Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 36 to 42. Chester Arthur, the twenty-first President of the United States, was an unlikely holder of the highest office in land. Born in Vermont in 1830, he was the son of an Irish immigrant father and a New Hampshire mother. After becoming a lawyer in New York, he joined the Republican Party and eventually came to hold a number of state offices...
Đọc tiếp
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 36 to 42.
Chester Arthur, the twenty-first President of the United States, was an unlikely holder of the highest office in land. Born in Vermont in 1830, he was the son of an Irish immigrant father and a New Hampshire mother. After becoming a lawyer in New York, he joined the Republican Party and eventually came to hold a number of state offices there, including a position as head of the New York Customs House. Though personally honest, Arthur' s administration was marred by corrupt practices, and he was removed from office in 1878. When James Garfield was elected as the Republican Party's presidential candidate in 1880's, Arthur, who belonged to a faction that had supported the denomination of President Grant, was offered the Vice-presidency as a conciliatory gesture. Arthur accepted, and then, in 1881, was elevated to the Presidency following Garfield's assassination. In view of his far from unblemished record and his lack of strong political support, even within his own party, Arthur's move to the White House was viewed with great concern by many Americans, but, to the astonishment of most, his administration proved to be a competent and honest one. However, he never was elected President in his own right, being defeated for the nomination at his party's convention in 1884, and dying in November two years later of Bright's disease during the presidency of a Democrat, Grover Cleveland
Which of the following best describes Arthur's tenure as the head of the New York Customs House ?
A. a thoroughly corrupt administration
B. one suffering from much corruption that Arthur, though not involved, failed to remedy
C. one which, in spite of the efforts of honest officials, was made corrupt by its leader
D. one in which corruption was not eradicated from Arthur's office until 1878
