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

 Line     mark. Most of this surging growth came from natural increase. The depression of the

 (5)       1930's and the war had held back marriages, and the catching-up process began after

            1945. The baby boom continued through the decade of the 1950's, producing a

            population increase of nearly fifteen percent in the five years from 1951 to 1956. This

            rate of increase had been exceeded only once before in Canada's history, in the decade

            before 1911, when the prairies were being settled. Undoubtedly, the good economic

 (10)      conditions of the 1950's 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

 (15)      falling until in 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

            woman were working; young married couples were buying automobiles or houses

            before starting families; rising living standards were cutting down the size of families.

 (20)      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 1960's was only nine percent), another large population

 (25)      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.

 

            11. What does the passage mainly discuss?

                (A) Educational changes in Canadian society

                (B) Canada during the Second World War

                (C) Population trends in postwar Canada

                (D) Standards of living in Canada

 

            12. According to the passage, when did Canada's baby boom begin?

                (A) In the decade after 1911

                (B) After 1945             

                (C) During the depression of the 1930's

                (D) In 1966

 

            13. The word "five" in line 3 refers to

                (A) Canadians

                (B) years

                (C) decades

                (D) marriages

 

            14. The word "surging" in line 4 is closest in meaning to

                (A) new                         (B) extra

                (C) accelerating             (D) surprising

 

 

            15. The author suggests that in Canada during the 1950's

                (A) the urban population decreased rapidly

                (B) fewer people married

                (C) economic conditions were poor

                (D) the birth rate was very high

 

            16. The word "trend" in line 11 is closest in meaning to

                (A) tendency

                (B) aim

                (C) growth

                (D) directive

 

            17. The word "peak" in line 14 is closest in meaning to

                (A) pointed

                (B) dismal

                (C) mountain

                (D) maximum

 

            18. When was the birth rate in Canada at its lowest postwar level?

                (A) 1966

                (B) 1957

                (C) 1956

                (D) 1951

 

            19. The author mentions all of the following as causes of declines in population

                growth after 1957 EXCEPT

                (A) people being better educated

                (B) people getting married earlier

                (C) better standards of living

                (D) couples buying houses

 

            20. It can be inferred from the passage that before the Industrial Revolution

                (A) families were larger

                (B) population statistics were unreliable

                (C) the population grew steadily

                (D) economic conditions were bad

 

            21. The word "It" in line 25 refers to

                (A) horizon

                (B) population wave

                (C) nine percent

                (D) first half

           

            22. The phrase "prior to" in line 26 is closest in meaning to

                (A) behind

                (B) since

                (C) during

                (D) preceding