填空题
Directions: In the following
text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions (41-45), choose the most
suitable one from the list A-G to fit into each of the numbered blank. There are
two extra choices, which do not fit in any of the gaps.
In 1959 the average American family paid $ 989 for a year's
supply of food. In 1972 the family paid $1,311.That was a price increase of
nearly one-third. Every family has had this sort of experience. Everyone agrees
that the cost of feeding a family has risen sharply. 41.______.
Many blame the farmers who produce the vegetables, fruit, meat,
eggs, and cheese that stores offer for sale. According to the U. S. Department
of Agriculture, the farmer's share of the $1,311 spent by the family in 1972 was
$ 521.This was 31 per cent more than the farmer had received in 1959.
But farmers claim that this increase was very
small compared to the increase in their cost of living. 42.______These include
truck drivers, meat packers, manufacturers of packages and other food
containers, and the owners of stores where food is sold. They are among the
"middlemen" who stand between the farmer and the people who buy and eat the
food. Are middlemen the ones to blame for rising food prices?
Of the $1,311 family food bill in 1972, middlement received $ 790,
which was 33 percent more than they had received in 1959.It appears that the
middlemen's profit has increased more than farmer's. 43.According to economists
at the First National City Bank, the profit for meat packers and food stores
amounted to less than one percent. During the same period all other
manufacturers were making a profit of more than five percent. By comparison with
other members of the economic system both farmers and middlemen have profited
surprisingly little from the rise in food prices.
44.______The economists at First National City Bank have an answer to give
housewives, but many people will not like it. These economists blame the
housewife herself for the jump in food prices. They say that food costs more now
because women don't want to spend much time in the kitchen. Women prefer to buy
food which has already been prepared before it reaches the market.
Vegetables and chicken cost more when they have
been cut into pieces by someone other than the one who buys it. A family should
expect to pay more when several "TV dinners" are taken home from the store.
These are fully cooked meals, consisting of meat, vegetables, and sometimes
dessert, all arranged on a metal dish. The dish is put into the oven and heated
while the housewife is doing something else. Such a convenience costs money. 45.
Economists remind us that many modem housewives
have jobs outside the home. They earn money that helps to pay the family food
bills. The housewife naturally has less time and energy for cooking after a
day's work. She wants to buy many kinds of food that can be put on her family's
table easily and quickly. "If the housewife wants all of these, " the economists
say, "that is her privilege, but she must be prepared to pay for the services of
those who make her work easier. "
It appears that
the answer to the question of rising prices is not a simple one. Producers,
consumers, and middlemen all share the responsibility for the sharp rise in food
costs.
[A] However, some economists believe that controls
can have negative effects over a long period of time. In cities with rent
control, the city government sets the maximum rent that a landlord can charge
for an apartment.
[B] Farmers tend to blame others for the
sharp rise in food prices. They particularly blame those who process the
farm products after the products leave the farm.
[C] Thus, as
economists point out: "Some of the basic reasons for widening food price
spreads are easily traceable to the increasing use of convenience foods,
which transfer much of the time and work of meal preparation from the kitchen to
the food processor's plant. "
[D] But some economists claim
that the middleman's actual profit was very low.
[E] Who
then is actually responsible for the size of the bill a housewife must pay
before she carries the food home from the store'?
[F] But
there is less agreement when reasons for the rise are being discussed. Who is
really responsible?
[G] Economists do not. agree on some
of the predictions. They also do not agree on the value of different
decisions. Some economists support a particular decision while others
criticize it.