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  3. ENGLAND’S ECONOMY IN THE 16TH CENTURY (1) In the last half of the 16th century England emerged as a commercial and manufactu

ENGLAND’S ECONOMY IN THE 16TH CENTURY (1) In the last half of the 16th century England emerged as a commercial and manufactu

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问题                                                 ENGLAND’S ECONOMY IN THE 16TH CENTURY
    (1) In the last half of the 16th 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 rise in population. While epidemics and plague 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.
    (2) England provides the prominent example of the expansion of agricultural production well before the general European agricultural revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. A larger population stimulated the increased woolens through crop civilization. English agriculture became more efficient and market-oriented than almost anywhere else on the continent. Between 1450 and 1640 the yield of grain per acre increased by at least 30%. In sharp contrast with fanning in Spain, English land owners brought more dense marshes and woodlands into cultivation.
    (3) 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 to find other respective locations. Larger farms contributed more to commercialized farming at the time when an expanding population pushed up demand and prices. Farmland owners turned part of their land into pasture land for sheep in order to adapt to developing woolen trade.
    (4) Some of the great land owners as well as Yeomen (farmers whose holdings and security of land tenure guaranteed their prosperity and status), organized their holdings in the interests of 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.
    (5) 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.
    (6) But above all textile manufacturing transformed English economy. Woolens, which accounted for 80% of the exports, worsted (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 16th 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 carding (combing fibers in preparation for spin) in their homes.
    (7) The English textile trade was closely tied to Antwerp, in the Spanish Netherlands, where workers dyed English cloth. [A] The entrepreneur Sir Thomas Gresham became England’s representative there. [B] He so enhanced the reputation of English business in that region that English merchants could operate on credit—the most prominent achievement for the 16th century. [C] 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. [D]
According to paragraph 3, why did wealthy land owners increase the size of the land they owned?
选项 A、To avoid the necessity of arranged marriages between their children and the children of other land owners
B、To ensure that there were enough land to divide between their older and younger sons
C、To increase the number of goods that their farms produced
D、To provide more jobs for members of the colony
答案C
解析 本题要求根据第3段回答为什么富有的土地持有者要扩大他们拥有的土地规模，属于事实信息题。第3段第1句提到“许多富有的土地所有者都在积极地增加他们的土地持有量，这是提高生产力的先决条件”。可见，这些土地所有者是为了“提高他们农场的作物产量”(C项)。A项“避免他们的子女和其他土地持有者的子女之间的包办婚姻”与原文第3段第2句“土地所有者子女之间的联姻也增加了他们持有土地的规模”意思相悖。B项“确保有足够多的土地可以分割给他们的长子和次子们”与第3段第3句意思不符，原文的意思是长子继承所有土地，而次子们并不会分到土地。D项“为殖民地人们提供更多的工作机会”在文中没有依据。
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