Directions: In this section there are 2 passages followed by questions, each with four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the best answer. Write your answers on your Answer Sheet.

Passage Ⅱ

At 5:15 am of April 18, 1906, the greatest earthquake disaster in the history of the United States occurred. At that crucial moment, San Francisco and the surrounding areas were rocked by huge movements in the earth underneath, causing damages unheard of before. The loss in money, lives, and peace of mind were such that it took decades for San Francisco to recover, and still haunts the memory of that great city to this day.

As the first massive quake hit the sleeping city, building tumbles and chaos suddenly reigned in the streets. Amid bursting gas mains, falling debris, and raging fires, panic held sway over the citizenry as each fled from the destruction all around them. People fled to the safety of parks, far from the toppling skyscrapers, as martial law was imposed to keep the madness in check.

Fire swept across the city as the broken gas mains caught fire and occasionally exploded. Brave firemen rushed to the scenes of disaster, only to find that the central water main had also been destroyed by the quake, leaving them helpless to watch as the fires raged on and spread further and further.

A second massive shock hit the crumbled city at 8:00 am, nearly three hours after the first. Although the most serious fires began in the business district, as time progressed, it was clear that the loss in life was mainly in the poorer areas of the city, under which most of the burning gas mains ran. After all was said and done, the final death tolls were horrifyingly high. In addition, nearly all the major buildings in the city were reduced to rubble, including the City Hall, the new Post Office, the Parrot Building (previously the largest department store in the West), the Chronicle and Examiner Buildings (San Francisco’s two major newspapers), and Stanford University in nearby Palo Alto.

In the wake of the destruction, urban planners immediately set to work to rebuild the shattered city. They did this with gusto, designing new buildings, pipes, and streets with earthquake safety in mind. These ongoing precautions no doubt contributed to the phenomenal performance of the city’s infrastructure during the earthquake of 1989, in which, although millions of dollars in damage occurred, widespread major destruction and loss of life were avoided.