I. Read the following passage and choose the most suitable answer A, B, C, or D for each space. The well-being of America's rural people and places depends upon many things - the availability of good-paying jobs; (56) ____ to critical services such as education, health care, and communication; strong communities; and a healthy natural environment. And, (57)___ urban America is equally dependent upon these things, the challenges to well-being look very different in rural areas than in urban ...

I. Read the following passage and choose the most suitable answer A, B, C, or D for each space.

The well-being of America's rural people and places depends upon many things - the availability of good-paying jobs; (56) ____ to critical services such as education, health care, and communication; strong communities; and a healthy natural environment. And, (57)___ urban America is equally dependent upon these things, the challenges to well-being look very different in rural areas than in urban areas. Small-scale, low-density settlements (58) ___ make it more costly for communities and businesses to provide critical services. Declining jobs and income in the natural resource-based industries that many rural areas depend on (59) ____ workers in those industries to find new ways to make a living. Low-skill, low-wage rural manufacturing industries must find new ways to challenge the increasing number of (60) ___ competitors. Distance and remoteness impede many rural areas from being connected to the urban centers of economic activity. Finally, changes in the availability and use of natural resources located in rural areas (61) ___ the people who earn a living from those resources and those who (62) ___ recreational and other benefits from them.

Some rural areas have met these challenges successfully, achieved some level of prosperity, and are ready (63) ___ the challenges of the future. Others have neither met the current challenges nor positioned themselves for the future. Thus, concern for rural America is real. And, while rural America is a producer of critical goods and services, the (64) ___ goes beyond economics. Rural America is also home to a fifth of the Nation's people, keeper of natural amenities and national treasures, and safeguard of a/an (65) ____ part of American culture, tradition, and history.

The well-being of America's rural people and places depends upon many things - the availability of good-paying jobs; (56) ____ to critical services such as education, health care, and communication; strong communities; and a healthy natural environment.