One of the most popular myths about the United States in the nineteenth century was that of the free and simple life of the farmer.
关于美国在十九世纪的流传最广的传言之一是自由和简单的农民生活。
It was said that farmers worked hard on their own land to produce whatever their families needed.
据说农民在他们自己的土地上辛勤的劳作，生产他们家庭需要的一切。
They might sometimes trade with neighbors; but in general they could get along just fine by relying on themselves, not on commercial ties with others.
他们可能有时候同邻居交易，但通常他们能够自给自足(他们依靠他们自己生活的还好)，与他人没有商业关系。
This is how Thomas Jefferson idealized the farmer at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and, at that time, this may have been close to the truth, especially on the frontier.
这就是 Thomas Jefferson 如何理想化了的十九世纪初期的农民，并且，在那时，这也许已经接近了真相，特别是在边远地区。
But by mid-century, sweeping changes in agriculture were well under way as farmers began to specialize in the raising of crops such as cotton or corn or wheat.
但是在世纪中叶，当农民开始专门化种植农作物如：棉花或者玉米或者小麦的(产量的)时候，农业上的彻底变化已经充分开始，
By late in the century, revolutionary advances in farm machinery had vastly increased production of specialized crops.
在世纪末，农业机械上的革命性的改进，极大地增加了专业作物的产量。
And the extensive network of railroads had linked farmers throughout the country to markets in the East and even overseas.
而且广大的铁路网把全国的农民同东部的，甚至海外的市场连接了起来。
By raising and selling specialized crops, farmers could afford more and finer goods and achieve a much higher standard of living, but at a price.
通过种植和出售专门的作物，农民能够买得起更多和能好的商品，并且获得更高的生活标准，但是价钱很高。
Now, farmers were no longer dependent just on the weather and their own efforts.
现在，农民不再仅仅依靠天气和他们自己的努力。
Their lives were increasingly controlled by banks, which had power to grant or deny loans for new machinery, and by the railroads, which set the rates for shipping their crops to market.
他们的生活越来越多地受到银行的控制，(银行)有权利同意或拒绝给新机器贷款，受到铁路(的控制)，(铁路)为运输他们的作物到市场上设定价格。
As businessmen, farmers now had to worry about national economic depressions and the influence of world supply and demand on, for example, the price of wheat in Kansas.
作为商人，农民现在不得不担心国民经济萧条，以及世界的供应与需求的影响，举例来说，Kansas 的小麦价格。
And so, by the end of the nineteenth century, the era of Jefferson's independent farmer had come to a close.
因此，在十九世纪末，Jefferson 的独立的农民的时代已经终结。
中油托福网课
作者：储运学长 石油考试小助手
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