I came across an old country guide the other day. It listed all the tradesmen in each village in my part of the country, and it was impressive to see the great variety of services which were available on one’s own doorstep in the late Victorian countryside.
Nowadays a superficial traveler in rural England might conclude that the only village tradesmen still flourishing were either selling frozen food to the inhabitants or selling antiques to visitors. Nevertheless, this would really be a false impression. Admittedly there has been a contraction of village commerce, but its vigor is still remarkable.
Our local grocer’s shop, for example, is actually expanding in spite of the competition from supermarkets in the nearest town. Women sensibly prefer to go there and exchange the local news while doing their shopping, instead of queueing up anonymously at a supermarket. And the proprietor knows well that personal service has a substantial cash value.
A. fewer but still very active
B. less successful than earlier but managing to survive
C. active in providing food for the village and tourists
D. surprisingly energetic considering the little demand for them
My family and I lived across the street from Southway Park since I was four years old. Then just last year the city put a chain link fence around the park and started bulldozing (用推土机推平) the trees and grass to make ways for a new apartment complex. When I saw the fence and bulldozers, I asked myself, "Why don’t they just leave it alone"
Looking back, I think what sentenced the park to oblivion (被遗忘) was the drought (旱灾) we had about four years ago. Up until then, Southway Park was a nice green park with plenty of trees and a public swimming pool. My friends and I rollerskated on the sidewalks, climbed the trees, and swam in the pool all the years I was growing up. The park was almost like my own yard. Then the summer I was fifteen the drought came and things changed.
There had been almost no rain at all that year. The city stopped watering the park grass. With- in a few weeks I found myself living across the street from a huge brown desert. Leaves
A. Because it was being rebuilt.
B. Because it was dangerous.
C. Because it became crowded.
D. Because it had turned into a desert.
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