What would happen if consumers decided to simplify their lives and spend less on material goods and services This (1) is taking on a certain urgency as rates of economic growth continue to decelerate throughout the industrialized world, and (2) millions of consumers appear to be (3) for more frugal lifestyle. The Stanford Research Institute, which has done some of the most extensive work on the frugality phenomenon, (4) that nearly five million American adults number " (5) to and act on some but not all" of its basic tenets.
The frugality phenomenon first achieved prominence as a middle-class (6) of high-consumption lifestyle in the industrial world during the 50’s and 60’s. In the Silent Revolution, Ronald Ingehart of the University of Michingan’ s Institute of Social Research examined this (7) in the United States and 10 Western European nations. He concluded that a change has taken place "from an (8) emphasis on material well-being and physical security (9) greater emphasis on the quality of life", that is, "a (10) from materialism to post-materialism".
Inglehart calls the 60s the "fat year". Among their more visible trappings were the ragged blue jeans favored by the affluent young. Most of them (11) from materialism; however, this was (12) . Comfortably fixed Americans were going (13) , (14) making things last longer, sharing things with others, learning to do things for themselves and so on. But (15) economically significant, it was hardly (16) in a US Gross National Product climbing vigorously toward the ＄ 2 thousand billion mark.
(17) , as the frugality phenomenon matured--growing out of the soaring 80s and into the somber 90s--it seemed to undergo a (18) transformation. American consumers continued to lose (19) in materialism and were being joined by new converts who were (20) frugality because of the darkening economic skies they saw ahead.

4（）

A．predicts
B．discovers
C．demonstrates
D．estimates