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  3. 　　　 The Homestead Act of 1862 gave beads of families or individuals aged twenty-one or 　　　 older the right to own 160 acres

　　　 The Homestead Act of 1862 gave beads of families or individuals aged twenty-one or 　　　 older the right to own 160 acres

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问题 　　　     The Homestead Act of 1862 gave beads of families or individuals aged twenty-one or
　　　 older the right to own 160 acres of public land in the western United States after five years
　　　 of residence and improvement. This law was intended to provide land for small farmers
       and to prevent land from being bought for resale at a profit or being owned by large
(5)　   landholders. An early amendment to the act even prevented husbands and wives from
　　　 filing separate claims. The West, land reformers had assumed, would soon contain many
　　　 160-acre family farms.
　　　      They were doomed to disappointment. Most landless Americans were too poor to
　　　 become farmers even when they could obtain land without cost. The expense of moving a
(10)　  family to the ever-receding frontier exceeded the means of many, and the cost of tools,
　　　 draft animals, a wagon, a well, fencing, and of building the simplest house, might come
　　　 to $1,000---a formidable barrier. As for the industrial workers for whom the free land was
　　　 supposed to provide a "safety valve," they had neither the skills nor the inclination to
　　　 become farmers. Homesteaders usually came from districts not far removed from frontier
(15)　  conditions. And despite the intent of the law, speculators often managed to obtain large
　　　 tracts. They hired people to stake out claims, falsely swear that they had fulfilled the
　　　 conditions laid down in the law for obtaining legal title, and then deed the land over to
　　　 their employers.
　　　     Furthermore, 160 acres were not enough for raising livestock or for the kind of
(20)　  commercial agriculture that was developing west of the Mississippi. The national
　　　 government made a feeble attempt to make larger holdings available to homesteaders
　　　 by passing the Timber Culture Act of 1873, which permitted individuals to claim an
　　　 additional 160 acres if they would agree to plant a quarter of it in trees within ten years.
　　　 This law proved helpful to some farmers in the largely treeless states of Kansas,
(25)　  Nebraska, and the Dakotas. Nevertheless, fewer than 25 percent of the 245,000 who
　　　 took up land under the Act obtained final title to the property.
选项 A、How it transformed the western United States into a place of small farms
B、Why it was an improvement over previous attempts at land reform
C、Why it did not achieve its aim to provide land for small farmers
D、How it failed in the largely treeless states of Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas
答案C
解析
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