首页
登录
职称英语
In the eighteenth century, Japan’s feudal overlords, from the shogun (幕府时代的将
In the eighteenth century, Japan’s feudal overlords, from the shogun (幕府时代的将
游客
2025-04-28
46
管理
问题
In the eighteenth century, Japan’s feudal overlords, from the shogun (幕府时代的将军) to the humblest samurai (武士), found themselves under financial stress. In part, this stress can be attributed to the overlords’ failure to adjust to rapidly expanding economy. But the stress was also due to factors beyond the overlords’ control. Concentration of the samurai in castle towns had acted as a stimulus to trade. Commercial efficiency, in turn, had put temptations in the way of buyers. Since most samurai had been reduced to idleness by years of peace, encouraged to engage in scholarship and martial exercises or to perform administrative tasks that took little time, it is not surprising that their tastes and habits grew expensive. Overlords’ income , despite the increase in rice production among their tenant framers, failed to keep pace with their expenses. Although shortfalls in overlords’ income resulted almost as much from laxity among their tax collectors (the nearly inevitable outcome of hereditary office-holding) as form their higher standards of living, a misfortune like a fire or flood, bringing an increase in expenses or a drop in revenue, could put a domain in debt to the city rice-brokers who handled its finances. Once in debt, neither the individual samurai nor the shogun himself found it easy to recover.
It was difficult for individual samurai overlords to increase their income because the amount of rice that farmers could be made to pay in taxes was not unlimited, and since the income of Japan’s central government consisted in part of taxes collected by the shogun from his huge domain, the government too was constrained. Therefore, the Tokugawa shoguns began to look to other sources for revenue. Cash profits from government-owned mines were mines already on the decline because the most easily worked deposits of silver and gold had been exhausted, although debasement of the coinage had compensated for the loss. Opening up new farmland was a possibility, but most of what was suitable had already been exploited and further reclamation was technically unfeasible. Direct taxation of the samurai themselves would be politically dangerous. This left the shoguns only commerce as a potential source of government income.
Most of the country’s wealth, or so it seemed, was finding its way into the hands of city merchants. It appeared reasonable that they should contribute part of that revenue to ease the shogun’s burden of financing the state. A means of obtaining such revenue was soon found by levying forced loans, known as goyo-kin; although these high in yield. Unfortunately, they pushed up prices. Thus, regrettably, the Tokugawa shoguns’ search for solvency for the government made it increasingly difficult for individual Japanese who lived on fixed stipends to make ends meet [br] The word "this" in the last sentence of paragraph 2 refers to______.
选项
A、the difficulty to increasing government income by other means
B、the importance of commerce in feudal Japan
C、the search of Japan’s Tokugawa shoguns for solvency
D、the unfairness of the tax structure in eighteenth-century Japan
答案
A
解析
原文第二段指出“the Tokugawa shoguns began to look to other sources for revenue”,并且列举了“Cash profits from government-owned mines”“Opening up new farmland”“Direct taxation”三种可能取得收入的来源,最后总结说“This left the shoguns only commerce as a potential source of government income”,这使德川将军成为政府收入的潜在商业来源。综上可知,“this”指代的是以其他方式增加政府收入的困难。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/4056826.html
相关试题推荐
Bythefirstdecadeofthe21stcentury,internationalcommercialairtrafficis
PeopleintheUnitedStatesinthenineteenthcenturywerehauntedbythepr
PeopleintheUnitedStatesinthenineteenthcenturywerehauntedbythepr
The19th-centuryBritishAristocracyTheBritisharistocracy
The19th-centuryBritishAristocracyTheBritisharistocracy
Intheflintdecadesofthetwentiethcentury,theindividualgemcouldnotbes
Beforethemid-nineteenthcentury,peopleintheUnitedStateeatmostfoods
Beforethemid-nineteenthcentury,peopleintheUnitedStateeatmostfoods
Intheeighteenthcentury,Japan’sfeudaloverlords,fromtheshogun(幕府时代的将
Intheeighteenthcentury,Japan’sfeudaloverlords,fromtheshogun(幕府时代的将
随机试题
Blindphotographysoundsstrange.Butastriking【B1】______ofphotographsin
某单位数据中心对外提供云计算服务,可以使个人或企业用户使用其数据中心的服务器、磁
女性,27岁,停经53天,近1周腹痛、阴道出血,尿妊娠试验阴性。超声检查显示(彩
计算沥青针入度指数,需要用到下面那些数值()。A.P(25℃,100g,5s)
债券质押式回购的托管人结算业务模式下,结算参与人(托管人)对于需重点关注和管理的
出现呼吸音增强的疾病是A.重症肌无力 B.贫血 C.胸膜炎 D.膈
在自发消费为正数的线性消费函数中,平均消费倾向( )。A.大于边际消费倾向
在祖国的山山水水间,有这么一群人。他们或俯首案前,呕心沥血研究民间文化;或献身舞
空心胶囊的主要囊材是A.淀粉 B.蔗糖 C.糊精 D.明胶 E.阿拉伯胶
某物流公司承揽了4项货物运输任务,其任务分别是:一是从上海到赞比亚(非洲)的50
最新回复
(
0
)