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
65
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 can be inferred from the passage concerning Spanish tribute records?
选项
A、They mention only epidemics of smallpox.
B、They were instituted in 1492.
C、They were being kept prior to the seventeenth century.
D、They provide quantitative and qualitative evidence about Native American populations.
E、They prove that certain diseases were unknown in the pre-Columbian New World.
答案
C
解析
哪个关于西班牙贡品记录的观点,可从文中推出?本题和上题重复。西班牙的贡品记录和英、法记录成对比关系。英法记录,文中指出L34—41,直到17世纪才有连续记录,取非得:C正确,西班牙贡品记录17世纪以前就保存下来了。∴A、B、D、E都从原文推导不出。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/O1kO777K
本试题收录于:
GMAT VERBAL题库GMAT分类
0
GMAT VERBAL
GMAT
相关试题推荐
Increasingly,overthepasttenyears,people—especiallyyoungpeople—havebecomeawareoftheneedtochangetheireatinghabit
Evenachildknowsthatnoddingheadmeans"Yes".Butsomepeoplewouldprobably【C1】______whentheyfirstcametoIndia.Whent
________theemployees’workingefficiency,thesupervisorwillallowthemtohaveacoffeebreak.
Asanymiddle-classparentknows,unpaidworkexperiencecangiveyoungstersavaluableintroductiontoasecurejob.Thegovern
The_________goalofthebookistohelpbridgethegapbetweenresearchandteaching,particularlythegapbetweenresearchers
HarrietBeecherStowehadpouredherheartintoheranti-slaverybook,"UncleTom’sCab-in".Butneithershenorherfirstpubl
Inwhatnowseemsliketheprehistorictimesofcomputerhistory,theearlypost-warera,therewasaquitewidespreadconcernt
Afterbeingtestedinmanyways,thisnewly-designedmachinewill______inthenearfuture.
AfterbeingtestedinmanyWays,thisnewly-designedmachinewill______inthenearfuture.
Initsearlyhistory,Chicagohadfloodsfrequently,especiallyinthespring,makingthestreetssomuddythatpeople,horses,
随机试题
为什么说方波交流弧焊电源比直流弧焊电源和交流弧焊电源好?
治疗接触性皮炎关键在于()
关于冠心病危险因素的描述,错误的是
通过抑制细菌细胞壁的合成,来发挥抗菌作用的药物是()。
对于头痛病人,下列护理措施哪项不妥
贷款诈骗罪包括下列哪些诈骗金融机构的贷款行为:
某成片荒地面积1km2,进行“七通一平”的开发后分块有偿转让,开发成本及管理费用、销售费用等为3亿元,年贷款利率为7.2%,开发经营期为1年。上述费用均匀投入,可转让土地面积比率为65%,该地块可转让土地的应计成本是()元/m2。[2009年考题
安全技术交底的内容有()。
以下关于基金托管业务监管的说法中,正确的是()。
Readthetextsfromamagazinearticleinwhichfivepersonstalkedabouttheirattitudetohelpingthepeopleindevelopingcou
最新回复
(
0
)