填空题

Things must be going well in the parcels business. Consumers and companies continue to flock in droves to the internet to buy and sell things. FedEx reported its busiest period ever last December, (31) it handled almost 9m packages in a single day. Online retailers also (32) new records in America. Excluding travel, some $ 82 billion was spent last year (33) things over the internet, 24% more than in 2004, (34) to comScore Networks, which tracks consumer behavior. Online sales of clothing, computer software, toys, and home and garden products were all up (35) more than 30%. (36) most of this stuff was either posted or delivered (37) parcel companies.
The boom is global, especially now that more companies are outsourcing production. It is becoming increasingly common for products to be (38) direct from factory to consumer. "The internet has had a profound effect (39) our business," says David Abney, UPS’s international president. UPS now (40) more than 14m packages worldwide every day.
It is striking that postal firms-- (41) seen as obsolete because of the (42) of the internet--are now finding salvation (43) it. People are paying more bills online and sending more e-malls (44) of letters, but most post offices are making up (45) that thanks to e-commerce. (46) four years of profits, the United States Postal Service has cleared its $11 billion of (47) .
Both post officers and express-delivery firms have (48) a range of services to help ecommerce and eBay’s traders--who listed a colossal 1.9 billion items (49) sale last year. (50) the most popular services are tracking numbers, which allow people to follow the progress of their deliveries on the internet.