专业八级改错练习 第83期

Traditionally, the American farmer has always been
independent and hard-working. In the eighteenth century farmers
were quite self-sufficient. The farm family grew and made almost
nothing it needed. The surplus crop would be sold to buy a new __1__
items in the local general store.
In 1860, because some of the farm population had moved to __2__
the city, yet eighty percent of the American population was still in
the country. In the late nineteen century, farm work and life __3__
were not much changed from that they had been in old days. The __4__
farmer aroused at dawn or before and had much work to do, with __5__
his own muscles like his chief source of power. He used axes, __6__
spades and other complicated tools. In his house cooking was done __7__
in wood-burning stoves, and the kerosene lamp was the only
improvement on the candle. The family's recreation and social life
chiefly consisted a drive in the wagon to the nearby small town or __8__
village to transact some business as well as to chat with neighbors
who had also come to town.
The children attended a small elementary school (often of
just one room) to that they had to walk every day, possibly for a __9__
few miles. The school term was short so that the children could
not help on the farm. Although the whole family worked, and life __10__
was not easy, farmers as a class were self-reliant and independent.