英語六級聽力試題：
Questions 9 to 12 are based on the passage youhave just heard.
9
A.They had to work for landowners.
B.They led a self-sufficient life.
C.They had to trade for necessities.
D.They could use machines to work on land.
10
A.Farmers were more and more adept at planting crops.
B.Advanced machinery was vastly put into agricultural use.
C.Crop production decreased sharply due to economic depression.
D.Farmers went into college to study modem agricultural skills.
11
A.Weather plays the decisive part.
B.Banks and railroads dominate their life.
C.Government grants their crisis-free life.
D.Genetically modified crops are developed.
12
A.Railroads linked farmers to overseas markets.
B.Farmers now have to be concerned the way businessmen do.
C.Specialized crops brought farmers good and comfortable life.
D.President Thomas Jefferson ended farmers' free and simple life.
英語六級聽力原文：
Passage One
One of the most popular myths about the UnitedStates (9) in the nineteenth century was that of thefree and simple life of the farmer. It was said thatfarmers worked hard on their own land to producewhatever their families needed. They mightsometimes trade with neighbors; but in general they could get along just fine by relying onthemselves, 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 farmersbegan to specialize in the raising of crops such as cotton or corn or wheat. By late in thecentury, revolutionary advances in farm machinery had vastly increased production ofspecialized crops. And the extensive network of railroads had linked farmers throughout thecountry 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. Theirlives were increasingly controlled by banks, which had power to grant or deny loans for newmachinery, and by the railroads, which set the rates for shipping their crops to market. Asbusinessmen, farmers now had to worry about national economic depressions and the influenceof world supply and demand on, for example, the price of wheat in Kansas. (12) And so, bythe end of the nineteenth century, the era of Jefferson's independent farmer had come to aclose.
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?
參考答案：
【小題9】B
【小題10】B
【小題11】B
【小題12】D
習題解析：
【小題9】短文開篇提到 19 世紀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，然后解釋道農(nóng)民在他們自己的土地上辛勤工作，生產(chǎn)他們家庭所需的產(chǎn)品，他們有時可能會與鄰居進行交易，但通常都能靠自己過活，不用與他人交易，所以 19 世紀美國農(nóng)民的主要特征就是過著自給自足的生活，故選 B。
【小題10】短文中提到，19 世紀中期農(nóng)業(yè)發(fā)生了徹底的變化，因為農(nóng)民在種植農(nóng)作物方面開始變得專業(yè)化，到了 19 世紀晚期，農(nóng)業(yè)機械的革命性進步則大大提高了專一農(nóng)作物的產(chǎn)量，故選 B。
【小題11】短文中提到，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和鐵路的制約，因為銀行有權(quán)利批準或拒絕貸款給農(nóng)民去購買機器，而鐵路規(guī)定了運輸作物的費用，故選 B。
【小題12】短文末尾提到，到了 19 世紀末，關(guān)于杰斐遜總統(tǒng)獨立農(nóng)民理念的時代已經(jīng)結(jié)束了，而不是說杰斐遜總統(tǒng)結(jié)束了農(nóng)民這樣的生活方式，故選項 D 錯誤。