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TOEFL MODEL TEST --> TOEFL ITP --> Section test
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Question 1 of 100 |
Time: 01:00 |
Total time: 60:00 |
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VI. Reading comprehension
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 populations 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. An 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 heavy 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.
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?
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A. |
Causes of food spoilage |
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B. |
Inventions that led to changes in the American diet |
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C. |
Population movements in the nineteenth century |
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D. |
Commercial production of ice |
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Explain: |
2. It can be inferred that railroad refrigerator cars came into use ................
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Explain: |
3. The author implies that in the 1920′s and 1930′s home deliveries of ice ................
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A. |
occurred only in the summer |
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C. |
were on an irregular schedule |
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Explain: |
4. The word “Nevertheless” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to
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5. Which of the following types of food preservation was NOT mentioned in the passage?
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6. Which of the following statements is supported by the passage?
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A. |
People who lived in cities demanded home delivery of foods. |
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Commercial ice factories were developed by railroad owners. |
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C. |
Tin cans and iceboxes helped to make many foods more widely available. |
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D. |
Most farmers in the United States raised only fruits and vegetables. |
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Explain: |
7. The phrase “in season” in paragraph 1 refers to ................
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C. |
a particular time of year |
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D. |
a method of flavoring food |
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8. The word “them ” in paragraph 2 refers to ................
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9. The word “prevent” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to
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10. The word “fixture” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to
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11. During the 1860′s, canned food products were ................
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A. |
shipped in refrigerator cars |
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unavailable in rural areas |
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C. |
available in limited quantities |
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a staple part of the American diet |
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Explain: |
People are often surprised to learn just how long some varieties of trees can live. If asked to estimate the age of the oldest living trees on Earth, they often come up with guesses in the neighborhood of two or perhaps three hundred years. The real answer is considerably larger than that, more than five thousand years.
The tree that wins the prize for its considerable maturity is the bristlecone pine of California. This venerable pine predates wonders of the ancient world such as the pyramids of Egypt, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and the Colossus of Rhodes. It is not nearly as tall as the giant redwood that is also found in California, and, in fact, it is actually not very tall compared with many other trees, often little more than five meters in height. This relatively short height may be one of the factors that aid the bristlecone pine in living to a ripe old age—high winds and inclement weather cannot easily reach the shorter trees and cause damage. An additional factor that contributes to the long life of the bristlecone pine is that this type of tree has a high percentage of resin, which prevents rot from developing in the tree trunk and branches.
12. The word "estimate” is closest in meaning to ................
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13. The best title for this passage would be ................
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Three-Hundred-Year-Old Forests |
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The Size of the Bristlecone Pine |
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An Amazingly Enduring Tree |
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D. |
The Wonders of the Ancient World |
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Explain: |
14. The expression “in the neighborhood of" could best be replaced by ................
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B. |
with the friendliness of |
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15. It can be inferred from the passage that most people ................
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have two to three hundred trees in their neighborhoods |
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are quite accurate in their estimates of the ages of trees |
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do not really have any idea how old the oldest trees on Earth are |
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D. |
can name some three-hundred-year-old trees |
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16. According to the passage, approximately how old are the oldest trees on Earth?
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B. |
Three hundred years old |
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C. |
Five hundred years old |
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D. |
Five thousand years old |
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Explain: |
17. The word "venerable” is closest in meaning to which of the following? ................
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18. The author mentions the Egyptian pyramids as an example of something that is ................
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19. Which of the following is true about the bristlecone pine?
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It is short in comparison to many other trees. |
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It is as tall as the great pyramids. |
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It can be two to three hundred feet tall. |
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It is never more than five meters in height. |
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Explain: |
20. The word “inclement" could best be replaced by ................
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21. The passage states that resin ................
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assists the tree trunks to develop |
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helps stop rot from starting |
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is found only in the bristlecone pine |
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flows from the branches to the tree trunk |
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Explain: |
The hippopotamus is the third largest land animal, smaller only than the elephant and the rhinoceros. Its name comes from two Greek words which mean "river horse." The long name of this animal is often shortened to the easier to handle term "hippo."
