托福阅读真题Official 46 Passage 2（七）

托福阅读真题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.

正确答案：A

题目详解

题型分类：插入句子题

题干分析：题干中有两个关键词，第一个while表示转折，第二个是it指代词。

选项分析：

插入句的前半句While it originated in the German city of Lübeck...：然而，它起源于各国的城市Lübeck，那么前一句肯定有和地点相关的信息，如此，第一个和第二个插入点符合要求。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，那么这里有个很重要的时间点1241，可以确定该句肯定插入在第一个插入点，因为前一句中说Hanseatic League起源于1159，后一句中又说在14世纪开始发展到欧洲的200多个城市。因此，插入句的时间描述1241符合历史描述逻辑，且其中的it所指代的就是The Hanseatic League。

第一个插入点选项为正确选项。

第二个插入点选项的时间逻辑不正确，与插入句的后文无法衔接。

第三个插入点选项缺少it的指代词。

第四个插入点选项缺少it的指代词。

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.

正确答案：ADF

题目详解

题型分类：文章总结题

题干分析：选择概括性的正确选项

选项分析：

A选项对应第一、二段的内容，根据原文第一段和第二段的Business procedures changed dramatically和Commercial accounting became more complex可知，A选项正确。

D选项中关于Hanseatic League的描述与第三段的表述一致，对应第3段的内容，为正确选项。

F选项对应最后一段中to relatively more urban以及which meant a higher standard of living，为正确选项。

B是对第2段Tolls on roads became high...hospices for travelers的过度理解。

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

C是对第2段最后一句的错误理解。