In the past, a city’s major shopping district was in its downtown area. People could get downtown （ 1 ） easily than they could get to other parts of the city. Before the 1960s, the best way to travel in a city was by a car, a subway, a railroad, or an elevated train. All of these ran on tracks that led downtown.

    As our cities grew outward, people living far from the center of town needed a place they could drive to quickly. Driving downtown was difficulty. Finding a parking space downtown was （ 2 ） impossible . People also needed a shopping place where they could park easily.To （ 3 ） the shopping needs of people living in the suburbs, groups of businesses moved farther out, too. Today, most suburbs have large shopping centers.

    Modern and well-planned shopping centers are built on large areas of ground. They have even more space for parking than they （ 4 ） for stores. The shopping centers have many different kinds of stores. Often, the shoppers can do all their shopping in one place.

    The very large shopping centers have malls (购物街) which make shopping pleasant. The mall is an area between stores （ 5 ） for walking. Shoppers can stroll from store to store and enjoy beautiful fountains, statues, and plants.

    There are benches so that shoppers may rest. Some shopping centers have malls with roofs that protect shoppers from the weather outside.