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  3. After 45 years of the queen’s rule, James I succeeded Elizabeth I to the Eng

After 45 years of the queen’s rule, James I succeeded Elizabeth I to the Eng

游客2023-12-25  16
问题     After 45 years of the queen’s rule, James I succeeded Elizabeth I to the English throne in 1603, at which point the English economy was struggling. The population of England was swelling, food production was insufficient, and prices were high. Despite its instability, a few industries brought reliable income to the English economy. In particular, many merchants relied on the export of cloth to continental Europe. For the first decade of James I’s reign, the cloth trade prospered and was an important source of revenue for the English. However, the king was to make a serious mistake that would eventually lead to the fall of the English cloth trade.
    In 1614, William Cockayne, an English merchant and politician, proposed that James I make a dramatic change to the way the English exported cloth. At the time, the English produced primarily unfinished cloth. This meant that they sold cloth that had not been dyed, bleached, or otherwise processed. Most often, companies in the Netherlands bought the plain cloth from England and finished it themselves. The Dutch were experts in the complex procedures and technologies required to finish cloth, and these procedures add significant value to the unfinished cloth they had purchased from England. As a result, Dutch cloth companies could sell their goods at much higher prices than the English could. Hoping to transfer these profits to English companies, Cockayne proposed that the English finish the cloth themselves to increase the value of their cloth exports. He also asked James I to establish a company, which was to function under Cockayne’s leadership, that would control and monopolize the export of finished cloth to continental Europe. The king was in need of money, and the prospect of increased revenue appealed to him. Thus, he agreed to Cockayne’s plan and, per Cockayne’s request, founded the King’s Merchant Adventurers, a company with a primary purpose of exporting finished cloth.
    However, Cockayne’s plan disrupted the previously steady English cloth trade and was ultimately ineffective for a number of reasons. First, James I’s support of Cockayne’s company created a rift between the king and many powerful English merchants, particularly the members of the unfinished cloth company called the Merchant Adventurers, which had been cast aside in favor of Cockayne’s group. Furthermore, the Dutch, who had previously been Europe’s main supplier of finished cloth, responded to English competition by refusing to purchase any English cloth products, and many other European nations did the same. In addition, merchants in other countries refused to ship English cloth or charged English business people inflated fees for shipping. The resistance from abroad was particularly damaging to the King’s Merchant Adventurers because it could not afford the ships that were necessary to transport its goods to European markets.
    In addition to the difficulties caused by its widespread unpopularity, Cockayne’s company was unable to produce quality goods. For one, Cockayne did not have the funds to acquire the machines needed to finish cloth. Moreover, English cloth makers were not experts in the finishing process and could not match the high-quality finished cloth produced by their competitors in the Netherlands. By 1617, just three years after the company was established, James I had dissolved the King’s Merchant Adventurers. [br] According to the second paragraph, William Cockayne proposed all of the following changes to the English cloth trade EXCEPT________.
选项 A、The establishment of a company that would exclusively handle the cloth trade
B、A focus on increasing the value of cloth created in England
C、The interruption of cloth supply to merchants in the Netherlands
D、A shift in the primary activities of the English cloth industry
答案 C
解析 第2段倒数第3句提到，科凯恩请求詹姆斯一世建立一家公司，能够在其领导下运作，进而控制和垄断成品布出口到欧洲大陆的市场，这对应了A项“成立一家垄断布料贸易的公司”。因此不符合题意，可排除。第2段倒数第4句提到，科凯恩为了把加工布料可赚取的利润转移国内，自己加工布料，以增加布料的出口价值，这对应了B项“专注于提高英国布料的价值”，不符合题意，也可排除。第2段提到科凯恩建议英国布业开始自己加工布料，生产成品布，这些活动都属于D项“英国布业主要活动的转变”的范畴，因此D项也不符合题意，可排除。第2段提到，科凯恩为了增加布料的出口价值，开始自己加工布料，生产成品布，但并未提到C项“对荷兰商人的布料供应中断”，因此答案为C项。
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