Question

cars have changed our lives in many ways. when cars were ______, it was not easy to travel long distances. now, most people seem to have cars. you can hop in your car and go almost anywhere you want to, quickly and easily.

choose the word that best fills in the blank.

a bland

b intense

c sparse

d alternate

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze each option:

• "bland" means dull, not related to car availability.
• "intense" means strong, doesn't fit car context.
• "sparse" means not dense, here referring to few cars (opposite of "most people have cars" now), so it fits the context of past car scarcity affecting travel.
• "alternate" means to switch, irrelevant here.

Answer:

C. sparse