D. Use the word given in the bracket to form a word that fits the gap in the passage. (1.0 pt)

In Britain, what is described as “food miles”, the distance which food is transported from the place where it is grown to its point of sale, continues to rise. This has major economic, social and environmental consequences, given the traffic congestion and pollution which (67.variable) ____________________________ follow.

According to (68. press) ____________________________ groups, the same amount of food is travelling 50 per cent further than twenty years ago. What’s more, the rise in the demand for road haulage over this period has mostly been due to the transport of food and drink. The groups assert that the increase in the number of lorry journeys is (69. exceed) ____________________________ and that many of these are far from (70. essence) ____________________________ .

In the distribution systems employed by British food (71. retail) ____________________________ , fleets of lorries bring all goods into more (72. centre) ____________________________located warehouses for redistribution across the country.

(73. Logic) ____________________________ as this might appear, the situation whereby some goods get sent back to the same areas from which they came is (74. avoid) ____________________________ .

In response to scathing (75. critic) ____________________________ from environmentalists, some food distributors now aim to minimize the impact of food miles by routing vehicles, wherever possible, on motorways after dark. This encourages greater energy (76. efficient) ____________________________ whilst also reducing the impact on the residential areas through which they would otherwise pass.