首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Increasingly, historians are blaming diseases imported from the Old World for the staggering disparity between the indigenous po
Increasingly, historians are blaming diseases imported from the Old World for the staggering disparity between the indigenous po
admin
2019-02-01
24
问题
Increasingly, historians are blaming diseases imported from the Old World for the staggering disparity between the indigenous population of America in 1492—new estimates of which soar as high as 100 million, or approximately one-sixth of the human race at that time—and the few million full-blooded Native Americans alive at the end of the nineteenth century. There is no doubt that chronic disease was an important factor in the precipitous decline, and it is highly probable that the greatest killer was epidemic dis- ease, especially as manifested in virgin-soil epidemics.
Virgin-soil epidemics are those in which the populations at risk have had no previous contact with the diseases that strike them and are therefore immunologically almost defenselass. That virgin-soil epidemics were important in American history is strongly indicated by evidence that a number of dangerous maladies—small pox, measles, malaria, yellow fever, and undoubtedly several more—were unknown in the pre-Columbian New World. The effects of their sudden introduction are demonstrated in the early chronicles of America, which contain reports of horrendous epidemics and steep population declines, confirmed in many cases by recent quantitative analyses of Spanish tribute records and other sources. The evidence provided by the documents of British and French colonies is not as definitive because the conquerors of those areas did not establish permanent settlements and begin to keep continuous records until the seventeenth century, by which time the worst epidemics had probably already taken place. Furthermore, the British tended to drive the native populations away, rather than enslaving them as the Spaniards did, so that the epidemics of British America occurred beyond the range of colonists’ direct observation.
Even so, the surviving records of North America do contain references to deadly epidemics among the indigenous population. In 1616-1619 an epidemic, possibly of bubonic or pneumonic plague, swept coastal New England, killing as many as nine out of ten. During the 1630’ s smallpox, the disease most fatal to the Native American people, eliminated half the population of the Huron and Iroquois confederations. In the 1820’ s fever devastated the people of the Columbia River area, killing eight out of ten of them.
Unfortunately, the documentation of these and other epidemics is slight and frequently unreliable, and it is necessary to supplement what little we do know with evidence from recent epidemics among Native Americans. For example, in 1952 an outbreak of measles among the Native American inhabitants of Ungava Bay. Quebec, af- fected 99 percent of the population and killed 7 percent, even though some had the benefit of modern medicine. Cases such as this demonstrate that even diseases that are not normally fatal can have devastating consequences when they strike an immunologically defenseless community.
Which of the following, if newly discovered, would most seriously weaken the author’s argument concerning the importance of virgin-soil epidemics in the depopulation of Native Americans?
选项
A、Evidence setting the pre-Columbian population of the New World at only 80 million.
B、Spanish tribute records showing periodic population fluctuations.
C、Documents detailing sophisticated Native American medical procedures.
D、Fossils indicating Native American contact with smallpox prior to 1492.
E、Remains of French settlements dating back to the sixteenth century.
答案
D
解析
哪一个证据如果成立,削弱了作者的主张:处女地传染病在削减美洲土著人方面起了很大的作用?作者的正式结论在L21—27:处女地传染病重要性被如下证据说明:一些危险疫病在前哥伦布时代根本不存在。∴D否定此论据,正确。化石显示,天花在1492年以前已经侵犯了美洲土著居民。A、B、C、E全和原文的推理过程毫无关系。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/41kO777K
本试题收录于:
GMAT VERBAL题库GMAT分类
0
GMAT VERBAL
GMAT
相关试题推荐
He______thathecouldcreatelivefishoutofchemicals.
Allthereferencebooksshouldbemade______totheteachersandstudentsinouruniversity.
Alltheusefulenergyatthesurfaceoftheearthcomesfromtheactivityofthesun.Thesunheatsandfeedscreaturesandmank
Onetypeofpersonthatiscommoninmanycountriesistheonewhoalwaystriestodoaslittleaspossibleandtogetasmuchi
TheUnitedStates【C1】______alargepartoftheNorthAmericancontinent.ItsneighborsareCanada【C2】______thenorth,andMexico
Inwhatnowseemsliketheprehistorictimesofcomputerhistory,theearlypost-warera,therewasaquitewidespreadconcernt
Extensivenewstudiessuggestthatdieworldhasmadeextraordinaryprogressinreducingpovertyinrecentdecades.Theresearch
JardenZincProducts,alargezincplantafewmilesoutsideGreeneville,Tennessee,hasaspecialclaim.Since1982,ithasbee
Childrenandyoungpeopleareattheheartofsociety.Agoodeducationenablesthem,asglobalcitizens,torespondtothechal
ChokweSelassieisonamissiontohelpdriversavoidpotholes(路面坑洼).Theeighth-graderwasinspiredtokickoffhismissionon
随机试题
神经冲动
按照会计准则规定,下列说法中正确的是()
A.异染颗粒染色B.芽孢染色C.抗酸染色D.墨汁负染色E.镀银染色结核分枝杆菌用
男,48岁,呕血5小时。查体:P120次/分,BP95/60mmHg。营养状况差,巩膜明显黄染。腹壁可见静脉曲张,肝未触及,脾肋下6cm,移动性浊音阳性。首先应输注的液体是
A.满意度B.幸福感C.认知功能D.情绪反应E.社会功能在生命质量评价中,用来测定患者整个生命质量水平的是
骨盆入口略呈三角形,两侧壁内聚,坐骨棘突出,耻骨弓较窄,骶骨较直而前倾,致后矢状径较短骨盆前后径短而横径长,耻骨弓宽,骶骨弯曲,故骶骨短而骨盆浅,骶坐切迹宽
两用物项和技术进出口许可证的有效期为一年,但可跨年度使用,在有效期内可以使用到次年的3月31日。()
(2010年卷一第16题)人民法院可以受理下列哪些专利纠纷案件?
在()中,经营者期股每年所获得的红利要按协议规定全部用于补入所认购的期股。
人际吸引的特征表现为认知协调、情感和谐和()
最新回复
(
0
)