单选题 During the nineteenth century, Britain's urban population increased as its rural population diminished. A historian theorizes that, rather than industrialization's being the cause, this change resulted from a series of migrations to urban areas, each occasioned by a depression in the agrarian economy. To test this hypothesis, the historian will compare economic data with population census data.
The historian's hypothesis would be most strongly supported if which of the following were found to be true?

A、 The periods of greatest growth in the industrial economy were associated with a relatively rapid decline in the rural population.
B、 The periods of greatest weakness in the agrarian economy were associated with relatively slow growth in the population as a whole.
C、 Periods when the agrarian economy was comparatively strong and the industrial economy comparatively weak were associated with a particularly rapid decline in the rural population.
D、 Periods when the agrarian and industrial economies were both strong were associated with particularly rapid growth in the urban population.
E、 (E) The periods of greatest strength in the agrarian economy were associated with relatively slow growth in the urban population.

【正确答案】 E

【答案解析】[解析] 这位历史学家认为农业经济衰退时期的农村人口向城市迁移是造成英国城市人口上升而农村人口下降的原因。(E)选项所表明的农业经济强劲时，城市人口增长相对缓慢，支持了农业经济衰退时的农村人口向城市迁移是城市人口上升的原因，因此(E)为正确答案；(A)工业人口增长与农村人口之间毫无关系；(B)和(C)与上述支持的推理相反；(D)同样无法对上面的推理做出支持。