1.   British Telecom also has connections and a prior track record with European regulators that could smooth the road for Worldcom-MCI or GTE-MCI.

2.   Buildings have been painted, flowers planted, roads smoothed, beaches cleaned, turf laid, all smooth and green and watered, restoring forgotten glories.

3.   But it is far from clear that the folks who make the rules will do their part in smoothing the road back to rapid growth.

4.   Her charge is to smooth the road for others behind her.

5.   Many adoptees face a more complicated struggle in the formation of identity than do other children, and having same-race parents can smooth the road.

6.   More than that, the victory smoothed a road that had been full of financial ruts.

7.   Mounds of gravel, apparently brought to smooth the road, stand unused.