It is not surprising that people 21______ ever associate Britain with wine and ill fact it may astonish you to learn that grapes are grown in the open air in England and nearly 200,000 22______ were sold in 1975. There is nothing very new in growing grapes in Britain,23______ the climate. The Romans planted the first vines about AD 300 and 24______ a long time people always drank home-produced wines. What destroyed the English wine industry was not 25______ a change in the climate as the fact that an English King, Henry II, inherited the Bordeaux area of France as part of his dominions 26______ the twelfth century and the imported wine provided 27______ of competition. The English wine industry did not disappear, however,28______ the sixteenth century, when the monks, who had been the main producers in the meantime, had their estates taken away by Henry VIII. The new owners let the vineyards die out. But now English people, probably 29______ their memories of holidays by the Mediterranean, drink more wine than ever and the new industry is now developing 30______ a modest but consistent rate.
21.
A.hardly B.almost C.nearly D.seldom正确答案A
