Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct word that best fits each of the numbered blanks.

     The largest lake in the western United States is the Great Salt Lake, an inland saltwater lake in northwestern Utah, just outside the state capital of Salt Lake City. Rivers and streams feed (23) ______the Great Salt Lake, but none drain out of it; this has a major influence on both the salt content and the size of the lake.

     Although the Great Salt Lake is fed by freshwater streams, it is (24) ______ saltier than the oceans of the world. The salt comes from the more than two million tons of minerals that (25) ______into the lake each year from the rivers and creeks that feed it. Sodium and chloride - the components of salt - comprise the large majority of the lake's mineral content.

     The Great Salt Lake can vary tremendously from its (26) ______size of 1,700

square miles, depending on long-term weather conditions. During periods of heavy rains, the size of the lake can swell tremendously from the huge amounts of water flowing into the lake from its feeder rivers and streams; in 1980 the lake even (27) ______a size of 2,400 square miles. During periods of dry weather, the size of the lake decreases, sometimes drastically, due to evaporation.

Rivers and streams feed (23) ______the Great Salt Lake,