托福阅读真题Official 49 Passage 3（四）

托福阅读真题Official 49 Passage 3（四）

Background for the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution had several roots,one of which was a commercial revolution that,beginning as far back as the sixteenth century,accompanied Europe’s expansion overseas.Both exports and imports showed spectacular growth,particularly in England and France.An increasingly larger portion of the stepped-up commercial activity was the result of trade with overseas colonies.Imports included a variety of new beverages,spices,and foodstuffs.At the same time,a growing export market took European textiles,hardware,firearms,ships,and ships’goods around the world and brought money flowing back.Europe’s economic institutions,particularly those in England,were strong,had wealth available for new investment,and seemed almost to be waiting for some technological breakthrough that would expand their profit-making potential even more.

That breakthrough came in Great Britain,where several economic advantages created a climate especially favorable to the encouragement of new technology.One was its geographic location at the crossroads of international trade.Internally,Britain was endowed with easily navigable natural waterways,which helped its trade and communication with the world.Beginning in the 1770’s,it enjoyed a boom in canal building,which helped make its domestic markets more accessible.Because water transportation was the cheapest means of carrying goods to market,canals reduced prices and thus increased consumer demand.Great Britain also had rich deposits of coal that fed the factories springing up in industrial areas and iron ore that provided the raw material for the manufacture of railroad equipment,tools,and a variety of industrial and consumer goods.

Another advantage was Britain’s large population of rural,agricultural wage earners,as well as cottage workers1,who had the potential of being more mobile than peasants of some other countries.Eventually they found their way to the cities or mining communities and provided the human power upon which the Industrial Revolution was built.The British people were also consumers;the absence of internal tariffs,such as those that existed in France or Italy or between the German states,made Britain the largest free-trade area in Europe.Britain’s relatively stable government also helped create an atmosphere conducive to industrial progress.

Great Britain’s better-developed banking and credit system also helped speed the industrial process,as did the fact that it was the home of an impressive array of entrepreneurs and inventors.Among them were a large number of nonconformists whose religious principles encouraged thrift and industry rather than luxurious living and who tended to pour their profits back into their businesses,thus providing the basis for continued expansion.

A precursor to the Industrial Revolution was a revolution in agricultural techniques.Ideas about agricultural reform developed first in Holland,where as early as the mid-seventeenth century,such modern methods as crop rotation,heavy fertilization,and diversification were all in use.Dutch peasant farmers were known throughout Europe for their agricultural innovations,but as British markets and opportunities grew,the English quickly learned from them.As early as the seventeenth century the Dutch were helping them drain marshes and fens where,with the help of advanced techniques,they grew new crops.By the mid-eighteenth century new agricultural methods as well as selective breeding of livestock had caught on throughout the country.

Much of the increased production was consumed by Great Britain`s burgeoning population.At the same time,people were moving to the city,partly because of the enclosure movement;that is,the fencing of common fields and pastures in order to provide more compact,efficient privately held agricultural parcels that would produce more goods and greater profits.In the sixteenth century enclosures were usually used for creating sheep pastures,but by the eighteenth century new farming techniques made it advantageous for large landowners to seek enclosures in order to improve agricultural production.Between 1714 and 1820 over 6 million acres of English land were enclosed.As a result,many small,independent farmers were forced to sell out simply because they could not compete.Non-landholding peasants and cottage workers,who worked for wages and grazed cows or pigs on the village common,were also hurt when the common was no longer available.It was such people who began to flock to the cities seeking employment and who found work in the factories that would transform the nation and,the world.

Question 7 of 14

Why does the author mention Dutch farming methods in paragraph 5?

A.To emphasize that Great Britain was not the only country capable of rapid agricultural progress

B.To demonstrate British resourcefulness in adopting economically profitable agricultural reforms

C.To give an example of a European country with a powerful peasant workforce

D.To suggest that the Dutch agricultural system was influenced by British farming methods

正确答案：B

题目详解

题型分类：修辞目的题

题干分析：本题考查本段段意。根据关键词Dutch farming method可以定位到：“Dutch peasant farmers were known throughout Europe for their agricultural innovations,but as British markets and opportunities grew,the English quickly learned from them.”大意是说荷兰的农民因为他们的农业创新在欧洲广为人知，然后随着英国的市场和机会的发展，英国人很快就向他们学习了。本段的段意就是英国人学习了农业科技，推进了工业革命。

选项分析：

B选项：和定位句的内容以及整段主旨一致，正确。

A选项：本段段意并非证明英国不是唯一的，属于无中生有。

C选项：本段主旨不是说荷兰的农民强大，而是说英国学习了荷兰，推进了工业革命，故错误。

D选项：和原文的“the English quickly learned from them”相悖，是英国学荷兰。

Question 8 of 14

The word“consumed”in the passage is closest in meaning to

A.wasted

B.grown

C.stored

D.eaten

正确答案：D

题目详解

题型分类：词汇题

选项分析：

Much of the increased production was consumed by Great Britain’s burgeoning population.译为：增长的产量的大部分被英国增长的人口所消耗掉了。consumed，消耗。

D选项：吃，消耗，正确；

A选项：浪费；

B选项：生长；

C选项：储存。

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