As suburbs grew, business moved into the new areas. Large
shopping centers containing a great kind of stores changed consumer (56) ______
patterns. The number of these centers rose from eight in the (57) ______
end of World Warn to 3,840 in 1960. With easy parking and
convenience evening hours, customers could avoid city shopping (58) ______
entirely. New highways created a better access to the suburbs and (59) ______
its shops. The Highway Act of 1956 provided $ 26,000 million,
the largest public work expenditure in US history; to build (60) ______
more than 64,000 kilometers of federal roads to link together all
parts of the country.
Television, in addition, had a powerful impact in social (61) ______
and economic patterns. Developing in the 1930s, it was not widely (62) ______
marketed until after the war. In 1946 the country had about (63) ______
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 (64) ______
average family watched television four to five hours a day.
Americans of all ages grew exposed to increasingly sophisticated (65) ______
advertisements for products said to be necessary for the good life.