Part ⅣReading Comprehension(Reading in Depth)(25 minutes)
Section A
Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.
Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage.
Shopping habits in the United States have changed greatly in the last quarter of the 20th century. Early in the 1900s most American towns and cities had a Main Street. Main Street was always the 47 of a town. This street was lined on the both sides with many 48 businesses. Here, shoppers walked into stores to look at all sorts of merchandise: clothing, furniture, hardware, groceries. In addition, some shops offered 49 . There shops included drugstores, restaurants, shoe repair stores, and barber or hairdressing shops. But in the 1950s, a change began to 50 place. Too many automobiles had crowded into Main Street while too few parking places were 51 to shoppers. Because the streets were crowded, merchants began to look with interest at the open spaces outside the city limits. Open space is what their car driving customers 52 . And open space is what they got when the first shopping centre was built. Shopping centers, or rather malls, 53 as a collection of small new stores away from crowded city centers. Attracted by hundreds of free parking space, customers were drawn away from 54 areas to outlying malls. And the growing 55 of shopping centers led in turn to the building of bigger and better stocked stores. By the late 1970s, many shopping malls had almost developed into small cities themselves. In addition to providing the 56 of the stop shopping, malls were transformed into landscaped parks, with benches, fountains, and outdoor entertainment.
[A]designed[F]convenience[K]cosmetics
[B]take[G]services[L]started
[C]heart[H]fame[M]downtown
[D]needed[I]various[N]available
[E]though[J]popularity[O]cheapness
Section A