Choose the word or phrase (A, B, C or D) that best fits the blank space in the following passage:
THE PERFORMING ARTS
In the past, British children were frequently encouraged to try out their performing skills for the benefit of adults. They did this by reading aloud, acting or (31) _______ a musical instrument. As they grew up they were taken to public places of entertainment - the theatre, opera, circus or ballet. They looked forward to these (32) _______ with great excitement and would remember and discuss what they had seen for many weeks afterwards. But nowadays television and computers supply an endless stream of easily (33) _______ entertainment, and children quickly accept these marvelous inventions as a very ordinary part of their everyday lives. For many children, the sense of witnessing a very (34) _______ live performance is gone forever. But all is not lost. The presence of a TV set may have encouraged a very lazy response from (35) _______ in their own homes, but the desire of those with ambitions to become performing artists themselves does not seem to have been at all diminished. And live performances in public are still relatively popular, albeit with an older, more specialist audience.
Question 31:
