustion engine.

I was an engineer, you see, and my workshop was my sanctuary. It was filled with the metallic scent of oil and the beautiful clutter of gears, pistons, and blueprints. While others were content with the new stationary engines that powered factories, my mind was always racing. I would look at these loud, sputtering machines and think, 'What if? What if we could make one small enough and light enough to power a carriage?' The idea took hold of my imagination and wouldn't let go. I envisioned a 'horseless carriage,' a magnificent machine that could move under its own power, freeing people from the limitations of animal strength. My friends would pat me on the back and chuckle, calling it a fantasy. But to me, it was the future calling, a puzzle of steel and fire that I was determined to solve.

Reading Comprehension Questions

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Answer: Karl Benz wanted to create a 'horseless carriage' because he was tired of relying on horses for transportation. He worked hard in his workshop to build a three-wheeled vehicle powered by a small engine, which he called the Benz Patent-Motorwagen. It was a difficult process with many failures. The public didn't believe it would work until his wife, Bertha Benz, bravely drove it on a 106-kilometer journey, proving it was a reliable and useful invention that could change the world.

Answer: Bertha Benz demonstrated that she was resourceful, brave, and clever. She was brave to even attempt the long journey on roads that weren't made for cars. She showed her resourcefulness and cleverness when she faced problems: she used her hatpin to clean a clogged fuel line and one of her garters to insulate a wire, fixing the car herself without her husband's help.

Answer: A symphony is a complex piece of music with many parts working together. By calling the sounds of the horse-drawn world a 'symphony,' the author means that the clattering hooves, jingling harnesses, and drivers' calls all blended together to create the unique 'music' of the city. It paints a picture of a world that was busy and full of life, but with a rhythm and sound very different from the engine noises we hear today.

Answer: The story teaches that failure is a natural and necessary part of the process of invention and achieving something great. Karl Benz faced many setbacks, moments of doubt, and ridicule from others, but he persevered. The lesson is that if you have a strong vision and are willing to keep trying and learning from your mistakes, you can overcome challenges and turn a dream into reality.

Answer: While Karl Benz wanted to create a new form of transportation, he might not have predicted the enormous scale of change his invention would bring. The story mentions that cars connected cities, allowed for the creation of suburbs where people could live far from their jobs, gave people immense personal freedom to travel and explore, and led to the development of massive industries and new jobs. These were profound societal shifts that went far beyond simply replacing the horse.