Directions: There are 20 blanks in the following passage. For each blank there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should choose the one that best fits into the passage. Then mark the corresponding answer on ANSWER SHEET.

The kids who grew up on ¡°Star Trek¡± can¡¯t find ª©___36___ªª way around Earth. ª¥Americans canª©___37___direct to England, but only half can find it on a map of Europe. They can fly almostª©___ 38___in the United States for a few hundred dollars, but they put New York State in 37 placed on both coasts. When they look for the United Statesª©__39___ , they spot it in China, Australia, Brazil, the Soviet Union, India and Botswana. For people who are supposed to be leaders of the__40 __world, Americans areª©___41 ___ªª dumb, according to a survey conducted for the National Geographic Society. ª¥In many school systems, geography has been mixed with historyª©___42___melted down into social studies. Social studies has been processed into ¡°teacher resource packages¡± andª©___43___of good writing, excitement, color and any ideas that ª©aren¡¯tªª simplistic, tooª©__44___and too deadening to hold students¡¯ attention.ª¥

In the last few years, evidence of America¡¯s educationalª©__45___has prompted hundreds of studies, generated basketsª©___46___legislation and moved parents into advocacy groups. But there¡¯s little to show that the trend has beenª©___47___. No matterª©___48___you try, you can¡¯t make it seem funny that many Americans say pandas come from Panama, the Summer Olympic Games were held in Vietnam orª©___49___ Iraq, and Columbus was trying to get to Europe when he bumped intoª©___ 50___.ª¤