Reading Practice 16
The first navigational lights in the New World were probably lanterns hung at harbor entrances. The first lighthouse was put up by the Massachusetts Bay Colony In 1766 on Little Brewster Island at the entrance to Boston Harbor. Paid for and maintained by light dues levied on ships, the original beacon was blown up in 1776. By then there were only a dozen or so true lighthouses in the colonies. Little over a century later, there were 700 lighthouses.
The first eight erected on the West Coast in the 1850’s featured the same basic New England design: a Cape Cod dwelling with the tower rising from the center or standing close by. In New England and elsewhere. though. lighthouses reflected a variety of architectural styles. Since most stations in the Northeast were built on rocky eminences, enormous towers were not the rule. Some were made of stone and brick, others of wood or metal. Some stood on pilings or stilts: some were fastened to rock with iron rods. Farther south. from Maryland through the Florida Keys, the coast was low and sandy. It was often necessary to build tall towers there – massive structures like the majestic Cape Hatteras, North Carolina lighthouse, which was lit in 1870. At 190 feet, it is the tallest brick lighthouse in the country.
Not withstanding differences in appearance and construction, most American lighthouses shared several features: a light, living quarters, and sometimes a bell(or, later, a foghorn). They also had something else in common: a keeper and. usually. the keeper's family. The keeper's essential task was trimming the lantern 'Nick in order to maintain a steady bright flame. The earliest keepers came from every walk of life-they were seamen. Farmers, mechanics, rough mill hands-and appointments were often handed out by local customs commissioners as political plums. After the administration of lighthouses was taken over in 1852 by the United States Lighthouse 803rd, an agency of the Treasury Department, the keeper corps gradually became highly professional.
1. What is the best title for the passage.
(A) The Lighthouse on Little Brewster Island
(B) The Life of a Lighthouse Keeper
(C) Early Lighthouses in the United States
(D) The Modern Profession of Lighthouse Keeping
2. Why does the author mention the Massachusetts Bay Colony?
(A) It was the headquarters of the United States Lighthouse Board.
(B) Many of the tallest lighthouses were built there.
(C) The first lantern wicks were developed there.
(D) The first lighthouse in North America was built there.
3. It can be inferred from the passage that light-houses in the Northeast did not need high towers because
(A) ships there had high masts
(B) coastal waters were safe
(C) the coast was straight and unobstructed
(D) the lighthouse were built on high places
4. According to the passage. where can the tallest brick lighthouse in the United States be found?
(A) Little Brewster Island (B) The Florida Keys
(C) Cape Hatteras (D) Cape Cod
5. In line 19, to which of the following does the word "They" refer?
(A) Lighthouses (B) Differences (C) Quarters (D) Features
6. It can be inferred from the passage that the Treasury Department, after assuming control of the lighthouses, improved which of the following?
(A) The training of the lighthouse keepers (B) The sturdiness of the lighthouses
(C) The visibility of the lights (D) The locations of the lighthouses
7. Where in the passage does the author tell how lighthouses in the Northeast were fastened to the surrounding rock?
(A) Lines 3-4 (B) Line 12 (C) Lines 14-15 (D) Line 19
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