The "standard of living" of any country means the average person’ s share of the goods and services which the country produces. A country’ s standard of living,【C1】______, depends first and【C2】______on its capacity to produce wealth. "Wealth" in this sense is not money, for we do not live on money,【C3】______on things that money can buy: "goods" such as food and clothing and "services" such as transport and【C4】______ A country’ s capacity to produce wealth depends upon many factors, most of【C5】______have an effect on one another. Wealth depends【C6】______a great extent upon a country’ s natural resources, such as coal, gold, and other minerals, water supply and so on. Some regions of the world are well【C7】______with coal and minerals, and have a fertile soil and a【C8】______climate; other regions possess perhaps only one of these things, and some regions possess none of them. The U. S. A. is one of the wealthiest regions of the world because she has vast natural resources【C9】______her borders, her soil is fertile, and her climate is【C10】______. The Sahara Desert, on the other hand, is one of the least wealthy. Next to natural resources【C11】______the ability to turn them to use. China is perhaps as well【C12】______as the U.S.A. in natural resources, but suffered for many years from civil and【C13】______wars, and for this and other reasons was unable to develop her resources.【C14】______and stable political conditions, and【C15】______from foreign invasion, enable a country to develop her resources peacefully and steadily, and to produce more wealth than another country equally well【C16】______by nature but less well ordered. Another important factor is the technical【C17】______of a country’ s people. Old countries that have, through many centuries, trained up numerous skilled craftsmen and technicians【C18】______better placed to produce wealth than countries whose workers are largely unskilled. Wealth also produces wealth. As a country becomes wealthier, its people have a large【C19】______for saving, and can put their savings into factories and machines which will help workers to【C20】______more goods in their working day.【C2】
A．foremost
B．primary
C．vital
D．principal
