Read the following passage and then choose the best answer for each question.

It would be hard to cite a development that has had more impact on American industry than the Bessemer process of making steel. It made possible the production of low-cost steel and established the foundation of the modern steel industry. In many ways it was responsible for the rapid industrialization of the United States that took place in the formative period of the late 1800’s.

The first Bessemer plant in the United States was built in Wyandotte, Michigan, in 1864, near the end of the Civil War. It was capable of producing only 2 tons of steel ingots at a time. The ingots were rolled into rails-the first steel rails made in the United States. Acceptance of the process was initially slow. By 1870, the annual output of Bessemer steel was a mere 42 thousand tons. Production grew rapidly after about 1875, rising to 1.2 million tons in 1880, when it exceeded that of wrought iron for the first time.

The rise of the US. steel industry in the last quarter of the 19th century was brought about largely by the demand for Bessemer steel rails for the nation’s burgeoning rail network. Steel rails were far more durable than those made of iron. Spurred by this demand, the us. steel industry became the largest in the world in 1886, when it surpassed that of Great Britain.

The Bessemer Process was the chief method of making steel until 1907, when it was overtaken by the open- hearth process. By the 1950’s, the Bessemer Process accounted for less than 3% of the total U.S. production.

1. With what topic is this passage mainly concerned?

2. According to the passage, the Bessemer process contributed to all of the following EXCEPT

3. What can be inferred from the passage about wrought iron?

4. The word “burgeoning” in line 11 is closest in meaning to

5. According to the passage, why were Bessemer steel rails used in place of iron rails?

6. The word “Spurred” in line 12 is closest in meaning to which of the following?

7. According to the passage, in what year did the steel industry of the United States begin to
produce more steel than that of Great Britain did?

8. What can be inferred about the steel industry in the United States during the 1950’s?

9. The paragraph following this one probably concerns

10. The author first begins to discuss the growth of the Bessemer Process in