Inflation is a period of rapid rises in prices. When your money buys fewer goods so that y

ou get 【C1】______ for the same amount of money as before, inflation is the problem. Sometimes people describe inflation as a time when "a dollar is not 【C2】______ a dollar anymore".

Inflation is a problem for all consumers, especially people who live on a fixed income. Retired people, for instance, cannot 【C3】______ on an increase in income as prices rise. They face serious problems in stretching their incomes to 【C4】______ their needs in time of inflation. Many retired people must cut their spending to 【C5】______ rising prices. In many cases they must stop 【C6】______ some necessary items, such as food and clothing. Even 【C7】______ working people whose incomes are going up, inflation can also be a problem. The 【C8】______ of living goes up, and they must have even more money to maintain their standard of living. When incomes do not keep 【C9】______ with rising prices, living standard goes down. People may be earning the same amount of money, but they are not living 【C10】______ because they are not able to buy as many goods and services.

Government units gather information about prices in our economy and publish it as price indexes 【C11】______ the rate of price change can be determined. A price index measures changes in prices using the price for a 【C12】______ year as the base. The base price is set 【C13】______ 100, and the other prices are reported as a 【C14】______ of the base price. A price index makes 【C15】______ possible to compare current price with that in previous years.

【C1】______

A．few

B．fewer

C．little

D．less