In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list (A、B、C、

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问题 In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list (A、B、C、D、E、F、G……) to fit into each of the numbered blank. There are several extra choices, which do not fit in any of the gaps. (10 points)

    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. But there is less agreement when reasons for the rise are being discussed. Who is really responsible? 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 percent more than the farmer had received in 1959.
    (41)______. They particularly blame those who process the farm products after the products leave the farm. These include truck drivers, meat packers, manufacturers of packages and other food containers, and the owners of stores where food is sold.
    (42)______.
    Of the $1,311 family food bill in 1972, middlemen 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. But some economists claim that the middlemen’s actual profit was very low. 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 5 percent. By comparison with other members of the economic system both farmers and middlemen have profited surprisingly little from the rise in food prices.
    (43)______. 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 desert, 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. (44)______.
    Economists remind us that many modern 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. 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. (45)______.

A. 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.
B. 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.
C. Who then is actually responsible for the size of the bill a housewife must pay before she carries the food home from the store? 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.
D. "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."
E. 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?
F. 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."
G. But farmers claim that this increase was very small compared to the increase in their cost of living. Farmers tend to blame others for the sharp rise in food prices.


选项

答案E

解析 这一段讲了农民在抱怨自己收入增长慢的原因,谈到了农产品流通出去后有许多环节都使价格上涨。再看下段开头就提到了middlemen的收入增长比农民快得多。因此,在选项里找哪一句是在讲中间商的,于是可以找到答案E。
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