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 Basic to any understanding of Canada in the 20 years after the Second World War is the country's impressive population growth. For every three Canadians in 1945, there were over five in 1966. In September 1966 Canada's population passed the 20 million mark. Most of these surging growth came from natural increase. The depression of the 1930s and the war had held back marriages, and the catching-up process began after 1945. The baby boom continued through the decade of the 1950s, producing a been exceeded only once before in Canada's history, in the decade before 1911, when the prairies were population increase of nearly fifteen percent in the five years from 1951 to 1956. This rate of increase had been settled. Undoubtedly, the good economic conditions of the 1950s supported a growth in the population, but the expansion also derived from a trend toward earlier marriages and an increase in the average size of families. In 1957 the Canadian birth rate stood at 28 per thousand, one of the highest in the world.

 After the peak year of 1957, the birth rate in Canada began to decline. It continued falling until 1966 it stood at the lowest level in 25 years. Partly this decline reflected the low level of births during the depression and the war, but it was also caused by changes in Canadian society. Young people were staying at school longer; more women were working; young married couples were buying automobiles or houses before starting families; rising living standards were cutting down the size of families.

 It appeared that Canada was once more falling in step with the trend toward smaller families that had occurred all through the Western world since the time of the Industrial Revolution. Although the growth in Canada's population had slowed down by 1966 (the increase in the first half of the 1960s was only nine percent), another large population wave was coming over the horizon. It would be composed of the children of the children who were born during the period of the high birth rate prior to 1957.

 What does the passage mainly discuss?

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Under the city streets

While skyscraper offices and elegant apartment blocks remain the public face of most major cities, these cities also have a mass of secret tunnels and .......(27)...... pipes below ground which keep everything working. This other world exists, forgotten or neglected by all but a tiny number of engineers and historians.

 For example, there are more than 150 kilometers of rivers under the streets of London. Most have been covered over and, sadly, all that .......(28)...... is their names. Perhaps the greatest loss to the city is the River Fleet, a once great river which previously had beautiful houses on its banks. It now goes underground in the north of the city and flows into the River Thames by Blackfriars Bridge.

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 There are a number of natural disasters that can strike across the globe. Two that are frequently linked to one another are earthquakes and tsunamis. Both of them can cause a great amount of devastation when they hit. However, tsunamis are the direct result of earthquakes and cannot happen without them.

 The Earth has three main parts. They are the crust, the mantle, and the core. The crust is the outer layer of the Earth. It is not a single piece of land. Instead, it is comprised of a number of plates. There are a few enormous plates and many smaller ones. These plates essentially rest upon the mantle, which is fluid. As a result, the plates are in constant - yet slow – motion. The plates may move away from or towards other plates. In some cases, they collide violently with the plates adjoining them. The movement of the plates causes tension in the rock. Over a long time, this tension may build up. When it is released, an earthquake happens.

 Tens of thousands of earthquakes happen every year. The vast majority are so small that only scientific instruments can perceive them. Others are powerful enough that people can feel them, yet they cause little harm or damage. More powerful earthquakes, however, can cause buildings, bridges, and other structures to collapse. They may additionally injure and kill thousands of people and might even cause the land to change its appearance.

 Since most of the Earth's surface is water, numerous earthquakes happen beneath the planet's oceans. Underwater earthquakes cause the seafloor to move. This results in the displacement of water in the ocean. When this occurs, a tsunami may form. This is a wave that forms on the surface and moves in all directions from the place where the earthquake happened. A tsunami moves extremely quickly and can travel thousands of kilometers. As it approaches land, the water near the coast gets sucked out to sea. This causes the tsunamis to increase in height. Minutes later, the tsunami arrives. A large tsunami - once more than ten meters in height - can travel far inland. As it does that, it can flood the land, destroy human settlements, and kill large numbers of people.

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 Nobody called me yesterday, ……………….?

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the underlined part that needs correction in each of the following questions.

 Every (A) students (B) was sick last week, (C) so the professor (D) canceled the lecture.

My hairline is ............so rapidly that I need to shop for a wig right away.