[单项选择]12 The two banks have announced plans to {{U}}merge{{/U}} next year．
A. combine
B. close
C. break
D. sell

The two banks have announced plans to merge next year．（）

Futurists have identified two changes that seem to be central to contemporary social life. First, the United States is being restructured from an industrial to an information society. Second, modem societies are increasingly shifting from a national to a global economy. Futurists have applied a good many metaphors to these changes, including Daniel Bell’s "postindustrial society," Alvin Toffler’s "the third wave" and John Naisbitt’s "megatrends". Common to these metaphors is the notion that American society is shifting from the production of goods to the production of services and from society based on the coordination of people and machines to a society organized around knowledge. These changes, it is contended, will afford a great variety of choices. The world will increasingly be one of many flavors, not just vanilla or chocolate. Many observers of contemporary American life believe that we are witnessing a historical change and
A. the instrument of production.
B. the size of the society.
C. the social structure.
D. the economic market.