On December 16 in 1773, a group of Massachusetts colonists made themselves look like Mohawk Indians and boarded three British tea ships in Boston Harbor. They threw 342 chests of tea into the water.
Now known as the “Boston Tea Party”, the midnight incident was to say “no” to the Tea Act of 1773, a bill made by the British government to save the troubled British East India Company by greatly lowering its tea tax and giving it a virtual monopoly (垄断) on the American tea trade. The low tax allowed the company to sell its tea even more cheaply than that secretly shipped into America by Dutch traders. Many colonists viewed the act as yet another example of Britain's taxation tyranny (专制)．
In most American ports, the groups known as the Sons of Liberty were formed. They scared off British tea•carrying ships by threatening their captains with tarring (焦油), or worse. However, when three tea ships, the Dartmouth, the Eleanor and the Beaver, arrived in Boston Harbor and the colonists demanded that the tea be returned to England, Thomas Hutchinson, the British•appointed governor of Massachusetts, refused to permit the ships to leave. Patriot leader Samuel Adams organized the now-famous “tea party” with about 60 members of the Sons of Liberty. The British tea thrown into Boston Harbor on the night of December 16 was worth more than 700,000 dollars in today's money.
The British government, outraged by the event, made the Coercive Acts, called the “Intolerable Acts” by the colonists, in 1774.The Coercive Acts closed Boston to merchant shipping, established formal British military rule in Massachusetts, protected British officials from criminal prosecution  ( 起 诉 ) in America, and required colonists to quarter British troops. The colonists called the first
Continental Congress to consider a united American fight against the British. The first Continental Congress agreed.
On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress officially adopted the United States Declaration of Independence. Then the war between Britain and America began. In October 1781, the last major battle of the Revolution ended. In 1783, the United States formally became a free and independent nation.
28.We learn that the Tea Act of 1773     .
A. made tea very difficult to get in America B. had much negative influence on America C. was created to control other foreign traders
D. meant a very low tax was charged in America 29．Why was the group known as the Sons of Liberty formed?
A.To secretly ship tea into America to sell.
B.To rob the tea of the British businessmen.
C.To stop the British government from getting benefits.
D.To fight against a monopoly on the American tea trade. 30．What does the underlined word “outraged” in Paragraph 4 mean?
A. angered.    B. inspired.    C. beaten.    D. hurt. 31．What is this passage mainly about?
A. The importance of free trade.    B. The influence of The Tea Act of 1773.
C. The ways of tea trade in Britain history.    D. The introduction of the Boston Tea Party.
28-31BDAD