A、The island was a sandy place. B、Not many people lived on the island. C、There were a lot of pirates on the island. D、The people

The city of Singapore was not built up gradually, like most cities are, but by the development of commerce on the banks of some river, or on the crossroads of old trade routes. [22] It was simply invented one morning by a man early in the nineteenth century looking at a map. “Here”, he said to himself, “is where we must have a city, half way between India and China. This will be the great stopping place on the trade route to the Far East.” This man’s name was Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. Before the war his bronze statue used to stand in Empress Palace. He has been moved along now and, turned to stone, occupies a shady spot by the river. He was by no means the strong individual you might have expected: indeed, he was a rather vague-looking man in a long coat. Although people had once lived there, [23] the island of Singapore, when he arrived, was largely deserted except for a large quantity of rats and insects. There were also a great many human skulls and bones, [24] which had been left by local pirates. He wasted no time, however, in buying the island from its owners and then proceeded, his biographer tells us, to set up a flagpole thirty-six feet high. [25] As he stood there on that lonely beach and looked up at the flag, with the rats and insects running over his shoes, did Raffles foresee the wealth and prosperity which lay ahead for Singapore? Undoubtedly he did.
Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.
22. What do we learn about Singapore?
23. What did Raffles find when he arrived in Singapore?
24. What can we infer from the passage?
25. What did Raffles think after he bought the island?