The whole family objected strongly when I said I was going to Europe over the Christmas holidays with a college friend of mine. Mother said that ____62____ there was going to be a family reunion, I really ____63____ to stay at home. Although I always ____64____ these occasions, nobody could persuade me to change my mind.
A week before Christmas, my friend and I flew to Madrid and then ____65____ by train through
However, in the morning ____71____ people were to be seen in the streets. To make the matter ____72____ , every shop was ____73____ up tight, even the restaurants. We searched uselessly for hours and ____74____ had to return to our hotel feeling unhappy and lonely. Our Christmas meal was a bag of fruit ____75____ my friend had ____76____ to buy the day before. Our thoughts sadly turned to home. At that moment, our families must have been wishing us a "Merry Christmas" !
62. A. while | B. since | C. unless | D. when |
63. A. forced | B. wanted | C. needed | D. ought |
64. A. disliked | B. joined | C. enjoyed | D. avoided |
65. A. wandering | B. tripped | C. traveled | D. journeying |
66. A. crowded | B. covered | C. taken | D. supplied |
67. A. off | B. along | C. away | D. around |
68.A. painted | B. burnt | C. lit | D. fired |
69. A. planned | B. offered | C. promised | D. allowed |
70. A. cards | B. gifts | C. presents | D. dinner |
71. A. many | B. no | C. friendly | D. angry |
72. A. worse | B. better | C. easier | D. harder |
73. A. filled | B. crowded | C. closed | D. opened |
74. A. usually | B. immediately | C. really | D. finally |
75. A. that | B. what | C. who | D. when |
76. A. remembered | B. regretted | C. decided | D. happened |
A. addicted B. estimate C. working D. alike E. forbidden F. fast G. grow H. noticing I. fun J. waste |
In some countries video games are ____53____ becoming a social problem. They are banned in the Philippines and Indonesia. In Japan, those who are under 15 years old are ____54____ to use the public machines at night. City elders across the United States are campaigning to restrict their numbers, while the Hong Kong government is proposing to license their operation. These video games are causing children to ____55____ their money on them. Even adults are lured into spending ____56____ hours playing them.
In Singapore, the battle of man against the machines takes place in licenced amusement centers, mostly located in shopping centers. According to one ____57____, each establishment can make between $ 250 and $1,500 a day. The schoolchildren in uniforms there are not allowed into these centers. However, one cannot help ____58____ that the majority of those who are often found in these places are youngsters. Many of them are schoolchildren who have changed out of their uniforms. Some play for the ____59____ of it, others have turned them into a form of gambling, and some are hopelessly ____60____ to them.
Now kids and adults ____61____ play these games in the privacy of their homes. Video game sets have invaded most homes. The question that must be asked is: Have they any educational value?