In the 1920s demand for American farm products fell, as European countries began to recover from World War I and instituted aust

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问题      In the 1920s demand for American farm products fell, as European countries began to recover from World War I and instituted austerity (紧缩) programs to reduce their imports. The result was a sharp drop in farm prices. This period was more disastrous for farmers than earlier times had been, because farmers were no longer self-sufficient. They were paying for machinery, seed, and fertilizer, and they were also buying consumer goods. The prices of the items farmers bought remained constant, while prices they received for their products fell. These developments were made worse by the Great Depression, which began in 1929 and extended throughout the 1939s.
    In 1929, under President Herbert Hoover, the Federal Farm Board was organized. It established the principle of direct interference with supply and demand, and it represented the first national commitment to provide greater economic stability for farmers. President Hoover’s successor attached even more importance to this problem. One of the first measures proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he took office in 1933 was the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which was subsequently passed by Congress. This law gave the Secretary of Agriculture the power to reduce production through voluntary agreements with farmers who were paid to take their land out of use. A deliberate scarcity of farm products was planned in an effort to raise prices. This law was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on the grounds that general taxes were being collected to pay one special group of people. However, new laws were passed immediately that achieved the same result of resting soil and providing flood-control measures, but which were based on the principle of soil conservation. The Roosevelt Administration believed that rebuilding the nation’s soil was in the national interest and was not simply a plan to help farmers at the expense of other citizens. Later the government guaranteed loans to farmers so that they could buy farm machinery, hybrid (杂交) grain, and fertilizers.  
It was claimed that the new laws passed during the Roosevelt Administration were aimed at

选项 A、reducing the cost of farming.
B、conserving soil in the long-term interest of the nation.
C、lowering the burden of farmers.
D、helping farmers without shifting the burden onto other taxpayers.

答案D

解析 第二段倒数第二句“罗斯福政府相信重建国家土地既符合国家利益,又不会在帮助农民的同时损害其他人的利益”,这正吻合 D项的表述“帮助农民的同时也不会将负担转移到其他纳税人身上”。选项B虽也似乎正确,但只是新法所能达到的客观结果,没和其产生的具体背景结合起来,与本文主题关系较疏远,所以不选。同时也可参看44题的答案解析,可以帮助理解为什么这里罗斯福政府重点强调“不会转移负担”。
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