In the Spring of 1934, storms swept across the Great Plains, but they were not rainstorms. They were the result of sun drought and a terrible wind that blew millions of tons of top soil from 300.000 square miles in Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and New Mexico. This was the Dust Bowl. It buried fences, fields and home. It choked cattle and sickened the people who stayed. Three hundred and fifty thousand settlers fled many becoming part of a slow, sad caravan along Route 66 to California.
But wind and drought were not the only factors that combined to create the Dust Bowl. Only fifty years earlier, a carpet of buffalo grass had covered the Great Plains, protecting the soil and retaining the moisture that had been used as ranch land. The increased demand for wheat during World War I encouraged farmers to plow and plant even wider areas. Forty percent of the land that they plowed up had never been exposed to rain, wind or sun before. When the drought and wind came, the land had been prepared for disaster.
46. With which of the following topics is the passage primarily concerned?
A. The Dust Bowl B. The Great Plains C. Homesteading D. World War I
47. Where did many of the homesteaders go when they abandoned their farms?
A. To Kansas B. To New Mexico C. To Texas D. To California
48. The word “caravan” in paragraph 1 is closet in meaning to which of the following words?
A. line B. group C. family D. town
49. What does the author mean by the statement “By the turn of the century, farmers had settled, homesteading in regions that had been used as ranch land”?
A. Homesteaders began to settle land | B. Ranches began to replaced farms |
C. Homesteaders were used for open range | D. No homesteaders were left |
50. The author mentions all of the following as having contributed to the disaster EXCEPT.
A. wind B. drought C. homesteading D. rain
