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  3. 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

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

admin2010-03-26  43
问题     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.
    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 queuing up at a supermarket. And the proprietor knows well that personal service has a substantial cash value.
    His prices may be a bit higher than those in the town, but he will deliver anything at any time. His assistants think nothing of bicycling down the village street in their lunch hour to take a piece of cheese to an old age pensioner who sent her order by word of mouth with a friend who happened to be passing. The more affluent customers telephone their shopping lists and the goods are on their doorsteps within an hour. They have only to hint at a fancy for some commodity outside the usual stock and the grocer instantly obtains it for them.
    The village gains from this sort of enterprise, of course. But I also find it satisfactory because a village shop offers one of the few ways in which a modest individualist can still get along in the world without attaching himself to the big battalions of industry or commerce.
The services available in villages nowadays are normally ______.
选项 A、fewer but still very active
B、less successful than earlier but managing to survive
C、active in providing food for the village, and tourist goods
D、surprisingly energetic considering the little demand for them
答案A
解析 句子理解题。体会第二段最后一句原文之意：“Admittedly there has been a contraction of village commerce，but its vigor is still remarkable”。
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