Đề luyện đọc Tiếng Anh trình độ B1 - Đề số 2

Hurricanes generally occur in the North Atlantic from May through November, with the peak of the hurricane season in September; only rarely will they occur from December through April in that part of the ocean. The main reason for the occurrence of hurricanes during this period is that the temperature on the water’s surface is at its warmest and the humidity of the air is at its highest. Of the tropical storms that occur each year in the North Atlantic, only about five, on the average are powerful enough to be called hurricanes. To be classified as a hurricane, a tropical storm must have winds reaching speeds of at least 117 kilometers per hour, but the winds are often much than that; the winds of intense hurricanes can easily surpass 240 kilometers per hour.

The period from the late 1930s to the middle 1940s is known as the Golden Age of comic books. The modern comic book came about in the early 1930s in the United States as a giveaway premium to promote the sales of a whole range of household Products such as cereal and cleansers. The comic books, which were printed in bright colors to attract the attention of potential customers, proved so popular that some publishers decided to produce comic books that would come out on a monthly basis and would sell for a dime each. Though comic strips had been reproduced in publications prior to this time, the Famous Funnies comic book, which was started in 1934, marked the first occasion that a serialized book of comics was attempted.

Early comic books reprinted already existing comic strips and comics based on known characters; however, publishers soon began introducing original characters developed specifically for comic books. Superman was introduced in Action Comics in 1938, and Batman was introduced a year later. The tremendous success of these superhero comic books led to the development of numerous comic books on a variety of topics, though superhero comic books predominated. Astonishingly, by 1945 approximately 160 different comic books were being published in the United States each month, and 90 percent of U.S. children were said to read comic books on a regular basis.

The postage stamp has been around for only a relatively short period of time. The use of stamps for postage was first proposed in England in 1837, when Sir Rowland Hill published a pamphlet entitled “Post Office Reform: Its Importance and Practicability” to put forth the ideas that postal rates should not be based on the distance that a letter or package travels but should instead be based on the weight of the letter or package and that fees for postal Services should be collected in advance of the delivery, rather than after, through the use of postage stamps.​

The ideas proposed by Hill went into effect in England almost immediately, and other countries soon followed suit. The first English stamp, which featured a portrait of then Queen Victoria, was printed in 1840. This stamp, the “penny black”, came in sheets that needed to be separated with scissors and provided enough postage for a letter weighing 14 grams or less to any destination. In 1843, Brazil was the next nation to produce national postage stamps, and various areas in what is today Switzerland also produced postage stamps later in the same year. Postage stamps in five- and ten-cent denominations were first approved by the U.S. Congress in 1847, and by 1860 postage stamps were being issued in more than 90 governmental jurisdictions worldwide.​