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  3. What is London for? To put the question another way why was London, by 1900, incomparably the largest city in the world, which i

What is London for? To put the question another way why was London, by 1900, incomparably the largest city in the world, which i

admin2008-12-13  57
问题     What is London for? To put the question another way why was London, by 1900, incomparably the largest city in the world, which it remained until the bombardments of the Luftwaffe? There could be many answers to this question, but any history of London will rehearse three broad explanations. One is the importance of its life as a port. When the Thames turned to ice in February 1855, 50,000 men were put out of work, and there were bread riots from those whose livelihoods had been frozen with the river. Today the Thames could be frozen for a year without endangering the livelihoods of any but a few pleasure-boat men.
    The second major cause of London’s wealth and success was that it was easily the biggest manufacturing center in Europe. At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, Dutch looms and the stocking knitting frame were first pioneered in London. The vast range of London’s manufacturing skills is another fact; almost any item you can name was manufactured in London during the days of its prosperity. In 1851, 13.75 percent of the manufacturing work-force of Great Britain was based in London. By 1961, this had dramatically reduced. By 1993, there were a mere 328,000 Londoners engaged in manufacturing. In other words, by our own times, two of the chief reasons for London’s very existence -- its life as a port and as a center of manufacture -- had dwindled out of existence.
    London’s third great function, since the seventeenth century, has been that of national and international bourse, the exchange of stocks and shares, banking, commerce and, increasingly, insurance. Both Inwood and Francis Sheppard, in London.. A history, manage to make these potentially dry matters vivid to the general reader, and both authors assure us that "The City" in the financial sense is still as important as ever it was. Both, however, record the diminution of the City as an architectural and demographic entity, with the emptying of many city offices (since the advent of the computer much of the work can be done anywhere) and the removal of many distinctive landmarks.
选项 A、the history and future of London.
B、London’s manufacturing skills.
C、London’s status as a financial center.
D、the past and present roles of London.
答案D
解析 此题为快速浏览题。据第1段开始几句以及后几段的主题句可推知。
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