TPO46阅读文本及答案解析

TPO46阅读文本2.The Commercial Revolution in Medieval Europe

Beginning in the 1160s, the opening of new silver mines in northernEurope 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 whoalone handled virtually all aspects of exchange evolved into an operationinvoh/ing three separate types of merchants: the sedentary merchant who ran the"home office," financing and organizing the firm’s entire export-importtrade; the carriers who transported goods by land and sea; and the companyagents resident in cities abroad who, on the advice of the home office, lookedafter sales and procurements.

Commercial correspondence, unnecessary when one businesspersonoversaw everything and made direct bargains with buyers and sellers,multiplied. Regular courier service among commercial cities began. Commercialaccounting became more complex when firms had to deal with shareholders,manufacturers, customers, branch offices, employees, and competing firms. Tollson 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 innsand hospices for travelers. The growth of mutual trust among merchantsfacilitated the growth of sales on credit and led to new developments infinance, such as the bill of exchange, a device that made the long, slow, andvery dangerous shipment of coins unnecessary.

The ventures of the German Hanseatic League illustrate theseadvancements. The Hanseatic League was a mercantile association of Europeantowns dating from 1159. The league grew by the end of the fourteenth century toinclude about 200 cities from Holland to Poland. Across regular, well- definedtrade routes along the Baltic and North seas, the ships of league citiescarried furs, wax, copper, fish, grain, timber, and wine. These goods wereexchanged for finished products, mainly cloth and salt, from western cities. Atcities such as Bruges and London, Hanseatic merchants secured special tradingconcessions, exempting them from all tolls and allowing them to trade at localfairs. Hanseatic merchants established foreign trading centers, the most famousof which was the London Steelyard, a walled community with warehouses, offices,a church, and residential quarters for company representatives. By the latethirteenth century, Hanseatic merchants had developed an important businesstechnique, the business register. Merchants publicly recorded their debts andcontracts and received a league guarantee for them. This device proved adecisive factor in the later development of credit and commerce in northernEurope.

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

The commercial revolution also provided the opportunity forthousands of agricultural workers to improve their social position. The slowbut steady transformation of European society from almost completely rural andisolated to relatively more urban constituted the greatest effect of thecommercial revolution that began in the eleventh century. Even so, merchantsand business people did not run medieval communities, except in central andnorthern Italy and in the county of Flanders. Most towns remained small. Thenobility and churchmen determined the predominant social attitudes, values, andpatterns of thought and behavior. The commercial changes of the elevenththrough fourteenth centuries did however, lay the economic foundation for thedevelopment of urban life and culture.

1. According to paragraph 1, one effect of the increased use of cashwas that

O      an individual merchantno longer performed all aspects of trading operations

O      a company's home officedeclined in importance

O      merchants no longer hadto transport their goods to distant places

O      the volume of tradedeclined in areas lacking silver mines

2. The word “radically”， in the passage isclosest in meaning to

O fundamentally

O quickly

O unexpectedly

O gradually

3. The word oversaw" in the passage is closest In meaning to

O understood

O included

O delivered

O supervised

4. According to paragraph 2, which of the following was NOT aneffect of the change in business procedures?

O An increase in credit sales

O The use of courier services between cities

O The adoption of simpler accounting procedures

O The improvement of roads

5. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essentialinformation in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices changethe meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

O Credit sales and bills of exchange were devices that merchantsdeveloped in order to increase their mutual trust.

O Merchants developed ways to finance their sales without having torely on slow and dangerous shipments of coins.

O Greater trust among merchants led to an increase in credit salesand to the use of bills of exchange that made the shipping of coinsunnecessary.

O Merchants began to trust one another when it became too slow anddangerous for a single merchant to ship coins.

6. According to paragraph 3, Hanseatic merchants benefited by all ofthe following EXCEPT

O the use of trading centers in distant cities

O a new system of recording commercial transactions

O the opening of overland trade routes across northern Europe

O access to markets in about 200 cities

7. The word "decisive" in the passage is closest inmeaning to

O probable

O determining

O helpful

O limiting

8. Why does the author provide the information in paragraph 4 thatthe commercial classes never exceeded 10 percent of the population?

O To argue that the wealth created by the commercial revolutionbenefited only a small number of people

O To challenge the view that the commercial classes made up a majorityof the population of Europe

O To suggest a reason that the commercial revolution ended around A.D. 1300

O To emphasize the point that the commercial revolution was broughtabout by a small part of the population

9. According to paragraph 4, which of the following was associatedwith the rise of modem states?

O Increased wealth for the ruling classes

O The weakening of the aristocracy

O The decline of the middle class

O A reduction in taxes

10. The word "alliances" in the passage is closest in meaningto

O transactions

O communications

O partnerships

O conflicts

11. According to paragraph 5, the most important result of thecommercial revolution was to

O simplify the organization of European society

O provide employment to agricultural workers

O encourage merchants to become community leaders

O change Europe from a rural to a more urban society

12. Paragraph 5 supports which of the following inferences about thecommercial revolution between ad 1000 and 1300?

O      It had very littleimpact on social attitudes and values.

O      It brought about majorpolitical changes throughout Europe.

O      It lessened theinfluence of the church.

O      It increased thepopulation of small towns.

13. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where thefollowing sentence could be added to the passage.

While It originated in the German city of Liibeck, it began toexpand in 1241 when Liibeck entered into a mutual protection treaty with thecity of Hamburg.

Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square [■] toadd the sentence to the passage.

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

Drag your answer choices to the spaces where they belong To removean answer choice, click on it

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During the High Middle Ages (A.D. 1000-1300), Europe underwent acommercial revolution.

Answer Choices

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

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

The increasing importance of commercial trade led to a decline inthe influence of traditional sources of power, such as kings and churchleaders.

The mining of silver improved the security of commercialtransactions by allowing coins to replace credit and bills of exchange as themeans of exchange.

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

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