Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions Two-lane highways, like the railways before them, seemed capable of making or breaking a community in the 1920s. The automobile was every American’s idea of freedom, and the construction of hard-surface roads was one of the largest items of government expenditure, often at great cost to every thing else, including education.American car registrations rose from one million in 1913 to ten million in 1923. Automobile sales in the state of Michigan outnumbered those in Great Britain and Ireland combined. By 1927, Americans were driving some twenty-six million automobiles, one car for every five people in the country.The 1920 U.S. Census revealed that for the first time in history more people lived in cities than on farms, and they were leaving the farm and reaching the city by automobile. The growth of roads and the automobile industry made cars the lifeblood of the petroleum industry and a major customer of the steel factories. Cars also caused expansions in outdoor recreation and tourism and related industries-service stations, roadside restaurants, and motels. After World War two, the automobile industry reached new heights, and new roads led out of the city to the suburbs, where two-car families transported children to shopping malls and segregated schools.In 1956 Congress passed the Interstate Highway Act, the peak of a half-century of frenzied road building at government expense and the largest public works program in history. The result was the Interstate Highway System, a network of federally subsidized highways connecting major urban centers. Two-hour commutes, traffic jams, polluted cities, and Disneyland became standard features of American life. Like almost everything else in the 1950s, the construction of interstate highways was justified as a national defense measure.The predominance of private transportation was guaranteed by the federal government. Between 1945 and 1980, 75 percent of federal funds of transportation were spent on highways, while a scant one percent went to buses, trains, or subways. Even before the Interstate Highway System was built, the American bias was clear – which is why the United States has the world’s best road system and nearly its worst public transit system.
Câu 1: What does the passage mainly discussed?
A. The construction of roads in the 1920s
B. The automobile as a ticket to freedom
C. Expansion of the automobile industry
D. The importance of roads in American life
Câu 2: The word “those” in bold in paragraph 2 refers to
A. car sales
B. car registrations
C. car owners
D. automobiles
Câu 3: It can be inferred from paragraph 2 that
A. car registration became requited in the early 1920s.
B. more cars were sold in Michigan than any other state.
C. America’s passion for cars grew in the 1920s.
D. most people in Ireland could not afford to buy cars.
Câu 4: The word “frenzied” in bold in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to
A. intense
B. systematic
C. violent
D. disorganized
Câu 5: According to the passage, which of the following was NOT true?
A. There was one car for every five Americans in 1927.
B. The automobile industry grew rapidly after World War Two.
C. The government said interstate highways were good for national defense.
D. More Americans lived in rural than in urban areas in 1920.
Câu 6: According to the passage, the growth in the number of automobiles influenced all of the following EXCEPT
A. tourism
B. the petroleum industry
C. subway fares
D. suburban shopping malls
Câu 7: The word “scant” in bold in paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to
A. usually adequate
B. barely sufficient
C. more realistic
D. necessary
Câu 8: It can be inferred from the passage that
A. the federal government usually subsidizes major industries.
B. Americans value private automobiles over public transportation.
C. the United Sates needs a better public transit system.
D. the government considers roads more expensive than education.
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