三、克漏字測驗【請依照段落上下文意，選出最適當的答案】
      There are giants in the isolated Sierra Nevada mountains of California—ancient
red giants, the last of their kind. Although they were known for centuries by Native
Americans, it wasn’t    41        the 1830s that the most-massive trees in the world,
the giant sequoias, were “discovered” by white hunters. It took another 20 years for their existence to         42         the consciousness of the general public, and roads were soon erected to make access easier. One of the first trees to gain fame, the massive “Discovery Tree,” was felled just one year after it was identified. It took five men 22 days to    43    through its 1,300-year-old trunk, and its stump was used as a dance floor. Although it was soon apparent that the lumber of these enormous organisms was inferior    44         other softwoods (the wood often would shatter when the heavy tree hit the ground), a number of old-growth trees were felled just to prove their existence, and samples were sold to museums around the world. Additionally,many loggers could not 45 the allure and prestige of felling such massive trees, and the groves began to diminish.
【題組】41.
(A) at
(B) but
(C) until
(D) for