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  3. Between the eighth and eleventh centuries A.D., the Byzantine Empire staged an almost unparalleled economic and cultural revival

Between the eighth and eleventh centuries A.D., the Byzantine Empire staged an almost unparalleled economic and cultural revival

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问题     Between the eighth and eleventh centuries A.D., the Byzantine Empire staged an almost unparalleled economic and cultural revival, a recovery that is all the more striking because it followed a long period of severe internal decline. By the early eighth century, the empire had lost roughly two-thirds of the territory it had possessed in the year 600, and its remaining area was being raided by Arabs and Bulgarians, who at times threatened to take Constantinople and extinguished the empire altogether. The wealth of the state and its subjects was greatly diminished, and artistic and literary production had virtually ceased. By the early eleventh century, however, the empire had regained almost half of its lost possessions, its new frontiers were secure, and its influence extended far beyond its borders. The economy had recovered, the treasury was full, and art and scholarship had advanced.
    To consider the Byzantine military, cultural, and economic advances as differentiated aspects of a single phenomenon is reasonable. After all, these three forms of progress have gone together in a number of states and civilizations. Rome under Augustus and fifth century Athens provide the most obviously examples in antiquity. Moreover, an examination of the apparent sequential connections among military, economic, and cultural forms of programs might help explain the dynamics of historical change.
    The common explanation of these apparent connections in the case of Byzantium would run like this: when the empire had turned back enemy raids on its own territory and had begun to raid and conquer enemy territory, Byzantine resources naturally expanded and more money became available to patronize art and literature. Therefore, Byzantine military achievements led to economic advances, which in turn led to cultural revival.
    No doubt this hypothetical pattern did apply at times during the course of recovery. Yet it is not clear that military advances invariably came first, economic second, and intellectual advances third. In the 860’s the Byzantine Empire began to recover from Arab incursions so that by 872 the military balance with the Abbasid Caliphate had been permanently altered in the empire’s favor. The beginning of the empire’s economic revival,however, can be placed between 810 and 830. Finally, the Byzantine revival of learning appears to have begun even earlier. A number of notable scholars and writers appeared by 788 and, by the last decade of the eighth century, a cultural revival was in full bloom, a revival that lasted until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Thus the commonly expected order of military revival followed by economic and then by cultural recovery was reversed in Byzantium. In fact, the revival of Byzantine learning may itself have influenced the subsequent economic and military expansion.
It can be inferred that by the eleventh century the Byzantine military forces______.
选项 A、had reached their peak and begun to decline
B、had eliminated the Bulgarian army
C、were comparable in size to the army of Rome under Augustus
D、were strong enough to withstand the Abbasid Caliphate’s military forces
答案D
解析 细节推理题。问题要求推断11世纪拜占庭的军事实力。文章中与军事实力有关的主要再现在两处，首先是第一段后半段说到：到11世纪收复了一半失地，稳定了边界，并影响到国外。由此可以推断A达顶并衰退不对。后面在第四段文章又谈到872年后拜占庭帝国与哈里发阿拉伯国家(Abbasid Caliphate)的军事力量对比(military balance)已占优。D项的含义与其相符，故为正解。B和C在文章中没提到。
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