Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D 0n the ANSWER SHEET.
For some time now, nobody seems to have a solution for inflation. Not one that is 【A1】 _____ to everybody. But 【A2】 _____ the administration of President Ford he 【A3】 _____ one on national television. He used the phrase, “to bite the bullet.” The words were not new, but they spread 【A4】 _____ the country.
Mr. Ford called 【A5】 _____ Americans “to bite the bullet” and make personal sacrifices (牺牲). This, he said, would help to 【A6】 _____ inflation.
He urged them to eat less, use less gasoline, to spend less and save more. He appealed 【A7】 _____ them to do whatever was 【A8】 _____ to fight inflation, no matter how unpleasant. Such is the meaning of “to bite the bullet”—to do something quickly, 【A9】 _____ no further delay, no matter how 【A10】 _____ the action may be.
But what does biting the bullet have to do 【A11】 _____ all this? A reasonable question. This is the explanation: 【A12】 _____ we all know, people 【A13】 _____ great pain sometimes tighten their fists, or clench their teeth, or bite down hard on a 【A14】 _____. It seems to ease their pain. Years ago, 【A15】 _____ the battlefield, one did not 【A16】 _____ pain- killing drugs. And it is said that during 【A17】 _____ operations, soldiers would bite a bullet, to ease their suffering.
This old phrase came 【A18】 _____ to life in the 1960’s. Former president Nixon used it in 1968. He asked congress “to bite the bullet” and 【A19】_____ his proposal for a tax increase, a ten percent surcharge (额外费) 【A】20 _____ income taxes.