Shopping habits in the United States have changed greatly in the last quarter of the 20th century.【C1】______in the 1900s most American towns and cities had a Main Street. Main Street was always in the heart of a town. This street was【C2】______on both sides with many【C3】______businesses. Here, shoppers walked into stores to look at all sorts of merchandise: clothing, furniture, hardware, groceries.【C4】______, some shops offered【C5】______. These shops included drugstores, restaurants, shoe-repair stores, and barber or hairdressing shops.【C6】______ in the 1950s, a change began to【C7】______. Too many automobiles had crowded into Main Street【C8】______too few parking places were【C9】______shoppers. Because the streets were crowded, merchants began to look with interest at the open spaces【C10】______the city limits. Open space is what their car-driving customers needed. And open space is what they got【C11】______the first shopping centre was built. Shopping centres, or rather malls,【C12】______as a collection of small new stores【C13】______crowded city centres.【C14】______by hundreds of free parking space, customers were drawn away from【C15】______areas to outlying malls. And the growing【C16】______of shopping centres led【C17】______to the building of bigger and better stocked stores.【C18】______the late 1970s, many shopping malls had almost developed into small cities themselves. In addition to providing the【C19】______of one-stop shopping, malls were transformed into landscaped parks,【C20】______benches, fountains, and outdoor entertainment.
单选题
【C1】
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】解析：考查词义辨析。As early as意为“同…一样早”；Early是副词，“早期”的意思；Earlier是比较级，“较早”的意思。根据语境可知，此处要表达的意思为“早期”，因此B．Early正确。