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
考研
【F1】It is the world’s fourth-most-important food crop, after maize, wheat and rice, which provides more calories, more quickly,
【F1】It is the world’s fourth-most-important food crop, after maize, wheat and rice, which provides more calories, more quickly,
admin
2018-05-23
18
问题
【F1】
It is the world’s fourth-most-important food crop, after maize, wheat and rice, which provides more calories, more quickly, using less land and in a wider range of climates than any other plant.
It is, of course, the potato.
The United Nations has declared 2008 the International Year of the Potato. It hopes that greater awareness of the merits of potatoes will contribute to the achievement of its Millennium Development Goals, by helping to alleviate poverty, improve food security and promote economic development. It is always the international year of this or month of that.【F2】
But the potato’s unusual history means it is well worth celebrating by readers of The Economist because the potato is intertwined with economic development, trade liberalisation and globalisation.
Unlikely though it seems, the potato promoted economic development by underpinning the industrial revolution in England in the 19th century. It provided a cheap source of calories and was easy to cultivate, so it liberated workers from the land. Potatoes became popular in the north of England, as people there specialised in livestock farming and domestic industry, while farmers in the south(where the soil was more suitable)concentrated on wheat production.【F3】
By a happy accident, this concentrated industrial activity in the regions where coal was readily available, and a potato-driven population boom provided ample workers for the new factories.
Friedrich Engels even declared that the potato was the equal of iron for its "historically revolutionary role".
The potato promoted free trade by contributing to the abolition of Britain’s Corn Laws—the cause which prompted the founding of The Economist in 1843. The Corn Laws restricted imports of grain into the United Kingdom in order to protect domestic wheat producers.【F4】
Landowners supported the laws, since cheap imported grain would reduce their income, but industrialists opposed them because imports would drive down the cost of food, allowing people to spend more on manufactured goods.
Ultimately it was not the eloquence of the arguments against the Corn Laws that led to their abolition—and more’ s the pity. It was the tragedy of the Irish potato famine of 1845, in which 1 million Irish perished when the potato crop on which they subsisted succumbed to blight.【F5】
The need to import grain to relieve the situation in Ireland forced the government, which was dominated by landowners who backed the Corn Laws, to reverse its position.
This paved the way for liberalisation in other areas, and free trade became British policy. As the Duke of Wellington complained at the time, "rotten potatoes have done it all."
【F5】
选项
答案
爱尔兰需要进口粮食来缓解灾情,这迫使由支持《谷物法》的土地拥有者组成的政府不得不改弦易辙。
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/zF6Z777K
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
Scientistssaytheyhavefoundawaytoturnbodyfatintoabettertypeoffatthatburnsoffcaloriesandweight.TheUSJohns
Scientistssaytheyhavefoundawaytoturnbodyfatintoabettertypeoffatthatburnsoffcaloriesandweight.TheUSJohns
Scientistssaytheyhavefoundawaytoturnbodyfatintoabettertypeoffatthatburnsoffcaloriesandweight.TheUSJohns
Scientistssaytheyhavefoundawaytoturnbodyfatintoabettertypeoffatthatburnsoffcaloriesandweight.TheUSJohns
Scientistssaytheyhavefoundawaytoturnbodyfatintoabettertypeoffatthatburnsoffcaloriesandweight.TheUSJohns
Scientistssaytheyhavefoundawaytoturnbodyfatintoabettertypeoffatthatburnsoffcaloriesandweight.TheUSJohns
Scientistssaytheyhavefoundawaytoturnbodyfatintoabettertypeoffatthatburnsoffcaloriesandweight.TheUSJohns
Scientistssaytheyhavefoundawaytoturnbodyfatintoabettertypeoffatthatburnsoffcaloriesandweight.TheUSJohns
随机试题
关于正常前列腺液中的卵磷脂小体,错误的是
以下哪项不是诊断急性胆囊炎的标准
哪种唇色多见于实热证
常用推土机的形式是()。
日记账应()打印一次,并由计算机连续编号。
假设一家银行的外汇敞口头寸如下:日元多头100,欧元多头50,港币空头80,美元空头30,则用短边法计算的总敞口头寸为()。
规模经济和边际收益递减规律所研究的是同一问题。()
下列各句,没有语病、句意明确的一句是()
苏轼的“诗中有画、画中有诗”说的是()。
Anadvanceddegreeinbusinessstudiesisnowamustforanyambitiousandfocusedexecutivehopingtoclimbthecareerladderi
最新回复
(
0
)