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ENGLAND’S ECONOMY IN THE 16TH CE

游客2024-01-02  58
问题                                                 ENGLAND’S ECONOMY IN THE 16TH CENTURY
    (1) In the last half of the 16th century England emerged as a commercial and manufacturing power in Europe due to a combination of demographic, agricultural and industrial factors. The population of England and Wales grew rapidly from about 2.5 million in the 1520s to more than 3.5 million in 1580, reaching about 4.5 million in 1610. Reduced mortality rates and increased fertility, the latter probably generated by expanding work opportunities in manufacturing and farming (leading to earlier marriage and more children), explained this rapid rise in population. While epidemics and plague occasionally took their toll, the people in England still suffered less than did those in continental Europe. Furthermore, the country had been pulled out of the war that occurred in France and central Europe during the same period.
    (2) England provides the prominent example of the expansion of agricultural production well before the general European agricultural revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. A larger population stimulated the increased woolens through crop civilization. English agriculture became more efficient and market-oriented than almost anywhere else on the continent. Between 1450 and 1640 the yield of grain per acre increased by at least 30%. In sharp contrast with fanning in Spain, English land owners brought more dense marshes and woodlands into cultivation.
    (3) The great land estates of the English society largely remained intact and many wealthy land owners aggressively increased the size of their holdings, a precondition for increased productivity. Marriages between the children of landowners also increased the size of land estates. Primogeniture (the full inheritance of land by the eldest son) helped prevent land from being subdivided. Younger sons of independent land owners left the family and went to find other respective locations. Larger farms contributed more to commercialized farming at the time when an expanding population pushed up demand and prices. Farmland owners turned part of their land into pasture land for sheep in order to adapt to developing woolen trade.
    (4) Some of the great land owners as well as Yeomen (farmers whose holdings and security of land tenure guaranteed their prosperity and status), organized their holdings in the interests of efficiency. Many farmers selected crops for sales in growing London market. In their quest for greater profits, many land owners put their squeeze on their tenants. Between 1580 and 1620 land lords raised rents and altered conditions of land tenure in their favor, preferring shorter phases and forcing tenants to pay an entry fee before agreeing to rent them land. Landlords evicted those who could not afford annual, more onerous terms. But they also pushed tenants toward more productive farming methods, including crop rotation.
    (5) England’s exceptional economic development also drew the country’s natural resources, including iron, timber, and coal, extracted in far greater quantity than elsewhere in the continent. New industrial development expanded the production of iron and pewter in and around the city of Birmingham.
    (6) But above all textile manufacturing transformed English economy. Woolens, which accounted for 80% of the exports, worsted (sturdy yarn spun from combed wool fibers), and other cloth found eager buyers in England as well as in the continent. Moreover, late in the 16th century as English merchants began making forays across the Atlantic these textiles were also sold in the Americas. Cloth manufacturers undercut production by urban craftspeople by "putting out" work to the villages and farms of the countryside. In such domestic industry poor rural women could spin and make carding (combing fibers in preparation for spin) in their homes.
    (7) The English textile trade was closely tied to Antwerp, in the Spanish Netherlands, where workers dyed English cloth. [A] The entrepreneur Sir Thomas Gresham became England’s representative there. [B] He so enhanced the reputation of English business in that region that English merchants could operate on credit—the most prominent achievement for the 16th century. [C] He also advised the government to explore the economic possibilities of Americas, which led to the first concerted efforts at colonization, undertaken with commercial profits in mind. [D] [br] Look at the four squares [ ■ ] that indicate where the following sentence can be added to the passage.
In addition to this achievement in Antwerp, Gresham convinced the government at home in England to authorize actions that would make trading in the rest of Europe even more profitable for English merchants.
Where would the sentence best fit?
选项
答案 C
解析 本题为插入句子题，需要插入的句子意为“除r在安特卫普取得的成就外，格雷沙姆还说服了英格兰政府批准了一些商业活动，这些活动能使英格兰商人在欧洲其他地区的贸易中谋取更多的利润”。 In addition to this achievement in Antwerp表明，插入句之前应该会描述关于安特卫普的信息，且之后会转而描述其他对象。第7段前三句都是关于安特卫普的信息，而插入句及第7段第4句都提到格雷沙姆与政府的联系，故C处应该插入句子来衔接第7段第3、4句。A处还未提及句子中的人物(格雷沙姆)，而插入句的内容说明这个人物在前文出现过了，故不选A处。B处前一句先提到格雷沙姆这个人，接着后一句又说他做了什么，逻辑紧密，故不宜插入句子。若插入D处，则与本段最后一句的顺序颠倒，不合逻辑。
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