I. Read the following passage carefully and choose the correct option :
In the early 1920's, settlers came to Alaska looking for gold. They traveled by boat to the coastal
towns of Seward and Knik, and from there by land into the gold fields.The trail they used to travel inland is known today as the Iditarod Trail, one of the National Historic Trails designated by the
Congress of the United States. The Iditarod Trail quickly became a major thoroughfare in Alaska, as
the mail and supplies were carried across this trail. People also used it to get from place to place,
including the priests, ministers, and judges who had to travel between villages. In the winter, the
settlers’ only means of travel down this trail was via dog sled.
Once the gold rush ended, many gold-seekers went back to where they had come from, and suddenly
there was much less travel on the Iditarod Trail. The introduction of the airplane in the late 1920’s
meant dog teams were no longer the standard mode of transportation, and of course with the airplane carrying the mail and supplies, there was less need for land travel in general. The final blow to the use of the dog teams was the appearance of snowmobiles.
By the mid 1960's, most Alaskans didn’t even know the Iditarod Trail existed, or that dog teams had
played a crucial role in Alaska’s early settlements. Dorothy G. Page, a self-made historian, recognized
how few people knew about the former use of sled dogs as working animals and about the Iditarod
Trail’s role in Alaska’s colorful history. To raise awareness about this aspect of Alaskan history, she
came up with the idea to have a dog sled race over the Iditarod Trail. She presented her idea to an
enthusiastic musher, as dog sled drivers are known, named Joe Redington, Sr. Soon the Pages and the Redingtons were working together to promote the idea of the Iditarod race. Many people worked to make the first Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race a reality in 1967. The Aurora Dog Mushers Club, along with men from the Adult Camp in Sutton, helped clear years of overgrowth from the first nine miles of the Iditarod Trail. To raise interest in the race, a $25,000 purse was offered, with Joe Redington donating one acre of his land to help raise the funds. The short race, approximately 27 miles long, was put on a second time in 1969.
After these first two successful races, the goal was to lengthen the race a little further to the ghost
town of Iditarod by 1973. However in 1972, the U.S. Army reopened the trail as a winter exercise, and
so in 1973, the decision was made to take the race all the way to the city of Nome—over 1,000 miles.
There were many who believed it could not be done and that it was crazy to send a bunch of mushers
out into the vast, uninhabited Alaskan wilderness. But the race went! 22 mushers finished that year, and to date over 400 people have completed it.
Questions
1) The primary purpose of this passage is to
A. recount the history of the Iditarod trail and the race that memorializes it
B. describe the obstacles involved in founding the Iditarod race
C. outline the circumstances that led to the establishment of the Iditarod Trail
D. reestablish the important place of the Iditarod Trail in Alaska’s history .
2) Based on information in the passage, it can be inferred that all of the following contributed to the
disuse of the Iditarod Trail except
A. more modern forms of transportation
B. depleted gold mines
C. highway routes to ghost towns
D. reduced demand for land travel
3) As used in paragraph 2, which is the best definition for mode?
A. formula
B. way
C. preference
D. option
4) According to the passage, the initial Iditarod race
A. was funded through the sale of musher entrance fees
B. was founded by an advocate for Alaskan history
C. ended at the ghost town of Iditarod
D. boasted a total of 400 entrants
5) As used in paragraph 3, the phrase “self-made historian” implies that Dorothy G. Page
A. was employed by the state to keep its dog sled history alive
B. was determined to honor the glories of the gold rush in spite of her questionable credentials
C. had pursued the study of Alaska’s history out of her own interest
D. had personally educated others about Alaska’s history
Answers
Answer:
1-A
2-C
3-B
4-B
5-C
6-A
7-C
The given passage belongs to certain travellers who came to Alaska in search of gold.
- The correct answers as per the passage are -
1) The primary purpose of this passage is to
A. recount the history of the Iditarod trail and the race that memorializes it
( Passage makes it clear that the passage's subject matter is a discussion of the Iditarod Trail's history and the race that honours it. This indicates that the author's main goal is to summarise this history.)
2) Based on information in the passage, it can be inferred that all of the following contributed to the disuse of the Iditarod Trail except
C. highway routes to ghost towns
(The author identifies the causes of the Iditarod Trail's abandonment in paragraph 2. Highways that lead to abandoned communities are not mentioned by the author.)
3) As used in paragraph 2, which is the best definition for mode?
B. Way
(Before the invention of aircraft, the only way to travel in the winter was by dog sledge. However, after their invention, sledges were no longer the sole form of transportation. In this context, "way" is a good meaning of mode.)
4) According to the passage, the initial Iditarod race
B. was founded by an advocate for Alaskan history
(A historian who wished to "raise awareness about. Alaskan history" founded the first Iditarod race. Dorothy G. Page was a supporter of Alaskan history, to put it another way.)
5) As used in paragraph 3, the phrase “self-made historian” implies that Dorothy G. Page
C. had pursued the study of Alaska’s history out of her own interest
( Being referred to as "self-made" means that Page didn't have any official training in history and had instead explored the subject out of personal curiosity.)
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