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

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  49
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.
According to the text, what are the reasons for the "Renaissance" of gardening?
选项 A、Good weather, belt-tightening, economic downturn.
B、Economic downturn, good weather, lower price.
C、Government promotion, belt-tightening, credit crunching.
D、New social trend, environmentalism, economic downturn.
答案A
解析 题于是问园艺“复兴”的原因，那么注意最后一段里总结的原因：好天气、勤俭节约、国民心理变化：避风港。选项中出现的原因还有经济衰退，这是正确的；低廉的价格，文章还说明园艺相关产品的价格还会上涨，故这个应不是原因；政府推广，这在文中没有提及；环保主义，这在倒数第二段中有提及；新的社会趋势，文中并未就此论述；信贷紧缩在第一段中有提及，是原因之一。故综合来看，A项的组合最符合文意。   
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