Read the followingpassage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.

A recent survey found that the two environmental issues of greatest concern to the average American are the rate at (21)______ land is being developed and places in nature are being lost, and the loss of rainforests. Almost 70 percent of the people (22)______ strongly agreed with the statement:“We have a personal responsibility to the earth to protect all plant and animal life”. In (23)______ study by the American Museum of Natural History, 70 percent of the scientists interviewed said they believe that during the next thirty years as many as one fifth of all species alive today will (24)______ extinct. A third of the respondents think as many as half of species on Earth will die out in that time. Most of the scientists agree that human (25)______ is the main cause of the problem. Factors such as expanding human settlements, logging, mining, agriculture, and pollution contribute towards destruction of ecosystems, and species extinction.

he average American are the rate at (21)______ land is being developed and places in nature are being lost, and the loss of rainforests.