Britain has always been fortunate in having plentiful energy resources. A

游客2024-10-27 41

问题    Britain has always been fortunate in having plentiful energy resources.  At the end of the eighteenth century these were principally coal and, in places water power from swift-flowing streams and rivers. Coal-mining is one of the oldest and most basic of all industries. Deep mining began in Britain 300 years ago and has since been an integral part of the country’s industrial life. In coal-producing areas, other industries that could be serviced by coal grew rapidly.  Factories came into being because it was more economical to manufacture goods under one large roof, where power could be concentrated rather than in the small rooms and backyards of thousands of individual workers. Industrial complexes developed where natural resources, like coal and iron, were readily available and cheap labor flowed in as a result of declining living standards in rural areas.
   At the time this rapid industrialization had many critics but for working people there was no real choice: working long hours in factories and coal-mines seemed to promise a chance of a better life than staying in country areas where jobs were scarce and poverty and hunger were common.  In the early 1800s a group calling themselves Luddites smashed and destroyed new factory machinery in the Midlands and north. As craftsmen who traditionally worked at home, the Luddites were protesting that factory machines had robbed them of their livelihood.
   Industrialization, for all its negative social effects, did bring many economic advantages and made Britain an exceedingly rich and powerful nation. It increased the population of urban areas and expanded industrial output; it encouraged technical invention and promoted competition to improve the quality of goods and services Offered; it also led to better communication systems. Yet the successes and achievements of industrialization were founded on the exploitation of working people who were to endure long working hours for low wages and to live in inadequate housing, crowded together. [br] The British manufacturing industry developed because of ______.

选项 A、rich energy resources
B、water power
C、the declining rural economy
D、cheap labor

答案 A

解析

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