Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage:
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.
Nowadays 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 vigour 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 queueing up(anonymously) 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 knit at a fancy for some commodity outside the usual stock and the grocer, a red faced figure, instantly obtains it from 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. Most of the village shopkeepers I know, at any rate, are decidedly individualist in their ways. For example, our shoemaker is a formidable figure: a thick set, irritable man whom children treat with marked respect, knowing that an ill judged word can provoke an angry eruption at any time. He stares with smouldering contempt at the pairs of cheap, mass produced shoes taken to him for repair: has it come to this, he seems to be saying, that he, a craftsman, should have to waste his skills upon such trash? But we all know he will in fact do excellent work upon them. And he makes beautiful shoes for those who can afford such luxury.
26.The writer considered the old country guide interesting because he found in it ____ .
A) the names of so many of the shops in the village around
B) the many people selling to, and doing jobs for, residents in local villages at the time it appeared
C) the variety of shops and services available in Victorian days in Britain
D) information about all the jobs there were in his own and surrounding villages at the time it appeared
27.The local grocer's shop is expanding even though ____ .
A) women spend a lot of their time there just gossiping
B) town shops are larger and rather cheaper
C) people like to shop where they are less well known
D) people get personal service in his shop
28.The writer implies that one disadvantage of town shops is that ____.
A) their prices are higher
B) people cannot telephone them
C) their staff may take less trouble to satisfy customers
D) one has to queue up in them
29.The writer appreciates the village shop because ____.
A) he welcomes competition with organized business
B) he likes the idea that a humble person can be successful
C) this is a case of individual success in a world of increasing
D) he welcomes an example of private enterprise surviving in an age of giant companies
30.What is the village shoemaker's reaction to mass produced shoes?
A) He considers they are not worth the effort of mending properly.
B) He is angry with the customers for bringing in such rubbish.
C) He despises their quality.
D) He feels exasperated because people waste their money on inferior shoes.