It 16 that people in different parts of the world invented umbrellas at different times.
答案：(A) seems
【句型】It seems that... 是固定句型，表示「看起來、似乎」。likes 文法上不能接 that 子句，looks 通常接 like 或形容詞，maybe 是副詞不能當句子主要動詞。
本題大考中心未公布逐題答對率，以下不談數據，只談觀念。
四個選項的中文都能說成「看起來、似乎」，光比意思分不出來。這一格要看的是句子的形狀：主詞是一個空空的 it，後面接一個 that 子句。
先看結構：It ___ that people in different parts of the world invented umbrellas at different times.主詞是 it，但這個 it 不指前面任何一樣東西——它是虛主詞，真正的主詞是後面由 that 引導的那個名詞子句（世界各地的人在不同時期各自發明了雨傘）。因為真正的主詞太長，英文習慣先用 it 占住主詞的位置，把內容擺到後面去。這種虛主詞句構有一組固定的成員，答案就在其中：It seems that ...（似乎……）、It turns out that ...（結果發現……，89 年第 26 題考過）、It happens that ...（碰巧……）、It appears that ...（看起來……）。本句要說的是「看來世界各地的人是各自發明了雨傘」，填 seems。
looks：look 要表示「看起來似乎」時，後面得接 like 或 as if（It looks like it will rain.），不直接接 that 子句。likes：意思是「喜歡」，語意不通，也不走這個句構。maybe：是副詞「也許」，不是動詞，填進去句子就沒有動詞了。
It seems that …（似乎……）、It turns out that …（結果發現……）、It appears that …（看起來……）、It looks like …（看起來像……）、seem to V（似乎……）、in different parts of the world（在世界各地）。
The umbrella is not a new invention. The Chinese 11 umbrellas in the eleventh century B.C. 12 China they traveled to India, Persia, and Egypt. But in Greece and Rome, men 13 use them. They believed umbrellas were 14 for women. When the Spanish explorers went to Mexico, they saw the Aztec kings 15 umbrellas. English explorers found out that Indian princes also carried umbrellas on the east coast of North America. It 16 that people in different parts of the world invented umbrellas at different times.
England was probably the first country in Europe 17 ordinary people used umbrellas 18 the rain. England has a rainy climate, and umbrellas are very useful there. The umbrella is now a very ordinary 19 . Everybody uses it today. It keeps the rain and the sun off people. Some umbrellas fold up, 20 it is easy to carry them.