After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century A.D, most of Europe endured centuries of lower population, weaker governments, and a more feeble economy. But by the eleventh century, as populations rose, cities, long-distance trade networks. local markets. and new business arrangements meshed to create a profit-based economy. With improvements in agriculture and more land in cultivation, great estates produced surpluses that helped feed-and therefore make possible-a new urban population.
1.Paragraph 1 answers which of the following questions about European history?
A.Why did the Western Roman Empire collapse?
B.What evidence exists that European governments became weaker after the fifth century?
C.How were local markets affected by long-distance trade in the new profit-based economy?
D.What developments allowed larger numbers of people to live in cities?
Commerce was not new to the history of the West, of course, but the commercial economy of medieval Europe spawned the institutions that would be the direct ancestors of western businesses: corporations, banks, accounting systems, and. above all, urban centers that thrived on economic vitality. Whereas ancient cities had primarily religious, social, and political functions, medieval cities were primarily centers of production and economic activity.Wealth meant power: it allowed city dwellers to become self-governing.
2.According to paragraph 2, which of the following was a consequence of economic activities in medieval cities?
A.Cities acquired many more religious, social, and political functions.
B.Cities began to govern themselves
C.Cities’ religious and social functions became more important than their political functions.
D.Cities’ wealth became concentrated in the hands of only a few city dwellers.
Commercial centers developed around castles and monasteries and within the walls of ancient towns. Great lords (powerful landowners) in the countryside were eager to take advantage of the profits that their estates generated. In the late tenth century, they had reorganized their lands for greater productivity, encouraged their peasants to cultivate new land, and converted the services and dues (traditionally owed to them by peasants and vassals) to money payments. Now with ready cash, they not only fostered the development of sporadic markets where they could sell their surpluses and buy luxury goods but even encouraged craftspeople and traders to settle down near them. The lords gained at each step. Their purchases brought them an enhanced lifestyle and greater prestige. But they also collected tolls and sales taxes from merchants, in this way profiting even more from trade.
3.The word “sporadic” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A.occasional
B.established
C.large
D.successful
4.According to paragraph 3, the development of commercial centers around their castles benefited great lords in each of the following ways EXCEPT:
A.It made it easier to sell the lords’ surplus agricultural products
B.It brought in luxury goods for the lords to buy.
C.It increased the services and dues owed to the lords by peasants and vassals.
D.It gave the lords the opportunity to collect tolls and sales taxes from merchants.
Trade did not benefit only great lords. The vassals who lived with them enjoyed a better standard of living. ▉Peasants too participated in the new economy, selling their meager surpluses at local markets. Commerce sometimes opened up unexpected opportunities for enrichment. ▉Former servants of an important church official in Mácon (today in France), for example, set up a bakery near the bridge of the city and sold bread to travelers. ▉They soon grew prosperous.
5.Why does the author discuss the establishment of “a bakery near the bridge of the city”?
A.To support the idea that great lords were not the only ones to benefit from trade
B.To make the point that travelers were extremely important to the new economy
C.To give an example of a development that helped improve everyone’s standard of living
D.To show how professions like baking played a significant role in the new economy
6.The word “prosperous” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A.important
B.very skillful
C.independent
D.wealthy
The immediate stimulus for the formation of a city varied. ▉At Bruges (today in Belgium), the local lord’s castle became the magnet around which a city formed. Other commercial centers clustered around a number of monasteries that by the eleventh century had become large communities with many needs to supply.Still other markets formed just outside the walls of older cities; these gradually merged into new and enlarged urban communities as town walls were built around them to protect their inhabitants.Sometimes informal country markets might eventually be housed in permanent structures. To the north, in places like Frisia, the Vikings originally raiders down from the Scandinavian lands-had already established centers of wealth and trade, and these settlements became permanent, thriving towns. Along the Rhine and other river valleys, cities sprang up to service the merchants who traversed the route between Italy and the north. And at Reims, the middle of a forum (a public meeting place) dating back to the Roman Empire became a new commercial center. Around the marketplace at Reims grew a network of streets whose names (many of which still exist) revealed their essential commercial functions: Street of the Butchers, Street of the Wool Market, Street of the Wheat Market.
7.According to paragraph 5, medieval European cities developed in all of the following types of locations EXCEPT
A.near monasteries that had large populations
B.in areas along the Rhine that provided protection against Viking raiders
C.around established centers of wealth
D.along major trade routes
The look and feel of such developing cities varied enormously.Nearly all included a marketplace, a castle, and several churches however. And most had to adapt to increasingly crowded conditions;for example, in one English town at the end of the eleventh century, city plots were still large enough to accommodate houses parallel to the street, but the swelling population soon necessitated destroying these houses and building instead long, narrow, hall-like houses constructed at right angles to the thoroughfare.
8.Paragraph 6 suggests that houses in an English town were eventually constructed at right angles to the street because
A.doing so made it possible to house more people on the street
B.most of the houses parallel to the street collapsed
C.doing so improved the look and feel of the developing cities
D.houses built parallel to the street tended to be narrow and hall-like
9.Look at the four squares [▇] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage. Where would the sentence best fit?
These possibilities were often provided by trade routes.
10.Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the 3 answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. (This question is worth 2 points.) Drag your choices to the spaces where they belong. To review the passage, click on view text.
A.The commercial institutions of the Western Roman Empire survived its collapse and formed the basis of the medieval European economy.
B.Improved agriculture allowed the production of enough food to support growing cities, which became centers of economic activity.
C.Ancient towns expanded to include outside markets, and commercial centers in a variety of locations turned into thriving cities
D.The growth of cities made it possible for peasants and vassals to leave their lords and thus avoid having to provide the traditional services and dues
E.The great lords profited from the new economy in various ways, but the economy opened up new possibilities for many others as well.
F.The new wealth resulted in larger houses being built in the urban centers, which often limited the space for public meeting places.
答案：
DBACA DBAB
10BCE
