Over the last three decades, fast food has infiltrated every nook
and cranny of American society. An industry that began with a
handful of modest hot dog and hamburger stands in southern
California has spread to every corner of the nation, selling a broad
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range of foods wherever paying customers may be found. Fast food
is now served at restaurants and drive-throughs, at stadiums,
airports, zoos, high schools, elementary schools, and universities,
on cruise ships, trains, and airplanes, at K-Marts, Wal-Marts, gas
stations, and even at hospital cafeterias. In 1970, Americans spent
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about $6 billion on fast food; in 2001, they spent more than $110
billion. Americans now spend more money on fast food than on
higher education, personal computers, computer software, or new
cars. They spend more on fast food than on movies, books,
magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music－combined.
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Pull open the glass door, feel the rush of cool air, walk in, get on
line, study the backlit color photographs above the counter, place
your order, hand over a few dollars, watch teenagers in uniforms
pushing various buttons, and moments later take hold of a plastic
tray full of food wrapped in colored paper and cardboard. The whole
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experience of buying fast food has become so routine, so thoroughly
unexceptional and mundane, that it is now taken for granted, like
brushing your teeth or stopping for a red light. It has become a social
custom as American as a small, rectangular, hand-held, frozen, and
reheated apple pie.
Gypsies are a group of people who do not live in one place. They
are found in many parts of the world. __1__ they speak the language
of the country where they live, all gypsies share special traditions and
attitudes, a society and culture of their own. Most gypsies are __2__,
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traveling from place to place buying and selling goods. They were
also famous for fortune-telling and are still __3__ for lively music. In
contrast to other nomadic people, gypsies have adapted to modern
society. Now they move from city to city in vans and limousines __4__
in wagons and carts. They work at jobs that are part of modern
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society.