GRE-Verbal Free Dumps Study Materials
Question 3: Charles A. Lindbergh is remembered as the first person to make a nonstop solo flight across the
Atlantic,
in 1927. This feat, when Lindbergh was only twenty-five years old, assured him a lifetime of fame and
public attention. Charles Augustus Lindbergh was more interested in flying airplanes than he was in
studying. He dropped out of the University of Wisconsin after two years to earn a living performing
daredevil airplane stunts at country fairs. Two years later, he joined the United States Army so that
he
could go to the Army Air Service flight-training school. After completing his training, he was hired to
fly
mail between St. Louis and Chicago. Then came the historic flight across the Atlantic. In 1919, a New
York City hotel owner offered a prize of $25,000 to the first pilot to fly nonstop from New York to
Paris.
Nine St. Louis business leaders helped pay for the plane Lindbergh designed especially for the flight.
Lindbergh tested the plane by flying it from San Diego to New York, with an overnight stop in St.
Louis.
The flight took only 20 hours and 21 minutes, a transcontinental record. Nine days later, on May
20,1927,
Lindbergh took off from Long Island, New York, at 7:52 A. M. He landed at Paris on May 21 at 10:21 P.
M.
He had flown more than 3,600 miles in less than thirty four hours. His flight made news around the
world.
He was given awards and parades everywhere he went. He was presented with the U. S.
Congressional
Medal of Honor and the first Distinguished Flying Cross. For a long time, Lindbergh toured the world
as a
U. S. goodwill ambassador. He met his future wife, Anne Morrow, in Mexico, where her father was
the
United States ambassador. During the 1930s, Charles and Anne Lindbergh worked for various airline
companies, charting new commercial air routes. In 1931, for a major airline, they charted a new route
from
the east coast of the United States to the Orient. The shortest, most efficient route was a great curve
across Canada, over Alaska, and down to China and Japan. Most pilots familiar with the Arctic did not
believe that such a route was possible. The Lindberghs took on the task of proving that it was. They
arranged for fuel and supplies to be set out along the route. On July 29, they took off from Long
Island in a
specially equipped small seaplane. They flew by day and each night landed on a lake or a river and
camped. Near Nome, Alaska, they had their first serious emergency. Out of daylight and nearly out of
fuel,
they were forced down in a small ocean inlet. In the next morning's light, they discovered they had
landed
on barely three feet of water. On September 19, after two more emergency landings and numerous
close
calls, they landed in China with the maps for a safe airline passenger route. Even while actively
engaged
as a pioneering flier, Lindbergh was also working as an engineer.
In 1935, he and Dr. Alexis Carrel were given a patent for an artificial heart. During
World War I in the 1940s, Lindbergh served as a civilian technical advisor in aviation.
Although he was a civilian, he flew over fifty combat missions in the Pacific. In the 1950s, Lindbergh
helped design the famous 747 jet airliner. In the late 1960s, he spoke widely on conservation issues.
He
died August 1974, having lived through aviation history from the time of the first powered flight to
the first
steps on the moon and having influenced a big part of that history himself.
What did Lindbergh do before he crossed the Atlantic?
A. He charted a route to China.
B. He graduated from flight-training school.
C. He married Anne Morrow.
D. He acted as a technical advisor during World War II.
E. He was responsible for the fuel supply for planes.
Correct Answer: B