VI
The universal symbol of the Internet era communications, the @sign used in email addresses to signify the word ‘at’, is (36)_____ a 500-year-old invention of Italian merchants, a Rome academic has revealed. Giorgio Stabile, a science professor at La Sapienza University, (37)_______ to have stumbled on the earliest known example of the symbol’s use, as a(n) (38)_______ of a measure of weight of volume. He says the sign represents an amphora, a measure of (39)_______ based on the terracotta jars used to transport grain and liquid in the ancient Mediterranean world.
The professor (40)_______ the ancient symbol in the course of research for a visual history of the 20th century, to be published by the Treccani Encylopedia. The first (41)______ instance of its use, he says, occurred in a letter written by a Florentine merchant on May 4, 1536. He says the sign made its (42) _______ along trade routes to northern Europe, where it came to represent ‘at the price of’, its contemporary (43)_______.
Professor Stabile believes that Italian banks may possess even earlier documents (44)______ the symbol lying forgotten in their archives. ‘The oldest example could be of great value. It could be used (45)________ publicity purposes and to enhance the prestige of the institution that owned it’, he says. The race is on between the mercantile world and the banking world to see who has the oldest documentation of @.

36. A. actually B. truly C. essentially D. accurately
37. A. says B. states C. claims D. tells
38. A. proof B. sign C. evidence D. indication
39. A. ability B. capacity C. capability D. facility
40. A. exposed B. unearthed C. dug D. uncovered
41. A. known B. knowing C. knowable D. knowledgeable
42. A. line B. means C. way D. method
43. A. sense B. importance C. meaning D. understanding
44. A. taking B. carrying C. delivering D. bearing
45. A. on B. for C. with D. by