Flowers grow everywhere in the world but when people think of tulips, they think of the Netherlands. The Dutch have a saying: “Flowers love people”. If this is true, then flowers really love the Dutch, (1) __________ flowers have been cultivated in the Netherlands for hundreds of years. (2) __________, the flower industry has been so profitable that it has been boosting the Dutch economy since the seventeenth century.
Recently, (3) __________, the Dutch flower growers have been having difficulties in coping with the tough competition from abroad. The Colombians, (4) __________, have taken the Dutch by surprise. Their flowers are now in demand all over the world (5) _________to the simple fact that they are cheaper. Within a few short years, Colombians have brought Holland’s domination of the flower industry to an end.
(6) __________ this fact, the Netherlands is still in control of over sixty per cent of the world’s flower market.
In order to help the Dutch growers, the European Commission has decided to promote the flower industry, as (7) __________ as the growers themselves are willing to cut costs and become more competitive. All this in the hope of making people buy more flowers than they used to.
Today the average Dutchman buys 150 stems a year, (8) __________the Germans buy 80 stems and English only 50 stems. These numbers are constantly declining. (9) __________ this trend is reversed, (10) __________ many Dutch growers will soon be out of business.
Reading Practice
D. Read the text below.
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