Ⅱ．SPEED READING

  Skim or scan the following passages, and then decide on the best answer and write the corresponding letter on the ANSWER SHEET．(10 points, 1 point each)

Passage 5

Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage．

    Early in World War II，the representatives of nine European governments fled to London．Nazi Germany had conquered much of Europe and had driven these  leaders from their homelands．Representatives of the United Kingdom and the  Commonwealth nations met in London with the leaders of nine European nations．On June 1 2，1 94 1，all these nations signed a declaration pledging to work for a free world，where people could live in peace and security．This pledge，usually called the Inter-Allied Declaration, was the first step toward building the UN．

    On October 30，l 943，representatives of the United Kingdom，China，the Soviet Union, and the United States signed the Moscow Declaration on General Security．This declaration approved the idea of establishing an international organization for preserving world peace．

    From August to October 1944，representatives of the United Kingdom，China， the Soviet Union，and the United States held a series of meetings at the Dumbarton Oaks estate in Washington D．C．The four nations succeeded in drawing up a basic plan，though they could not agree on some important questions．The plan’s main feature Was a Security Council on which the United Kingdom，China, France，the Soviet Union, and the United States would be permanently

 represented．

   In February 1945，Roosevelt, Churchill，and Stalin met at Yalta in the Crimea． The three leaders announced that a conference of United Nations would open in San Francisco on April 25，1945．This conference would use the plan worked out at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference to help prepare a charter for the UN．

    Delegates from 50 nations met in San Francisco for the United Nations Conference on International Organization．The conference opened on April 25, 1945，13 days after the death of Roosevelt and 12 days before the surrender of Germany．Victory over Japan Was still four months away．

    At the conference，some major disagreements arose between the Big Three (the United Kingdom，the Soviet Union，and the United States)and the smaller, less powerful nations．The Big Three believed they could guarantee future peace only if they continued to cooperate as they had during the war．They insisted that the Charter of the United Nations should give them the power to veto actions of the Security Council．The smaller nations opposed the veto power but failed to  defeat it．

    On June 26，1945，all 50 nations present at the conference voted to accept the charter. Poland had been unable to attend but 1ater signed the charter as an original member．The charter then had to be approved by the governments of the five permanent members of the Security Council and of a majority of the other nations that signed it．It went into effect on October 24，1945，a date celebrated every year as United Nations Day．

21．The passage is mainly concerned with ______．

A．how the Security Council was built

B．how the UN Charter went into effect

C．the founding of the United Nations

D．some major disagreements in the UN conferences

22．The Moscow Declaration was signed by ______．

A．3 nations                                               B．4 nations

C．9 nations                                               D．50 nations

23．At the Dumbarton Oaks Conference．it was agreed that the permanently represented nations at the Security Council were ______．

A．the Soviet Union，the UK，the US，and China

B．the Soviet Union，the UK，the US，China，and France

C．the Soviet Union，the UK，the US，China, and Poland

D．the Soviet Union，the UK，the US，Germany, and Japan

24．The issue of veto power was heatedly discussed at the conference held in ______.

A．Yalta                                                     B．Moscow

C．Washington D．C．                               D．San Francisco

25．The UN Charter was officially effective on ______．

A．June 12，1945                                      B．April 25, 1945

C．June 26，1945                                      D．October 24，1945