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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  6
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] Which of the following best expresses the essential information in the underlined sentence in the second paragraph?
选项 A、The procedures and technologies used to create finished cloth, which were often very complex, were primarily used by Dutch workers.
B、Unfinished cloth from England was typically finished by the Dutch, who were experts in the complicated procedures that resulted in more valuable cloth.
C、Finished cloth from England was often more valuable than Dutch cloth due to the complicated processes used to treat the cloth.
D、Unfinished cloth from England lost its value because the Dutch were able to create finished cloth by using expert techniques.
答案 B
解析 第2段画线部分主要提到两个重要信息：一是荷兰人擅长加工成品布：二是加工后的布料比从英国购买的来加工的布料更有价值。因此4个选项中，B项“来自英国的未加工的布料通常是由荷兰人完成的，荷兰人擅长复杂的工艺，从而生产出更有价值的布料”最能表达画线部分的信息，故选B项。A项“制作成品布的程序和技艺通常非常复杂，主要由荷兰工人使用”只表达了第一个信息点、可排除。C项“由于处理这种布的工艺复杂，来自英国的成品布往往比荷兰的布料更有价值”画线部分并未提到英国的成品布和荷兰布料的对比，可排除。画线部分并未提到英国的未加工的布料失去了价值，因此D项 “来自英国的未加工的布料失去了它的价值，因为荷兰人能够使用专业技艺创造成品布”可排除。
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