評(píng)論
打印
Passage One
One of the most popular myths about the United States (9) in the nineteenth century was that of the free and simple life of the farmer. It was said that farmers worked hard on their own land to produce whatever their families needed. They might sometimes trade with neighbors; but in general they could get along just fine by relying on themselves, not on commercial ties with others.
This is how Thomas Jefferson idealized the farmer at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and, at that time, this may have been close to the truth—especially on the frontier.
(10) But by mid-century, sweeping changes in agriculture were well under way—as farmers began to specialize in the raising of crops such as cotton or corn or wheat. By late in the century, revolutionary advances in farm machinery had vastly increased production of specialized crops. And the extensive network of railroads had linked farmers throughout the country to markets in the East and even overseas. By raising and selling specialized crops, farmers could afford more and finer goods and achieve a much higher standard of living ——but at a price.
(11) Now, farmers were no longer dependent just on the weather and their own efforts. Their lives were increasingly controlled by banks, which had power to grant or deny loans for new machinery, and by the railroads, which set the rates for shipping their crops to market. As businessmen, farmers now had to worry about national economic depressions and the influence of world supply and demand on, for example, the price of wheat in Kansas. (12) And so, by the end of the nineteenth century, the era of Jefferson's independent farmer had come to a close.
9.What's the main feature of American farmers' life in the 19th century?
10.What changes had taken place in the 19th century?
11.What is the American farmers' life like in the modern time?
12.Which of the following statements is incorrect?
文章一
19世紀(jì)的美國最流行的故事之一就是關(guān)于農(nóng)民自由簡單生活的故事。據(jù)說，農(nóng)民在他們自己的土地上辛勤工作，種植家庭所需的作物。他們有時(shí)還會(huì)與鄰居進(jìn)行交易，但通常他們都能靠自己過活，不用與他人交易。
這就是19世紀(jì)初托馬斯·杰斐遜所認(rèn)為的理想的農(nóng)民生活，在那個(gè)時(shí)候，這一設(shè)想與事實(shí)相差不遠(yuǎn)，尤其是邊境地區(qū)的農(nóng)民。
但是到了19世紀(jì)中期，農(nóng)業(yè)領(lǐng)域掀起了巨大變革，農(nóng)民開始專注于種植棉花、玉米或小麥這樣的作物。到了19世紀(jì)晚期，農(nóng)業(yè)機(jī)械的革命性進(jìn)步則大大提高了專一農(nóng)作物的產(chǎn)量。而且呈網(wǎng)狀分布的鐵路將全國的農(nóng)民連接起來，他們能夠到達(dá)東部甚至是沿海地區(qū)的市場(chǎng)。通過種植和銷售專一作物，農(nóng)民能夠消費(fèi)起更多更精細(xì)的商品，生活水平也逐漸提高——但這需要付出一定的代價(jià)。
現(xiàn)在美國農(nóng)民不再依賴于天氣和自身勞作，他們的生活越來越受到銀行的制約，因?yàn)殂y行有權(quán)利批準(zhǔn)或拒絕貸款給農(nóng)民購買機(jī)器，同時(shí)，他們也受鐵路制約，因?yàn)殍F路規(guī)定了運(yùn)輸作物的費(fèi)用。作為商人，農(nóng)民們開始擔(dān)心全國的經(jīng)濟(jì)蕭條及世界供需對(duì)農(nóng)作物價(jià)格的影響，例如，堪薩斯州小麥的價(jià)格。因此，19世紀(jì)末，關(guān)于杰斐遜總統(tǒng)獨(dú)立農(nóng)民理念的時(shí)代已經(jīng)結(jié)束了。
問題9 19世紀(jì)美國農(nóng)民生活的主要特征是什么?
問題10 19世紀(jì)發(fā)生了哪些重大的變革？
問題11 當(dāng)今社會(huì)美國農(nóng)民的生活方式如何？
問題12 下列哪一句的描述是錯(cuò)誤的？
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