Reading part In 1848, a carpenter James Marshall was building a

Reading part

In 1848, a carpenter James Marshall was building a sawmill(factories where tries are cut up into pieces with machines) on the American River near the Sierra Nevada Mountains of eastern California when he discovered several gold pieces. He reported his discovery to his boss, John Sutter, who owned a small market in the Sacramento Valley. Sutter asked his workers to keep the find secret, but no matter how much he asked, they spread the news. Sam Brannan, a shrewd San Francisco merchant, spread the word throughout San Francisco. Soon, San Francisco was practically a ghost town as people of the town moved to the Sacramento River to the gold fields. Brannan, of course, had filled his store with mining supplies and was doing a thriving business.

Soon news spread around the country and around the globe. President James Polk told Congress of the possibility of untold wealth in California. The gold searchers came from all over the world, but the largest number came from the eastern United States. They were called ‘forty-niners’. There were three routes from the East Coast. Forty-niners could go by ship to Panama, cross the jungle to Panama City, and then take a ship to San

Francisco. An alternative was a longer sea voyage around Cape Horn. The cheapest route which most forty-niners chose, was the overland route across the Great Plains of the United States.

Soon there were hundreds of mining camps with names like Rough and Ready and Jackass Hill. These were wild, violent places. Crime was uncontrolled. Because of bad housing, lack of medical supplies, poor food, and bad sanitary facilities, diseases such as cholera and dysentery became common.

In the early days of the gold rush(a situation when a lot of people move to a place to find gold), miners could make up to $500 a day, it was an huge sum of money at that time. However, most of these profits(money which is earned in trade or business) were made by people who were already living in California at the time of the discovery. As competition increased, fewer people earned money. People who found nothing were many more than people who found a lot of gold. Nevertheless, the gold rush had a great effect on the United States. It accelerated(to make something faster) the settlement of California and the entire western half of the country. It also added billions of dollars to the national wealth and helped industrial growth in the nineteenth century.

1. 
   Look at the word “discovered” in the text. Find the appropriate alternative word for that.
   

a)invented b)learned

c)found d)dig up

2. 
   What does the word ‘ghost’ means in the text.
   

a)spirit b)ugly

c)night d)empty

3. 
   Which route did most gold seekers use to travel from the East Coast of the United States to the gold fields of California?
   

1. 
   By sea around South America
   
2. 
   By sea to Panama, by land across Panama, and by sea to California
   
3. 
   By sea to Mexico and by land to California
   
4. 
   By land across the United States
   

4. 
   Look at the word “These” in the bold. Underline the WORD or PHRASE in the bold text that the word “These” refers to.
   

5. 
   Which of the following is NOT listed as one of the reasons for outbreaks of disease in the mining camps?
   

1. 
   Lack of sanitation
   
2. 
   Shortage of medicine
   
3. 
   Exhausting work
   
4. 
   Bad housing
   

6. 
   In the last paragraph, UNDERLINE the sentence which tells only one group of miners got rich in the gold rush.
   

7. 
   Look at the word “It” in the bold text with background shadow. Underline the word or phrase in the bold text that the word “It” refers to.
   

8. 
   What is the passage about?
   

1. 
   the history of the California gold rush
   
2. 
   the discussion the importance of gold rushes in general
   
3. 
   nineteenth century mining methods
   
4. 
   the bad effects of the gold rush