Virtually every activity that entails or facilitates in-person human interaction seems to be in the midst of a total meltdown as the coronavirus (冠状病毒)outbreak erases Americans’ desire to travel. Amtrak says bookings are down 50 percent and cancelations are up 300 percent. Hotels in San Francisco are experiencing 26 rates between 70 and 80 percent. Broadway goes dark on Thursday night. Universities, now emptying their campuses, have never tried online learning on this 27 _. White-collar companies like Amazon, Apple, and the New York Times are asking employees to work from home for the 28 future.
But what happens after the coronavirus?
In some ways, the answer is: All the old normal stuff. The pandemic(大流行病)will take lives, 29 economies and destroy routines, but it will pass. Americans will never stop going to basketball games. They won’t stop going on vacation. They’ll meet to do business. No decentralizing technology so far — not telephones, not television, and not the internet — has dented that human desire to shake hands, despite technologists’ 30 to the contrary.
Yet there are real reasons to think that things will not return to the way they were last week. small 31 create small societal shifts; big ones change things for good. The New York transit strike of 1980 is 32 with prompting several long-term changes in the city, including bus and bike lanes, and women wearing sports shoes to work. The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 prompted the development of national health care in Europe.
Here and now, this might not even be a question of 33 . It’s not clear that the cruise industry will 34 . Or that public transit won’t go broke without 35 assistance. The infrastructure might not even be in place to do what we were doing in 2019.
A) credentials I) scale
B) credited J) strangle
C) cumulative K) subtle
D) disruptions L) summoned
E) federal M) survive
F) foreseeable N) vacancy
G) predictions O) wedge
H) preference
答案解析：
根据前文提到“Amtrak says bookings are down 50 percent and cancelations are up 300 percent.”(美国铁路公司称预订量下降了50%，取消量上升了300%)，可知酒店入住率低，这里说旧金山酒店经历着70%到80%的“空置率”，“vacancy”表示“空缺;空置”，符合语境，所以选N。
根据“Universities, now emptying their campuses, have never tried online learning on this...”(大学现在正在清空校园，从未在……上尝试过在线学习)，这里强调从未在这个“规模”上尝试过在线学习，“scale”表示“规模;范围”，符合文意，所以选I。
根据“White - collar companies like Amazon, Apple, and the New York Times are asking employees to work from home for the... future.”(像亚马逊、苹果和《纽约时报》这样的白领公司要求员工在……未来居家办公)，“foreseeable”表示“可预见的”，“在可预见的未来”是常见表达，所以选F。
根据空格前的 The pandemic will take lives,”和空格后的 economies and destroy routines”，可知此处需要一个与 take lives”(夺走生命)和 destroy routines”(摧毁日常)并列的、表示负面影响的动词，且形式需为动词原形。strangle economies”意为“扼杀经济”，形象地表达了疫情对经济的沉重打击，符合句意和并列结构，所以选 J。
根据“No decentralizing technology so far — not telephones, not television, and not the internet — has dented that human desire to shake hands, despite technologists’... to the contrary.”(到目前为止，没有一种分散技术——电话、电视和互联网——削弱了人们握手的欲望，尽管技术专家有……相反的情况)，这里说技术专家有“预测”相反情况，“predictions”表示“预测”，符合文意，所以选G。
根据空格后的 create small societal shifts”，可知此处需要一个名词作主语。后文提到“大的(事件)会带来永久性的改变”，与之对应，此处的“小的(事件)”应该是指“小的中断或扰乱”。disruptions”(扰乱，中断)符合语境，且与后文的 big ones”形成对比，所以选 D。
根据“The New York transit strike of 1980 is... with prompting several long - term changes in the city”(1980年纽约交通罢工被……促使了该市的一些长期变化)，“be credited with”表示“被认为是……的功劳;被归因于”，符合文意，所以选B。
后文指出，不大确定游轮行业会不会存活，也不确定公共交通会不会破产，可知，疫情后，还能不能回到过去，不是我们主观意愿决定的，而是客观实际所向，所以，选H preference (偏好，意愿)。
根据“It’s not clear that the cruise industry will...”(不清楚邮轮行业是否会……)，结合语境可知是说邮轮行业是否能“生存”下来，“survive”表示“生存;存活”，符合文意，所以选M。
根据“Or that public transit won’t go broke without... assistance.”(或者公共交通在没有……援助的情况下不会破产)，这里说公共交通需要“联邦的”援助，“federal”表示“联邦的”，符合语境，所以选E。
