托福阅读考试真题练习之16世纪的英国经济

托福阅读作为托福考试中的一个部分，积累的大量的素材和托福词汇是十分重要的，托福阅读的高分炼成离不开托福考试真题的训练，本文小编将为同学们带来托福阅读考试真题练习之16世纪的英国经济的内容，希望同学们能够在托福考试中考出理想的成绩！

正文

In the last half of the sixteenth 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 population. While epidemics rise in plague and 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.

在十六世纪的后半期，由于人口因素，农业和工业因素的综合作用，英国成为欧洲的商业和制造业强国。 英格兰和威尔士的人口从1520年的约250万增长到1580年的350多万，在1610年达到约450万。降低死亡率和提高生育率，后者可能是通过扩大制造业和农业工作机会导致早婚和更多的孩子)，解释了人口的迅速增长。虽然瘟疫引起疫情上升，偶尔也会造成伤害，但英国人民受到的伤害仍然比欧洲大陆人民更少。此外，英国在同一时期已经从法国和中欧发生的战争中退出。

England provides the prominent example of the expansion of agricultural production well before the general European agricultural revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A larger population stimulated the increased woollen through crop civilization. English agriculture became more efficient and market-oriented than almost anywhere else the continent.Between 1450 and 1640 the yield of grain per acre increased by the least thirty percent. In sharp contrast with farming in Spain, English land owners brought more dense marshes and woodlands into cultivation.

英格兰在十八世纪和十九世纪的欧洲农业革命之前就提供了农业生产扩张的突出例子。更多的人口通过农业文明促进了羊毛的产量。英国农业比大陆其他地区更加高效和以市场为导向。

1450年至1640年间，每英亩谷物产量增加了至少30%。与西班牙的农业形成鲜明对比的是，英国的土地所有者将种植带到了更密集的沼泽和林地。

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 locations. Larger contributed more commercialized farming at the time when an expanding population pushed up demand and prices. Farmland owners turned part of their land into pastureland for sheep in order to adapt to developing woollen trade.

英国社会的大型土地资产基本上保持完好，许多富裕的地主积极增加其所持有的土地面积，这是提高生产力的先决条件。 土地所有者子女之间的婚姻也增加了土地的规模。 长子继承(长子对土地的完全继承)有助于防止土地被细分。年轻的独立土地所有者的儿子离开了家庭并迁往了继承区。当越来越多的人口推高需求和价格时，商品农业贡献也越来越大。地主将其部分土地变成羊地牧场，以适应发展羊毛贸易。

Some of the great land owners as well as Yeomen (farmers whose holdings and and status), organized security of land tenure guaranteed their prosperity their holdings in the interest 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.

一些大地主和Yeomen(拥有土地和地位的农民)组织土地使用权保障，保证他们的持续获利。许多农民在伦敦市场上选择了作物进行销售。为了获得更多的利润，许多地主对租户进行打压。在1580年至1620年之间，地主提出租金和改变土地使用权的条件，以减少阶段，迫使租户同意在租用土地之前支付入场费。地主们驱逐那些无法承受年度收费或更加繁重条款的人。但他们也推动租户采用包括轮作在内的更有效的耕作方式。

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. But above all textile manufacturing transformed English economy. Woolens, which accounted for eighty percent of the exports, worsteds (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 sixteenth 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 cading (combing fibers in preparation for spin) in their homes.

英国特殊的经济发展也引起了该国的自然资源的开采，包括铁，木材和煤炭，这些资源的开采量远远超过欧洲其他地区。新的工业发展扩大了伯明翰市内和周围的铁和锡的生产。但最重要的是纺织品制造改变了英国经济。占出口百分之八十的毛纺织品(精梳羊毛纤维纺制的坚固纱线)以及其他布料在英格兰和非洲大陆都有发现。此外，十六世纪末期，随着英国商人开始在大西洋上运输这些纺织品，这些纺织品也在美洲销售。城市手工业者通过向农村的农村和农场“推销”工作，使布厂商减产。在这样的家庭工业中，贫穷的农村妇女可以在家中纺纱并制作皮毛(梳理纤维以备纺纱)。

The English textile trade was closely tied to Antwerp, in the Spanish Netherlands,where workers dyed English cloth. The entrepreneur Sir Thomas Gresham became England's representative there. He so enhanced the reputation of English business in that region that English merchants could operate on credit---the most prominent achievement for sixteenth century. 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.

英国纺织品贸易与荷兰西班牙的安特卫普紧密相连，工人们在这里染制英国布。企业家托马斯·格雷沙姆爵士成为英格兰的代表。他提高了该地区英国商业的声誉，使英国商人能够以信贷的方式运作--这是十六世纪最显著的成就。他还在考虑到了商业利益的基础上对政府探索美洲的经济可能性提出建议，这最终促成了殖民化的首次共同努力。

题目

Para.1

1. The word “generated” is closest in meaning to

A. produced

B. strengthened

C. followed

D. dominated

2. The word “Furthermore” is closest in meaning to

A. However

B. In addition

C. Similarly

D. In general

Para.3

3. The phrase "conducive to" in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. a result of

B. favorable to

C. able to

D. expanded to

Para.4

4. The word “quest” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. organization

B. exchange

C. search

D. argument

Para.5

5. The word “exceptional” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. predictable

B. initial

C. extraordinary

D. complex

Answer

1. A

2. B

3. B

4. C

5. C

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