A、Crop production became increasingly specialized. B、Economic depressions lowered the prices of farm produce. C、New banking laws

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问题  
One of the most popular myths about the United States in the 19th century was that of the free and simple life of the farmers. It was said that the farmers worked hard on their own land to produce whatever their families needed. They might sometimes trade with their neighbors, but in general they could get along just fine by relying on themselves, not on commercial ties with others. This was how Thomas Jefferson idealized the farmers at the beginning of the 19th century. And at that time, this might have been close to the truth especially on the frontier. But by the mid century sweeping changes in agriculture were well underway as farmers began to specialize in raising crops such as cotton or corn or wheat. By late in the century, revolutionary advances in farm machinery have vastly increased production of specialized crops and an extensive network of railroads had linked farmers throughout the country to markets in the east. 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. Now farmers are no longer dependent just on the weather and their own effort, their lives are increasingly controlled by banks, which have the power to grant or deny loans for new machinery, and by the railroads, which set the rates for shipping their crops to the market. As businessmen, farmers now have to worry about national economic depressions and the influence of world supply and demand on, for example, the price of wheat in Kansas. By the end of the 19th century, the era of Jefferson’s independent farmer had come to a close.

选项 A、Crop production became increasingly specialized.
B、Economic depressions lowered the prices of farm produce.
C、New banking laws made it easy to buy farmland.
D、The United States increased its agricultural imports.

答案A

解析 根据原文,其主要议题是美国19世纪农业的变迁史,分析变迁原因是本文的重要组成部分,文中谈到情况变化时,在第六句说道“But by the mid century...farmers began to specialize in raising crops...”,而由此变化产生的结果则是农民“achieve a much higher standard of living but at a price”(第八句)即“农民的生活水平提高了,但也付出了代价”,这句话暗示农民生活变迁的结果就是后面提到的banks,national economic depressions等选项b和c的内容,至于选项d的内容原文并没有明确提出,因此只有选项a是正确答案。
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