We often see hitchhikers（搭便车的人）, standing by the side of the road, thumb sticking out, waiting for a lift. But it is getting          nowadays. What killed hitchhiking?             is often mentioned as a reason. Movies about murderous hitchhikers and real-life crime            many drivers off picking up hitchhikers.             no single women picked me up on my journey to Manchester            reflects the safety fear:            , strangely dressed man is seen as dangerous.
But the reason may be           complex: hitchhiking happens where people don’t have cars and transport services are           . Plenty of people          hitchhike in Poland and Romania. Perhaps the rising level of car ownership in the UK means the few people lift hitchhiking are usually considered strange. Why can’t they          cars? Why can’t they take the coach or the train?
Three-quarters of the UK population have             a car; many of the             will be quite old. The potential hitchhiking population is therefore small.         my trip proves it’s still possible to hitchhike. The people who picked me up were very interesting lawyer, retired surgeon, tank commander, carpenter, man who live in an isolated farmhouse and a couple             in the mountains. My conclusion is that only really interesting people are mad enough to pick up fat blokes(家伙) in red, spotted scarves. Most just wanted to do someone a good turn; a few said they were so surprised to see a hitchhiker that they couldn’t help         .
The future of hitchhiking most           lies with car-sharing organized over the Internet, via sites such as hitchhikers. org. But for now, you can still stick your thumb out (actually, I didn’t do much of that,            just to hold up my destination sign) and people—wonderful, caring, sharing, unafraid people—will stop.
In the UK, with its cheap          and reasonable rail service, I don’t think I’ll make a habit of it. But having enjoyed it so much, I’m ready now to do a big trip              Europe and beyond. In the 1970s a female friend of my wife’s hitchhiked to India. How wonderful it would be to have another go,           Afghanistan might be a challenge. I wish I’d got that tank commander’s mobile number.

A．valuable B．hardly C．rare D．little

A．Fear B．Safety C．Allowance D．Expense

A．has put B．had been put C．has been put D．have put

A．What B．Which C．Whether D．That

A．no more B．no need C．no reason D．no doubt

A．a short B．a clumsy C．a small D．a large

A．most B．more C．very D．much

A．poor B．heavy C．busy D．convenient

A．seldom B．always C．still D．never

A．afford B．offer C．affect D．offend

A．effect to B．effect on C．access in D．access to

A．remain B．rest C．pedestrians D．citizens

A．While B．When C．Yet D．Though

A．living up B．lived down C．was living up D．was living down

A．stopping B．but stop C．stop D．stopped

A．likely B．certainly C．positively D．actively

A．pretending B．preparing C．preferring D．defending

A．vehicles B．coaches C．cars D．helicopters

A．across B．through C．for D．over

A．as B．though C．because D．when