Directions： For each numbered blank in the following passage there are four choices marked A, B, C and D listed below. Choose the best answer and mark your answer on the ANSWER SHEET.

The problem of caring for the weak and sick members of society has existed from the very earliest times. But the idea is a new one in the history of man.

The Greek, for instance, had _ 31 _ public institutions for the sick. Some of their doctors maintained surgeries where they could carry on their work, but they were very small, and only one patient could be treated _ 32 _ . The Romans, in times of war, established infirmaries, _ 33 _ were used to treat sick and injured soldiers. Later on, infirmaries were founded in the larger cities and were _ 34 _ out of public funds.

_ 35 _ , the Roman influence was responsible for the establishment of hospitals. 36 Christianity grew, the care of the sick became the duty of the Church. During the Middle Ages monasteries and convents provided most of the hospitals Monks and nuns were the nurses.

The custom of making pilgrimages to religious shrines also helped advance the _ 37 _ of hospitals. These pilgrimages were often long, and the travelers had to stop _ 38 _ at small inns along the road. These inns were called hospital, or guest houses, from the Latin word hopes, meaning a guest”. The inns connected with the monasteries _ 39 _ themselves to caring for travelers who were ill or lame or weary. In this way the name “hospital” became connected with _ 40 _ for the afflicted.

Since living conditions during the Middle Ages were not very comfortable or hygienic, the hospitals of those days were _ 41 _ clean or orderly. In fact, many _ 42 _ hospital would put two or more patients in the same bed!

During the seventeenth century, there was a general _ 43 _ living conditions. People began to feel that it was the duty of the state to care for its ailing citizens. But it wasn’t _ 44 _ the eighteenth century that public hospitals became general in the larger towns of England. Soon, the idea of public hospitals began to _ 45 _ and they appeared all over Europe.