The hippo has a natural affinity for the water. It does not float on top of the water; instead, it can easily walk along the bottom of a body of water. The hippo commonly remains underwater for three to five minutes and has been known to stay under for up to half an hour before coming up for air.
In spite of its name, the hippo has relatively little in common with the horse and instead has a number of interesting similarities in common with the whale. When a hippo comes up after a stay at the bottom of a lake or river, it releases air through a blowhole, just like a whale. In addition, the hippo resembles the whale in that they both have thick layers of blubber for protection and they are almost completely hairless.
22. The passage states that one way in which a hippo is similar to a whale is that ................
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they both have blowholes |
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they are both named after horses |
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they both live on the bottoms of rivers |
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they both breathe underwater |
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Explain: |
23. The passage states that the hippo does not ................
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have a protective coating |
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24. The word "blubber" is closest in meaning to ................
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25. The expression "has relatively little in common" could best be replaced by ................
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has minimal experience |
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shares few similarities |
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Explain: |
26. According to the passage, what is the maximum time that hippos have been known to stay underwater?
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Explain: |
27. The word "float" is closest in meaning to ................
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Explain: |
28. It can be inferred from the passage that the rhinoceros is ................
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equal in size to the elephant |
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smaller than the hippo |
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one of the two largest types of land animals |
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D. |
a hybrid of the hippo and the elephant |
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Explain: |
29. The topic of this passage is ................
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the characteristics of the hippo |
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the derivations of animal names |
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the relation between the hippo and the whale |
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the largest land animals |
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30. It can be inferred from the passage that the hippopotamus is commonly called a hippo because the word "hippo" is ................
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scientifically more accurate |
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easier for the animal to recognize |
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31. The possessive "Its" refers to ................
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Life originated in the early seas less than a billion years after Earth was formed. Yet another three billion years were to pass before the first plants and animals appeared on the continents. Life's transition from the sea to the land was perhaps as much of an evolutionary challenge as was the genesis of life.
What forms of life were able to make such a drastic change in lifestyle ? The traditional view of the first terrestrial organisms is based on megafossils — relatively large specimens of essentially whole plants and animals. Vascular plants, related to modern seed plants and ferns, left the first comprehensive megafossil record. Because of this, it has been commonly assumed that the sequence of terrestrialization reflected the evolution of modern terrestrial ecosystems. In this view, primitive vascular plants first colonized the margins of continental waters, followed by animals that fed on the plants, and lastly by animals that preyed on the plant-eaters. Moreover, the megafossils suggest that terrestrial life appeared and diversified explosively near the boundary between the Silurian and the Devonian periods, a little more than 400 million years ago.
Recently, however, paleontologists have been taking a closer look at the sediments below this Silurian-Devonian geological boundary. It turns out that some fossils can be extracted from these sediments by putting the rocks in an acid bath. The technique has uncovered new evidence from sediments that were deposited near the shores of the ancient oceans — plant microfossils and microscopic pieces of small animals. In many instances the specimens are less than one-tenth of a millimeter in diameter. Although they were entombed in the rocks for hundreds of millions of years, many of the fossils consist of the organic remains of the organism.
These newly discovered fossils have not only revealed the existence of previously unknown organisms, but have also pushed back these dates for the invasion of land by multicellular organisms. Our views about the nature of the early plant and animal communities are now being revised. And with those revisions come new speculations about the first terrestrial life-forms.
32. The word “drastic” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ................
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33. According to the passage, what happened about 400 million years ago?
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Many terrestrial life-forms died out. |
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The megafossils were destroyed by floods. |
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New life-forms on land developed at a rapid rate. |
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D. |
Life began to develop in the ancient seas. |
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Explain: |
34. What can be inferred from the passage about the fossils mentioned in paragraph 3?
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They are older than the megafossils. |
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They consist of modern life-forms. |
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They were found in approximately the same numbers as vascular plant fossils. |
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They have not been helpful in understanding the evolution of terrestrial life. |
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Explain: |
35. The word “instances” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ................
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36. Which of the following resulted from the discovery of microscopic fossils?
