Reading Comprehension

Read the passage and answer the question.

The invention of the printing press in fifteenth-century Europe transformed how knowledge spread. Before it, books were copied by hand, a slow and costly process that limited reading to a small, wealthy elite. The press allowed identical copies to be produced quickly and cheaply, so the number of books grew rapidly. As prices fell, more ordinary people learned to read, and ideas could travel across regions faster than ever before. Some historians argue that this sudden flow of information helped fuel major movements in religion and science, because new arguments could now reach a wide audience almost as soon as they were written.