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  3. The long years of food shortage in this country have suddenly given way to apparent abundance. Stores and shops are choked with

The long years of food shortage in this country have suddenly given way to apparent abundance. Stores and shops are choked with

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问题    The long years of food shortage in this country have suddenly given way to apparent abundance. Stores and shops are choked with food. Rationing (定量供应) is virtually suspended, and overseas suppliers have been asked to hold back deliveries. Yet, instead of joy, there is widespread uneasiness and confusion. Why do food prices keep on rising, when there seems to be so much more food about? Is the abundance only temporary, or has it come to stay? Does it mean that we need to think less now about producing more food at home? No one knows what to expect.
   The recent growth of export surpluses on the world food market has certainly been unexpectedly great, partly because a strange sequence of two successful grain harvests in North America is now being followed by a third. Most of Britain’s overseas suppliers of meat, too, are offering more this year and home production has also risen.
   But the effect of all this on the food situation in this country has been made worse by a simultaneous rise in food prices, due chiefly to the gradual cutting down of government support for food. The shops are overstocked with food not only because there is more food available but also because people, frightened by high prices, are buying less of it.
   Moreover, the rise in domestic prices has come at a time when world prices have begun to fall, with the result that imported food, with the exception of grain, is often cheaper than the home-produced variety. And now grain prices, too, are falling. Consumers are beginning to ask why they, should not be enabled to benefit from this trend.
   The significance of these developments is not lost on farmers. The older generation have seen it all happen before. Despite the present price and market guarantees, farmers fear they are about to be squeezed between cheap food imports and a shrinking home market. Present production is running at 51 per cent above pre-war levels, and the government has called for an expansion to 60 per cent by 1956; but repeated Ministerial advice is carrying little weight and the expansion programme is not working very well.  
What did the future look like for Britain’s food production at the time this article was written?
选项 A、The fall in world food prices would benefit British food producers.
B、An expansion of food production was at hand.
C、British food producers would receive more government financial support.
D、It looks depressing despite government guarantees.
答案D
解析 本题是归纳推理题。从最后一段第三句可以看出，英国农民的处境不妙；被夹在廉价的进口食品和日益缩小的国内市场之间。此外，政府说话没有影响，发展计划进展不利。这一切说明前景令人沮丧。故选D。注意：最后一句中有一个成语carry weight意为“说话有分量，有影响”，例如：Because of his age his words carry weight，由于他的年龄，他说话有影响。
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