V. Choose the word or phrase that best fits the blank space in the following passage.
WHAT MAKES SOMETHING COLLECTABLE?
Why do some everyday objects become valuable and highly priced by collectors, (26) ______ others will always remain worthless reminders of the past? Hilary Kay, an antiques expert, suggests that to see what will be valuable in the future, one needs to look (27) ______ to the past. She gives the example of one of the most valuable objects ever brought to her for an expert opinion. It was a French clockwork toy from the (28) ______ of the century - a fashionably dressed young man smoking a cigarette- which perfectly expressed that age of wealth and leisure. The clockwork toy was then just a cheap object of after-dinner amusement, but today it is worth around 100,000 pounds.
So which objects produced today will be the collectable items of the future? According to Hilary: "You have to look at things in (29) ______ to the time you are living in and try to foresee what it will be remembered for. There are no guarantees - there will always be certain (30) ______ of luck - so it is important to buy for enjoyment rather than investment." So next time you go through the contents of your old toy box, remember: it might be just a load of old junk, or you could be sitting on a gold mine!
(27)
A.up
B.down
C.back
D.forward