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Assumptions about the locations of ancient seas were changed. |
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The time estimate for the first appearance of terrestrial life-forms was revised. |
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The origins of primitive sea life were explained. |
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Old techniques for analyzing fossils were found to have new uses. |
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Explain: |
37. With which of the following conclusions would the author probably agree?
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The technology used by paleontologists is too primitive to make accurate determinations about ages of fossils. |
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The discovery of microfossils supports the traditional view of how terrestrial life evolved. |
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New species have appeared at the same rate over the course of the last 400 million years. |
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The evolution of terrestrial life was as complicated as the origin of life itself. |
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Explain: |
38. According to the theory that the author calls “the traditional view,” what was the first form of life to appear on land?
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39. The word “they” in paragraph 3 refers to ................
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40. The word “extracted” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ................
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41. The word “entombed” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ................
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The organization that today is known as the Bank of America did start out in America, but under quite a different name. Italian American A.P. Giannini established this bank on October 17, 1904, in a renovated saloon in San Francisco’s Italian community of North Beach under the name Bank of Italy, with immigrants and first-time bank customers comprising the majority of his first customers. During its development, Giannini’s bank survived major crises in the form of a natural disaster and a major economic upheaval that not all other banks were able to overcome.
One major test for Giannini’s bank occurred on April 18, 1906, when a massive earthquake struck San Francisco, followed by a raging fire that destroyed much of the city. Giannini obtained two wagons and teams of horses, filled the wagons with the bank’s reserves, mostly in the form of gold, covered the reserves with crates of oranges, and escaped from the chaos of the city with his clients’ funds protected. In the aftermath of the disaster, Giannini’s bank was the first to resume operations. Unable to install the bank in a proper office setting, Giannini opened up shop on the Washington Street Wharf on a makeshift desk created from boards and barrels.
In the period following the 1906 fire, the Bank of Italy continued to prosper and expand. By 1918 there were twenty-four branches of the Bank of Italy, and by 1928 Giannini had acquired numerous other banks, including a Bank of America located in New York City. In 1930 he consolidated all the branches of the Bank of Italy, the Bank of America in New York City, and another Bank of America that he had formed in California into the Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association.
A second major crisis for the bank occurred during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Although Giannini had already retired prior to the darkest days of the Depression, he became incensed when his successor began selling off banks during the bad economic times. Giannini resumed leadership of the bank at the age of sixty-two. Under Giannini’s leadership, the bank weathered the storm of the Depression and subsequently moved into a phase of overseas development.
42. According to the passage, Giannini ................
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worked in a bank in Italy |
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set up the Bank of America prior to setting up the Bank of Italy |
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later changed the name of the Bank of Italy |
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opened the Bank of America in 1904 |
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Explain: |
43. Where did Giannini open his first bank?
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In what used to be a bar |
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On Washington Street Wharf |
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Explain: |
44. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true about the San Francisco earthquake?
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It caused problems for Giannini's bank. |
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C. |
It occurred in the aftermath of a fire. |
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It was a tremendous earthquake. |
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Explain: |
45. The word "raging” could best be replaced by ................
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Explain: |
46. It can be inferred from the passage that Giannini used crates of oranges after the earthquake ................
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to provide nourishment for his customers |
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to protect the gold from the fire |
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Explain: |
47. The word "chaos” is closest in meaning to
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Explain: |
48. The word "consolidated” is closest in meaning to
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Explain: |
49. The passage states that after his retirement, Giannini ................
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began selling off banks |
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supported the bank's new management |
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caused economic misfortune to occur |
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Explain: |
50. The expression "weathered the storm of" could best be replaced by ................
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survived the ordeal of |
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rained on the parade of |
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51. The paragraph following the passage most likely discusses ................
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how Giannini spent his retirement |
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a third major crisis of the Bank of America |
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the international development of the Bank of America |
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D. |
bank failures during the Great Depression |
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Explain: |
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No. | Date | Right Score | Total Score |
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PARTNERS |
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NEWS |
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