While the practice continued in some parts of the country until the 1970s, it 19 as alarm clocks became more widespread and affordable.
答案：(D) declined
decline 在此是不及物動詞「衰退、減少」：敲窗喚醒的行業隨著鬧鐘普及且價格親民而式微；remained（維持不變）與句首 While 的讓步語氣矛盾，dismissed（解僱、駁回）與 revised（修訂）都是及物動詞且語意不合。
答對率 35%。
decline 你大概只記得「婉拒」（decline an invitation）。它還有一個同樣常考的意思：當不及物動詞時是「衰退、走下坡」，用在人口、銷量、產業上：Sales have declined sharply.（銷量急遽下滑）。靠句型分辨——「接受詞的是婉拒，不接受詞的是衰退」。本句空格後面沒有受詞。
句首 While the practice continued… until the 1970s（雖然撐到七○年代）是讓步，空格後 as alarm clocks became more widespread and affordable（隨著鬧鐘普及又便宜）是原因。有讓步、有原因，中間必然是「走下坡」。
decline（衰退、走下坡）、a decline in（…的下降）、on the decline（走下坡）、decline an invitation／offer（婉拒邀請／提議）。
The modern worker rolls out of bed, groans, and turns off an alarm clock before reluctantly getting up for the day’s work. But how did people get to work on time before alarm clocks were widely used? During the second Industrial Age, people toiled at unusual hours in mines or factories and often had to get up for work early in the morning. They 16 alarm clocks because adjustable alarms had been invented by the mid-19th century. But the new device was still relatively expensive and unreliable. British workers thus relied on a human alarm clock known as a “knocker-up.”
17 sticks or pea shooters, the human alarms would tour the streets, tap on windows, or blast them with dried peas, trying to wake paying customers in time for work. Whether they wielded rods or pea shooters, knockers-up became 18 throughout the United Kingdom. Every morning, these people, often older in age, were seen in big streets and small alleys, waking up their customers professionally. They usually would not leave people’s houses until they were sure their customers were awake.
While the practice continued in some parts of the country until the 1970s, it 19 as alarm clocks became more widespread and affordable. Today, beeping alarm clocks and smartphones that play morning music are surely simpler and more convenient. However, they cannot 20 the personal attention coming from the distinctive tap of a pea shooter.