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TOEFL Readings 14
The modern comic strip started out as ammunition in a newspaper war between
giants of the American press in the late nineteenth century. The first full-color comic
strip appeared January 1894 in the New York World, owned by Joseph Pulitzer. The
Line first regular weekly full-color comic supplement, similar to today's Sunday funnies,
(5) appeared two years later, in William Randolph Hearst's rival New York paper, the
Morning Journal.
Both were immensely popular, and publishers realized that supplementing the news
with comic relief boosted the sale of papers. The Morning Journal started another
feature in 1896, the "Yellow Kid," the first continuous comic character in the United
(10) States, whose creator, Richard Outcault, had been lured away from the World by the
ambitious Hearst. The "Yellow Kid" was in many ways a pioneer. Its comic dialogue
was the strictly urban farce that came to characterize later strips, and it introduced the
speech ballon inside the strip, usually placed above the characters' heads.
The first strip to incorporate all the elements of later comics was Rudolph Dirks's
(15) "Katzenjammer Kids," based on Wilhelm Busch's Max and Moritz, a European satire
of the nineteenth century. The "Kids" strip, first published in 1897, served as the
prototype for future American strips. It contained not only speech balloons, but a
continuous cast of characters, and was divided into small regular panels that did away
with the larger panoramic scenes of most earlier comics.
(20) Newspaper syndication played a major role in spreading the popularity of comic
strips throughout the country. Though weekly colored comics came first, daily black-
and-white strips were not far behind. The first appeared in the Chicago American in
1904. It was followed by many imitators, and by 1915 black-and-white comic strips
had become a staple of daily newspapers around the country.
31. What does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) A comparison of two popular comic strips
(B) The differences between early and modern comic strips
(C) The effects of newspapers on comic strip stories
(D) Features of early comic strips in the United States
32. Why does the author mention Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Heart?
(A) They established New York's first newspaper.
(B) They published comic strips about the newspaper war.
(C) Their comic strips are still published today.
(D) They owned major competitive newspapers.
33. The passage suggests that comic strips were popular for which of the
following reasons?
(A) They provided a break from serious news stories.
(B) Readers enjoyed the unusual drawings.
(C) Readers could identify with the characters
(D) They were about real-life situations.
34. To say that Richard Outcault had been“lured away from”the World by
Heart (line10) means which of the following?
(A) Hearst convinced Outcault to leave the World.
(B) Hearst fired Outcault from the World.
(C) Hearst warned Outcault not to leave the World.
(D) Hearst wanted Outcault to work for the World.
35. The word “it”in line 12 refers to
(A) The“Yellow Kid”
(B) dialogue
(C) farce
(D) balloon
36. According to the passage, the “Yellow Kid” was the first comic strip
to do all of the following EXCEPT
(A) feature the same character in each episode
(B) include dialogue inside a balloon
(C) appear in a Chicago newspaper
(D) characterize city life in a humorous way
37. The word “incorporate”in line 14 is closest in meaning to
(A) affect
(B) create
(C) combine
(D) mention
38. The word “prototype”in line 17 is closest in meaning to
(A) story
(B) humor
(C) drawing
(D) model
39. The word “staple”in line 24 is closest in meaning to
(A) regular feature
(B) popular edition
(C) new version
(D) huge success
40. In what order does the author discuss various comic strips in the passage?
(A) In alphabetical order by title
(B) In the order in which they were created
(C) According to the newspaper in which they appeared
(D) From most popular to least popular