The author uses the phrase "stem the tide” in the second paragraph to mean_____
A.touch
B.stop
C.tax
D.save

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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 questions
Before the mid-nineteenth century, people in the United States ate most foods only in season. Drying, smoking and salting could preserve meat for a short time, but the availability of fresh meat, like that of fresh milk, was very limited; there was no way to prevent spoilage. But in 1810, a French inventor named Nicolas Appert developed the cooking-and-sealing process of canning. And in the 1850’s an American named Gail Borden developed a means of condensing and preserving milk. Canned goods and condensed milk became more common during the 1860’s, but supplies remained low because cans had to be made by hand. By 1880, however, inventors had fashioned stamping and soldering machines that mass-produced cans from tinplate. Suddenly all kinds of food could be preserved and bought at all times of the year.
Other trends and inventions had also helped make it possible for Americans to vary their daily diets. Growing urban population created demand that encouraged fruit and vegetable farmers  to raise more produce. Railroad refrigerator cars enabled growers and meat packers to ship perishables great distances and to preserve them for longer periods. Thus, by the 1890’s, northern city dwellers could enjoy southern and western strawberries, grapes, and tomatoes, previously available for a month at most, for up to six months of the year. In addition, increased use of iceboxes enabled families to store perishables. As easy means of producing ice commercially had been invented in the 1870’s, and by 1900 the nation had more than two thousand commercial ice plants, most of which made home deliveries. The icebox became a fixture in most homes and remained so until the mechanized refrigerator replaced it in the 1920’s and 1930’s.
Almost everyone now had a more diversified diet. Some people continued to eat mainly foods that were heavily in starches or carbohydrates, and not everyone could afford meat. Nevertheless, many families could take advantage of previously unavailable fruits, vegetables, and dairy products to achieve more varied fare.
The author implies that in the 1920’s and 1930’s home deliveries of ice
A.decreased in number 
B.were on an irregular schedule
C.increased in cost  
D.occurred only in the summer

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 questions.
No sooner had the first intrepid male aviators safely returned to Earth than it seemed that women, too, had been smitten by an urge to fly. From mere spectators, they became willing passengers and finally pilots in their own right, plotting their skills and daring line against the hazards of the air and the skepticism of their male counterparts. In doing so they enlarged the traditional bounds of a women's world, won for their sex a new sense of competence and achievement, and contributed handsomely to the progress of aviation.
But recognition of their abilities did not come easily. "Men do not believe us capable."  the famed aviator Amelia Earhart once remarked to a friend. "Because we are women, seldom are we trusted to do an efficient job." Indeed, old attitudes died hard: when Charles Lindbergh visited the Soviet Union in 1938 with his wife, Anne-herself a pilot and gifted proponent of aviation - he was astonished to discover both men and women flying in the Soviet Air Force.
Such conventional wisdom made it difficult for women to raise money for the up - to - date equipment they needed to compete on an equal basis with men. Yet they did compete, and often they triumphed finally despite the odds.
Ruth Law, whose 590 - mile flight from Chicago to Hornell, New York, set a new nonstop distance record in 1916, exemplified the resourcefulness and grit demanded of any woman who wanted to fly. And when she addressed the Aero Club of America after completing her historic journey, her plainspoken words testified to a universal human motivation that was unaffected by gender: "My flight was done with no expectation of reward," she declared, "just purely for the love of accomplishment."
(TOEFL Readings)
In their efforts to compete with men, early women pilots had difficulty in _______.
A.addressing clubs               
B.flying nonstop
C.setting records         
D.raising money