Reading Comprehension

Reading Comprehension

Questions 1-9

In  1972,  a  century  after  the  first  national  park  in the  United  States  was  established  at Yellowstone,  legislation  was  passed  to  create  the  National  Marine  Sanctuaries  Program.  The  intent  of  this  legislation  was  to  provide  protection  to  selected  coastal  habitats  similar  To  that  existing  for  land  areas  designated  as  national  parks.  The  designation  of  an  areas  a  marine  sanctuary  indicates  that  it  is  a  protected area,  just  as  a  national  park  is.  People  are  permitted  to  visit  and  observe  there,  but  living  organisms  and  their  environments  may  not be harmed or removed.

The  National  Marine  Sanctuaries  Program  is  administered  by  the  National  Oceanic  and  Atmospheric  Administration,  a  branch  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Commerce.  Initially,  70  sites  were  proposed  as  candidates  for sanctuary  status.  Two  and  a  half  decades  later,  only  fifteen  sanctuaries  had  been  designated,  with  half  of  these  established  after  1978.  They  range  in  size  from  the  very  small  (less  than  I  square  kilometer)  Fagatele  Bay National  Marine  Sanctuary  in  American  Samoa  to  the  Monterey  Bay  National  Marine  Sanctuary in California, extending over 15,744 square kilometers.

The  National  Marine  Sanctuaries  Program  is  a  crucial  part  of  new  management  practices  in  which  whole  communities  of  species,  and  not  just  individual  species,  are offered  some  degree  of  protection  from  habitat  degradation  and  overexploitation.  Only in  this  way  can  a  reasonable  degree  of  marine  species  diversity  be  maintained  in  a setting  that  also  maintains  the  natural  interrelationships  that  exist  among  these  species. Several  other  types  of  marine  protected  areas  exist in  the  United  States  and  other countries.  The  National  Estuarine  Research  Reserve  System,  managed  by  the  United States  government,  includes  23  designated  and  protected  estuaries.  Outside  the  United States,  marine  protected-area  programs  exist  as  marine  parks,  reserves,  and  preserves. Over  100  designated  areas  exist  around  the  periphery  of  the  Carbbean  Sea.  Others  range  from  the  well-known  Australian  Great  Barrer  Reef  Marine  Park  to  lesser-known  parks  in  countries  such  as  Thailand  and  Indonesia,  where  tourism  is  placing  growing  pressures  on  fragile  coral  reef  systems.  As  state,  national,  and  international  agencies  come  to  recognize  the  importance  of  conserving  marine  biodiversity,  marine  projected  areas.  whether  as  sanctuaries,  parks,  or  estuarine  reserves,  will  play  an  increasingly  important  role in preserving that diversity.

1. What does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) Differences among marine parks, sanctuaries, and reserves

(B) Various marine conservation programs

(C) International agreements on coastal protection

(D) Similarities between land and sea protected environments

2. The word “intent” in line 3 is closest in meaning to ….

(A) repetition

(B) approval

(C) goal

(D) revision

3. The word “administered” in line 8 is closest in meaning to ….

(A) managed

(B) recognized

(C) opposed

(D) justified

4. The word “these” in line 11 refers to ….

(A) sites

(B) candidates

(C) decades

(D) sanctuaries

5. The passage mentions the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (lines 13-14) as an

example of a sanctuary that ….

(A) is not well know

(B) covers a large area

(C) is smaller than the Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary

(D) was not originally proposed for sanctuary status

6. According to the passage, when was the National Marine Sanctuaries Program established?

(A) Before 1972

(B) After 1987

(C) One hundred years before national parks were established

(D) One hundred years after Yellowstone National Park was established

7. According to the passage, all of the following are achievements of the National Marine Sanctuaries

Program EXCEPT ….

(A) the discovery of several new marine organisms

(B) the preservation of connections between individual marine species

(C) the protection of coastal habitats

(D) the establishment of areas where the public

can observe marine life

8. The word “periphery” in line 24 is closest in meaning to ….

(A) depth

(B) landmass

(C) warm habitat

(D) outer edge

9. The passage mentions which of the following as athreat to marine areas outside the United States?

(A) Limitations in financial support

(B) The use of marine species as food

(C) Variability of the climate

(D) Increases in tourism