The important factor in a private-enterprise economy is that individuals are allowed to own productive resources (private property) , and they are permitted to hire labor, gain control over natural resources, and produce goods and services for sale at a profit. In the American economy, the concept of private property embraces not only the ownership of productive resources but also certain rights, including the right to determine the price of a product or to make a free contract with another private individual.

　　52. The first two &sentences in the second paragraph tell us that__.

　　[A] producers can satisfy the consumers by mechanized production

　　[B] consumers can express their demands through producers

　　[C] producers decide the prices of products

　　[D] supply and demand regulate prices

　　[答案] D

　　[解题思路]

　　本题对应于第二段的开头两句话“An important factor in a market-oriented economy is the mechanism by which consumer demands can be expressed and responded to by producers. In the American economy, this mechanism is provided by a price system, a process in which prices rise and fall in response to relative demands of consumers and supplies offered by seller-producers”(市场型经济中的一个重要因素是反映消费者需求以及生产者对消费者需求作出反应的机制。在美国经济中，这一机制是由价格体制体现的，价格随消费者的相对需求与生产者的供应情况而上下浮动。如果供不应求，价格就上升，有些消费者就会被排挤出市场)，即价格机制的形成取决于供求关系，可见D选项符合原文表述。A选项中的“mechanized production”(机械化制造)是对该段第一句话中“mechanism”(机制)的误解，可以排除。B和C选项的表述都显然不符合原文的内容。

　　[题目译文]

　　第二段的前两句话告诉我们 。

　　[A] 生产者能够通过机械化的生产满足消费者

　　[B] 消费者可以通过生产者来表达他们的需求

　　[C] 生产者决定产品的价格

　　[D] 供给和需求状况规定了价格