As suburbs grew, businesses moved into the new areas. Large
shopping centres containing a great kind of stores changed con- (1)______
sumer patterns. The number of these centres rose from eight in (2)
the end of World War II to 3,840 in 1960. With easy parking and
convenient evening time, customers could avoid city shopping (3)______
entirely.
New highways created a better access to the suburbs and (4)______
its shops. The Highway Act of 1956 provided $ 26,000 million,
the largest public work expenditure in US history，to build (5)______
more than 64,000 kilometres of federal roads to link together all
parts of the country．
Television，consequently，had a powerful impact on social (6)______
and economic patterns．Developing in the 1930s，it was not widely (7)______
marketed until after the war．In 1946 the country had about (8)______
fewer than 17，000 TV sets．Three years later，consumers were
buying 250，000 sets a month，and by 1960 three—quarters of all
families owned at least one set．In middle of the decade，the (9)______
average family watched television four to five hours a day．
Americans of all ages grew exposed to increasingly sophisticated (10)______
advertisements for products said to be necessary for the good
life.