托福閱讀真題Official 46 Passage 2（七）

托福閱讀真題Official 46 Passage 2（七）

The Commercial Revolution in Medieval Europe

Beginning in the 1160s,the opening of new silver mines in northern Europe led to the minting and circulation of vast quantities of silver coins.The widespread use of cash greatly increased the volume of international trade.Business procedures changed radically.The individual traveling merchant who alone handled virtually all aspects of exchange evolved into an operation involving three separate types of merchants:the sedentary merchant who ran the“home office,”financing and organizing the firm’s entire export-import trade;the carriers who transported goods by land and sea;and the company agents resident in cities abroad who,on the advice of the home office,looked after sales and procurements.

Commercial correspondence,unnecessary when one businessperson oversaw everything and made direct bargains with buyers and sellers,multiplied.Regular courier service among commercial cities began.Commercial accounting became more complex when firms had to deal with shareholders,manufacturers,customers,branch offices,employees,and competing firms.Tolls on roads became high enough to finance what has been called a road revolution,involving new surfaces and bridges,new passes through the Alps,and new inns and hospices for travelers.The growth of mutual trust among merchants facilitated the growth of sales on credit and led to new developments in finance,such as the bill of exchange,a device that made the long,slow,and very dangerous shipment of coins unnecessary.

The ventures of the German Hanseatic League illustrate these advancements.The Hanseatic League was a mercantile association of European towns dating from 1159.The league grew by the end of the fourteenth century to include about 200 cities from Holland to Poland.Across regular,well-defined trade routes along the Baltic and North seas,the ships of league cities carried furs,wax,copper,fish,grain,timber,and wine.These goods were exchanged for finished products,mainly cloth and salt,from western cities.At cities such as Bruges and London,Hanseatic merchants secured special trading concessions,exempting them from all tolls and allowing them to trade at local fairs.Hanseatic merchants established foreign trading centers,the most famous of which was the London Steelyard,a walled community with warehouses,offices,a church,and residential quarters for company representatives.By the late thirteenth century,Hanseatic merchants had developed an important business technique,the business register.Merchants publicly recorded their debts and contracts and received a league guarantee for them.This device proved a decisive factor in the later development of credit and commerce in northern Europe.

These developments added up to what one modern scholar has called“a commercial revolution.”In the long run,the commercial revolution of the High Middle Ages(A.D.1000–1300)brought about radical change in European society.One remarkable aspect of this change was that the commercial classes constituted a small part of the total population—never more than 10 percent.They exercised an influence far in excess of their numbers.The commercial revolution created a great deal of new wealth,which meant a higher standard of living.The existence of wealth did not escape the attention of kings and other rulers.Wealth could be taxed,and through taxation,kings could create strong and centralized states.In the years to come,alliances with the middle classes were to enable kings to weaken aristocratic interests and build the states that came to be called modern.

The commercial revolution also provided the opportunity for thousands of agricultural workers to improve their social position.The slow but steady transformation of European society from almost completely rural and isolated to relatively more urban constituted the greatest effect of the commercial revolution that began in the eleventh century.Even so,merchants and business people did not run medieval communities,except in central and northern Italy and in the county of Flanders.Most towns remained small.The nobility and churchmen determined the predominant social attitudes,values,and patterns of thought and behavior.The commercial changes of the eleventh through fourteenth centuries did,however,lay the economic foundation for the development of urban life and culture.

Question 13 of 14

Look at the four squares[■]that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.While it originated in the German city of Lübeck,it began to expand in 1241 when Lübeck entered into a mutual protection treaty with the city of Hamburg.Where would the sentence best fit?Click on a square[■]to add the sentence to the passage.

正確答案：A

題目詳解

題型分類：插入句子題

題干分析：題干中有兩個關鍵詞，第一個while表示轉折，第二個是it指代詞。

選項分析：

插入句的前半句While it originated in the German city of Lübeck...：然而，它起源于各國的城市Lübeck，那么前一句肯定有和地點相關的信息，如此，第一個和第二個插入點符合要求。再看插入句子的后半句it began to expand in 1241 when Lübeck entered into a mutual protection treaty with the city of Hamburg，那么這里有個很重要的時間點1241，可以確定該句肯定插入在第一個插入點，因為前一句中說Hanseatic League起源于1159，后一句中又說在14世紀開始發(fā)展到歐洲的200多個城市。因此，插入句的時間描述1241符合歷史描述邏輯，且其中的it所指代的就是The Hanseatic League。

第一個插入點選項為正確選項。

第二個插入點選項的時間邏輯不正確，與插入句的后文無法銜接。

第三個插入點選項缺少it的指代詞。

第四個插入點選項缺少it的指代詞。

Question 14 of 14

Directions:An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below.Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage.Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage.This question is worth 2 points.

During the High Middle Ages(A.D.1000–1300),Europe underwent a commercial revolution.

Answer Choices:

A.

Merchants adopted new accounting and trading procedures to make long-distance trading more efficient.

B.

The mining of silver improved the security of commercial transactions by allowing coins to replace credit and bills of exchange as the means of exchange.

C.

The faster transportation made possible by improved roads expanded the variety of goods that could be brought to European towns from far away.

D.

The Hanseatic League was an association of European towns that obtained shipping,trading,and financial benefits for its members.

E.

The increasing importance of commercial trade led to a decline in the influence of traditional sources of power,such as kings and church leaders.

F.

European society became increasingly urban,with better living conditions and a stronger centralized government.

正確答案：ADF

題目詳解

題型分類：文章總結題

題干分析：選擇概括性的正確選項

選項分析：

A選項對應第一、二段的內容，根據(jù)原文第一段和第二段的Business procedures changed dramatically和Commercial accounting became more complex可知，A選項正確。

D選項中關于Hanseatic League的描述與第三段的表述一致，對應第3段的內容，為正確選項。

F選項對應最后一段中to relatively more urban以及which meant a higher standard of living，為正確選項。

B是對第2段Tolls on roads became high...hospices for travelers的過度理解。

E與第4段中的kings could create strong and centralized states不符。

C是對第2段最后一句的錯誤理解。

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