You now have 5 minutes to transfer all your answers from your test booklet to ANSWERSHEET 1. This is the end of Listening Comprehension. Section II Use of English (15 minutes) Directions : Read the following text. Choose the best word or phrase for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET1. Believe it or not, airlines really are trying to do better. They promised to improve customer service last year (21) pressure from a Congress which was (22) stories of nightmare flights. So why is it that flying is getting (23) for so many passengers, (24) airlines are spending billions of dollars to improve service, (25) in new equipment such as mobile check-in stations and portable phone banks so travelers can quickly ( 26) a flight when it is delayed or canceled? The fact is that air travel has ( 27) been such an annoyance, and customer complaints to the Transportation Department doubled in 1999 (28) 1998. It seems Mother Nature would (29) people by bus this year. An unusual run of bad weather, (30) long walls of thunderstorms, has crippled airports lately and led to widespread delays and cancellations. After similar problems last summer, the FAA promised to work more closely with airlines (31) weather slowdowns-for example, FAA and airline representatives now gather at a single location in Herndon, Va. , to (32) the best way to allocate the available airspace. But even the FAA (33) the new initiative has fallen (34) of expectations, and many passengers complain that the delays seem (35). Part of the problem is overcrowded planes. (36) the strong economy, U. S. airlines are ex-pected to carry a record 665 million passengers this year, up 5 percent from last year. on (37), planes are about 76 percent full these days, also a (38)' That's good news for the Transport Department, which are profitably loading more passengers (39 )each flight, and bad news for pas sengers , (40) irritations build rapidly in tight quarters. 21. [A] under [B] below [C] beneath [D] beyond