reduce the number of hours of work which a man must do in order to earn a given standard of living. In other words，we either raise our standard of living above that necessary for comfort and happiness or we leave it at this level and work shorter hours.

　　I shall take it for granted that mankind has，by that time，chosen the latter alternative. Men will be working shorter and shorter hours in their paid employment. It follows that the housewife will also expect to be able to have more leisure in her life without lowering her standard of living. It also follows that human domestic servants will have completely ceased to exist. Yet the great majority of the housewives will wish to be relieved completely from the routine operations of the home such as scrubbing the floors or the bath of the cooker，or washing the clothes or washing up，or dusting or sweeping，or making beds.

　　By far the most logical step to relieve the housewife of routine is to provide a robot which can be trained to the requirements of a particular home and can be programmed to carry out half a dozen or more standard operation，when it is switched by the housewife.

　　1．As civilization develops in the direction of technology，________.

　　A．the basic essentials of life must be supplied

　　B．it is important to supply the basic essentials of life

　　C．it is no longer so important as it was in the past to supply all the basic essentials of life

　　D．it is not necessary to supply the basic essentials of life

　　解析：　细节理解题。由第一段的第一句"...it passes the point of supplying all the basic essentials..."可知选C。

　　答案：　C

　　2．According to the author，we are faced with________.

　　A．the choice of providing and fulfilling our needs

　　B．the choice of using technology

　　C．the choice of earning a standard of living

D．a choice between using technology to provide and fulfill needs to reduce the number of working hours