B

One of the most famous buildings in the United States is Carnegie Hall, the home of classical and popular music concerts in New York. Carnegie Hall is known not just for its beauty and history, but also for its amazing sound. It has been said that the hall itself is an instrument. It takes the music and makes it larger than life.

Carnegie Hall is named after Andrew Carnegie, who paid for its construction. Construction on Carnegie Hall began in 1890 and the official opening night was on May 5, 1891.

The hall was owned by the Carnegie family until 1924 when it was sold to Robert E. Simon. The building became very old and in 1960, the new owner made plans to destroy it and build an office block. Isaac Stem led a group of people who fought to save Carnegie Hall and finally, the city of New York bought it for $5 million. It was then fixed up between 1983 and 1995.

Advertisements and stories in newspapers about how Carnegie Hall needed help to recover its history led people to send in old concert programmes and information from all over the world. Over 12,000 concert programmes were received and with these it was possible to make a proper record of Carnegie Hall’s concert history.

Carnegie Hall is actually made up of several different halls, but the Main Hall, now called the Isaac Stern Hall, is the most famous. The hall itself can hold an audience of 2,804 in five levels of seating.

Because the best and most famous musicians of all time have played at Carnegie Hall, it is the dream of most musicians who want to be great to play there. This has led to a very old joke which is now part of Carnegie Hall’s history. Question: “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?” Answer: “Practise, practise, practise.”

24. It can be inferred that people wanted to save Carnegie Hall mainly because _____.

   A. it made a lot of money                  B. it was worth visiting

   C. many important concerts were held in it D. it made some musicians become famous

25. How did Carnegie Hall recover its concert history?

   A. Through newspaper reports.              B. Through old concert programmes.

   C. Through old photographs.                D. Through old joke.

26. How long did it take Carnegie Hall to be fixed up?

   A. 9 years.         B. 10 years.           C. 11 years.           D. 12 years.

27. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

   A. The History of Carnegie Hall.          

   B. The Best Musician Having Played in Carnegie Hall.

   C. A Joke about Carnegie Hall.            

   D. The Dream of Most Musicians.