The firstnavigational lights in the New World wereprobably lighthouses hung at harbor en-trances.The first lighthouse was put upby the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1716

on Little Brew-sterIsland at the entrance to Boston Harbor. Paid for andmaintained by“light dues”levied（征收）on ships,the original beacon wasblown up in 1776 .Until

then there were onlya dozen or so true lighthouses in the colonies.Little over a centurylater,there were 700 lighthouses.

The first eightlighthouses erected on the West Coast in the 1850s featured the same basic NewEngland design:a Cape Cod dwelling with thetower rising from the center or

standing close by.In New England andelsewhere,though,lighthouses reflected a variety of architectural styles.

Since most stationsin the Northeast were set up on rocky eminences（高处）,enormous towers were not the rule .Some were made ofstone and brick,others of wood or

metal.Some stood onpilings or stilts;some were fastened to rock with iron rods.Farther south,from Maryland through the Florida Keys,thecoast was low and sandy.It was

often necessary tobuild tall towers theremassive structures like the majestic lighthouse in Cape Hatteras,North Carolina,which was lit in 1870.190 feet high,it isthe tallest

brick lighthouse inthe country.

Not withstandingdifferences in construction appearance,most lighthouses in America shared several features:alight,living quarters,and sometimes a bell(or,later,a

foghorn).They alsohad something else in common:a keeper and usually the keeper's family.Thekeeper's essential task was trimming the lantern wick（灯芯）in order to

maintain asteady,bright flame. The earliest keepers came from every walk of life,theywere seamen,farmers,mechanics,rough mill hands and appointments were oftenhanded

out by local customscommissioners as political plums.

After theadministration of lighthouse was taken over in 1 852 by the United StatesLighthouse

Board,and agency ofthe Treasury Department,the keeper corps gradually became highly professional.We can know fromthe passage that the coast of North Carolina is______.

A.rocky eminences

B. high and flat

C. low and sandy

D. high and sandy