TEST 4
Questions 1-8
Hotels were among the earliest facilities that bound the United States together. They
were both creatures and creators of communities, as well as symptoms of the frenetic
quest for community. Even in the first part of the nineteenth century, Americans were
Line already forming the habit of gathering from all corners of the nation for both public and
(5)private, business and pleasure purposes. Conventions were the new occasions, and
hotels were distinctively American facilities making conventions possible. The first
national convention of a major party to choose a candidate for President (that of the
National Republican party, which met on December 12, 1831, and nominated Henry
Clay for President) was held in Baltimore, at a hotel that was then reputed to be the
(10)best in the country. The presence in Baltimore of Barnum`s City Hotel, a six-story
building with two hundred apartments, helps explain why many other early national
political conventions were held there.
In the longer run, too, American hotels made other national conventions not only
possible but pleasant and convivial. The growing custom of regularly assembling from
afar the representatives of all kinds of groups ― not only for political conventions, but
(15)also for commercial, professional, learned, and a vocational ones ― in turn supported
the multiplying hotels. By mid-twentieth century, conventions accounted for over a
third of the yearly room occupancy of all hotels in the nation; about eighteen thousand
different conventions were held annually with a total attendance of about ten million
(20)persons.
Nineteenth-century American hotelkeepers, who were no longer the genial,
deferential “hosts” of the eighteenth-century European inn, became leading citizens.
Holding a large stake in the community, they exercised power to make it prosper. As
owners or managers of the local “palace of the public,” they were makers and shapers
of a principal community attraction. Travelers from abroad were mildly shocked by
this high social position.
1. What is the main topic of the passage?
(A) The size of early American hotels
(B) The importance of hotels in American culture
(C) How American hotels differed from European hotels
(D) Why conventions are held at hotels
2. The word “bound” in line 1 is closest in meaning to
(A) led
(B) protected
(C) tied
(D) strengthened
3. The National Republican party is mentioned in line 8 as an example of a group
(A) from Baltimore
(B) of learned people
(C) owning a hotel
(D) holding a convention
4. The word “assembling ”in line 14 is closest in meaning to
(A) announcing
(B) motivating
(C) gathering
(D) contracting
5. The word “ones” in line 16 refers to
(A) hotels
(B) conventions
(C) kinds
(D) representatives
6. The word “it” in line 23 refers to
(A) European inn
(B) host
(C) community
(D) public
7. It can be inferred form the passage that early hotelkeepers in the
United States were
(A) active politicians
(B) European immigrants
(C) professional builders
(D) influential citizen
8. Which of the following statements about early American hotels is NOT
mentioned in the passage?
(A) Travelers from abroad did not enjoy staying in them.
(B) Conventions were held in them.
(C) People used them for both business and pleasure.
(D) They were important to the community.
Question 9-18
Beads were probably the first durable ornaments humans possessed, and the
intimate relationship they had with their owners is reflected in the fact that beads are
among the most common items found in ancient archaeological sites. In the past, as
Line today, men, women, and children adorned themselves with beads. In some cultures
(5)still, certain beads are often worn from birth until death, and then are buried with their
owners for the afterlife. Abrasion due to daily wear alters the surface features of beads,
and if they are buried for long, the effects of corrosion can further changed their
appearance. Thus, interest is imparted to the bead both by use and the effects of time.
Besides their wear ability, either as jewelry or incorporated into articles of attire,
(10)beads possess the desirable characteristics of every collectible : they are durable,
portable, available in infinite variety, and often valuable in their original cultural
context as well as in today`s market. Pleasing to look at and touch, beads come in
shapes, colors, and materials that almost compel one to handle them and to sort them.
Beads are miniature bundles of secrets waiting to be revealed : their