READING 1 Ellis Island

Ellis Island

Read the following article. Pay special attention to the words in bold. 7.1

Immigrants arrive from Europe to Ellis Island around 1880.

In the 1800s, the United States experienced the largest human migration in the history of the world. As more and more immigrants came to the United States, it soon became clear that the original processing center was too small to handle such a large number. Ellis Island, in New York Harbor, was opened on January 1, 1892, as the new processing center. When the first passengers approached Ellis Island, they saw the new Statue of Liberty, which was only six years old.

The first person to enter Ellis Island was Annie Moore, a teenager from Ireland. When she got off the ship after traveling for 12 days with her two younger brothers, reporters were waiting to interview her. After she went through the registration process, an official gave her a 10-dollar gold coin. That day, 700 immigrants passed through Ellis Island.

During the early 1900s, immigration continued to grow. The largest number of immigrants came in 1907. Approximately 1.25 million immigrants came through that year.

For 62 years, Ellis Island was the main door through which millions of immigrants entered the United States. From the time it opened in 1892 until the time it closed in 1954, Ellis Island processed 12 million immigrants. Sometimes more than 10,000 people passed through the registry room in one 24-hour period. New arrivals often waited for many hours while inspectors checked to see if they met legal and medical standards. Most did not speak English, and they were tired, hungry, and confused. Two percent (250,000 people) did not meet the requirements to enter the United States and had to return to their countries.

After it closed down, Ellis Island remained abandoned1 until 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson decided to restore2 it as a monument. Restoration of Ellis Island was finished by 1990. Visitors to this monument could see the building as it looked from 1918 to 1920. Almost two million people visited the Ellis Island monument each year until a storm damaged the building in 2012. Luckily, the exhibits did not suffer damage.

Almost half of Americans are descendants of immigrants who passed through Ellis Island many years ago.

1 abandoned: empty 2 to restore: to make something look like it did when it was new

COMPREHENSION Based on the reading, write T for true or F for false.

1. Ellis Island was the first immigrant processing center in the United States. 2. On the day Annie Moore arrived from Ireland, 700 immigrants passed through Ellis Island. 3. Ellis Island processed 12 million immigrants in 1954.