Home
Blog

Reading Practice 18



          Central Park, emerging from a period of abuse and neglect, remains one of the most popular attractions in New York City, with half a million out-of-towners among the more than 3 million people who visit the park yearly. About 15 million perorangan visits are made each year.
          Summer is the season for softball, concerts, and Shakespeare; fall is stunning; winter is wonderful for sledding, skating, and skiing; and springtime is the loveliest of all. It was all planned that way.

          About 130 years ago Frederic Law Olmsted and his collaborator Calvert Vaux submitted their landscaping plan for a rectangular parcel two miles north of the town' s center. The barren swampy tract, home for squatters and a bone-boiling works that made glue, was reported as 'a pestilential spot where miasmic odors taint every breath of air."It took 16 years for workers with pickaxes and shovels to move 5 million cubic feet of earth and rock, and to plant half a million trees and shrubs, making a tribute to nature-a romantic nineteenth-century perception of nature.

          What exists today is essentially Olmsted and Vaux's plan. with more trees, buildings, and asphalt. Landscape architects still speak reverently of Olmsted's genius and foresight, and the sensitive visitor can see the effects he sought.


1. With what subject is the passage mainly concerned?
(A) The lives of Olmsted and Vaux
(B) New York City's tourist industry
(C) Examples of nineteenth-century art in New York City
(D) The development of Central Park

2. According to the passage. which is the prettiest time of year in Central Park?
(A) Winter                       (B) Spring                       (C) Summer                    (D) Fall

3. It can be inferred that the  rectangular parcel mentioned in line 9 is
(A) the site of Central Park                                    (B) a gift presented to New York
(C) a skyscraper in New York                                 (D) the proposed design for Central Park

4. According to the passage. before Olmsted and Vaux began their work, the area now occupied by Central Park was
(A) a romantic place                                              (B) an infertile, marshy space
(C) a green and hilly park                                       (D) a baseball field

5. It can be inferred from the passage that today's landscape architects praise Olmsted for his
(A) enthusiasm for sport
(B) skill at designing factories
(C) concern for New York's homeless people
(D) foresight in anticipating New York's urbanization
6. Where in the passage does the author mention unpleasant smells?
(A) Lines 1-3                   (B) Lines 5-7                   (C) Lines 10-12                (D) Lines 15-16


Kunci Jawaban:
1) D 2) B 3) A 4) B 5) D 6) C