Question

Henry Loomis served as director of the Voice of America for

seven years starting in 1958. Mr. Loomis played an important role

in creating the Special English service.

Henry Loomis was born in 1919 in Tuxedo Park, New York. His

father was Alfred Lee Loomis, a wealthy New York City businessman.

In 1940, Henry Loomis  dropped out of Harvard University

to join the United States Navy. He was able to put to good use his

knowledge of radar technology that he had learned about because

of his father’s work. After graduating at the top in his naval training

class, Henry Loomis became a teacher at the Navy's radar training

school in Hawaii．By the end of World War Two, Henry Loomis had received many honors for his service, including a Bronze Star and an Air Medal．He left the Navy in 1946 to begin graduate studies．

Henry Loomis later moved to Washington, D．C．to begin another stage of his career in public service．He held positions in the Department of Defense and other agencies. In 1958, he became director of the Voice of America．

During his travels around the world, Mr．Loomis saw that English was becoming an important international language．He believed that it was important to make English easier to understand by listeners of VOA broadcasts whose native language was not English．So Mr． Loomis asked VOA program manager Barry Zorthian to develop a way to broadcast to listeners with a limited knowledge of English:

The result of this effort was Special English. The first Voice of America broadcast in Special English took place on October 19th, 1959．Critics at the time said the Special English method of broadcasting at a slower rate with a limited vocabulary would never work．American embassies demanded that the program be cancelled．But Mr．Loomis supported the program．

Soon, VOA began to receive hundreds of letters from listeners praising the program．Special English programs became some of the most popular on VOA．We are pleased to say that our programs still are．

56．We can know from the passage that Henry Loomis______．

    A．was born in a poor family

    B．did well in his naval training class

    C．stayed in the Navy for nearly 8 years

    D．joined the army immediately after graduating from university

57．What is the second paragraph mainly about?

    A．Henry Loomis's childhood．                      B．Henry Loomis's career．

    C．Henry Loomis’s background．                   D．Henry Loomis's army life．

58．What led to Henry Loomis's inspiration of Special English programs?

    A．His experience in the Navy．

    B．His experience in the Department of Defense．

    C．His early dream of promoting the influence of VOA．

    D．His finding VOA programs are too difficult for non-native listeners．

59．Those who were against his ideas of Special English programs said         .

      A．Special English programs were too ideal, not practical

      B．it would cost too much to make Special English programs

      C．it was unnecessary to broadcast Special English programs

      D．Special English programs wouldn't help listeners in improving their English

Answer 1

BCDA