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Like all quintessentially British things, gardening is a pastime that has long been in decline. From a high point of ￡5 billion

admin2011-03-11  76
问题     Like all quintessentially British things, gardening is a pastime that has long been in decline. From a high point of ￡5 billion in 2001, spending on plants, tools and garden furniture has fallen every year since then, to around ~3 billion in 2008．The arrival of economic recession only deepened the gloom: to credit-crunched consumers, shrubs and hanging baskets seemed obvious candidates for cuts.  
    Yet the latest figures from the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) suggest a bumper year for garden-related expenditure is in the making. Sales volumes were up by 21% in March and 28% in April compared with the same months a year earlier. This was not the result of deep discounting, a strategy that many other retailers have been adopting. The value of garden goods sold was 37% higher in March and 42% higher in April than a year earlier, whereas the value of all sales had increased by just 3% in April. Datamonitor, a market-research firm, reckons that gardening will continue to outperform the rest of retailing for at least the next two years.  
    Much of the good news is due to the weather, admits Tim Briercliffe, the HTA’s director of business development. Last year the vital spring months were damp and miserable; this year sunshine (and weathermen’s prediction of a hot summer) has boosted custom.  But the economic downturn itself has turned out to be as much a blessing as a curse. Gardening may be a luxury, argues Mr. Briercliffe, but it competes with other, more expensive luxuries. "People who might have otherwise booked a city break to Prague are staying at home and making the best of what they have," he maintains. According to Ipsos MORI, a pollster, three-quarters of people plan to spend at least as much on their garden this year as last.  
    Economic hardship has created a new breed of gardener too. Partly, that reflects people making the most of their enforced leisure: "We get some unemployed city types who are just filling time while looking for another job," admits a garden-centre worker near the London commuter town of Guilford. But there are more positive developments. Much of the growth in garden spending has come from the under-35s, not traditionally a green-fingered demographic. One explanation is that environmentalism and thriftiness have made growing vegetables trendy, an idea that is supported by growing shortage of allotments.  
    But there is more to it than pleasant weather and belt-tightening.  The HTA detects deeper, and darker, changes in the national psyche.  Citing research from the Future Foundation, a prognosticatory consultancy, it reckons that people are spending more time in their homes, fortifying them into havens from an unwelcoming world haunted by crime, bureaucracy and rising unemployment. The longer the downturn persists, the greener the grass may grow.
What does the "new breed of gardener" in the 4th paragraph refer to?
选项 A、Those who spend their entire time in gardening.
B、Those who go abroad to train others in gardening.
C、Those who practice gardening to fill in the time while looking for a job, and grow vegetables for their own use.
D、Those who help others with gardening.
答案C
解析 这一词组出现在第四段，紧跟该词组就说“人们正最大限度地利用他们已有的消遣方式。”(people making the most of their enforced leisure)，这也就是对于这个new breed of gardener的解释。后面再说“我们有一些失业的城市园艺师，他们一边在这里打工一边继续找工作。”(We get some unemployed city types who are just filling time while：looking for another job)。此时本段后半部分开始讨论另外的积极趋势，故可以认为该词组的释义就在前半部分，因此结合前面的分析，C项最符合题意。A、B、D选项在文中都没有相关提及。   
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