During the nineteenth century, the mechanization of farming and the fencing of range land opened the agricultural heart of North America to intensive development. As the natural geographic center of this region, Chicago became the crossroads of a vast transportation network. The great waterway systems of the Mississippi valley and the Great Lakes were linked in Chicago in 1847, when the Illinois- Michinga Canal was opened to traffic. Within the next year, rail lines began to operate trains to and from the city. The rise of agricultural activity demanded facilities for the storage and milling of grain, the slaughtering of cattle, and the processing and shipment of meat. The manufacture of farm machinery branched out into the basic metal- fabricating and woodworking industries. This soon attracted banks and other financial instiutions. Four years after the end of the Civil War, Chicago was already established as the focal point of the largest system of inland waterways in the world and the hub of a rail network that extended to the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts. The productive potential of the city was unparalleled, and the pace of its industrial expansion reached explosive proportions.
Sentence Correction:
Rad the passage below and choose the alternative A, B, C or D to answer the questions (18-23)
Washington was the first city in history to be created solely for the purpose of governance. Following the Revolution, members of congress had hotly debated the question of a permanent home for themselves and for those departments- the Treasury, the patent Office, and so on - Which even the sketchiest of central governments would feel obliged to establish.
In 1790, largely in order to put an end to congressional bickering, George Washington was charged with selecting a site for the newly designated federal district. Not much to anyone's surprise but to the disappointment of many, he chose a tract of land on the banks of the Potomac River, a few miles upstream from his beloved plantation Mount Vernon.
The District of Columbia was taken in part from Virginia and in part from Maryland. at the time is was laid out, its hundred square miles consisted of gently rolling hills, some under cultivation and the rest heavily wooded, with a number of creeks and much swampy land along the Potomac. There is now a section of Washington that is commonly referred to as Foggy Bottom; that section bore the same nickname a hundred and eighty years ago. two port cities, Alexandria and Georgetown, flourished within sight of the new capital and gave is access by ship to the most important cities of the infant nation- Charleston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Newport, Salem and Portsmouth- and also to the far- off ports of England and the Continent.
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