In Europe, rapid human population growth and the rise of agriculture toward the end of the first millennium had profound effects on freshwater fish, especially migratory fish like salmon that are born in freshwaters, migrate to the sea, and return to freshwaters to spawn (produce offspring). With agricultural development came demand for power, and dams were constructed along almost every watercourse. Migratory fish require cool, clear. fast-running waters for spawning, and this habitat decreased sharply as a result of dam construction. The construction of weirs (low dams built across rivers) offered sites where people could easily trap, net, and spear migrating fish, and this further contributed to the decline of freshwater fish. Over time, weirs became more numerous and more effective in diminishing fish populations than natural barriers like waterfalls had ever been in the past. An emerging crisis in freshwater fish supply is evident from the written record of the High and Late Middle Ages(circa 1001-1500). In 1210， the Bishop of Trento in ltaly required milldams(dams that turned waterwheels) to be removed from the River Sarca at Arco because they were blocking runs of fish from reaching Lake Garda. A Scottish law of 1214 required milldams to have an opening sufficient to allow salmon clear passage and for all barrier nets to be lifted on Saturdays. Barrier nets, set across the paths of migratory fish to block and catch them, could quickly eliminate fish populations.
That supplies of freshwater fish were dwindling can also be inferred from a second development that occurred soon after the beginning of the second millennium. The practice of raising fish in ponds, known as aquaculture, appeared in France at that time and rapidly spread throughout Europe. Few people today realize the scale and importance of freshwater aquaculture in the Middle Ages, historian Richard Hoffmann suggests, because ponds were largely abandoned by the end of the fifteenth century. A possible reason: the availability of cheap supplies of marine (sea)fish supplanted the need for freshwater farming. Aquaculture, as evidenced by the construction of fish ponds and their management in a multiyear cycle of stocking ponds and harvesting fish, emerged in eleventh-century France, and through the twelfth and thirteenth centuries a wave of pond building swept Europe. At the height of this building, ponds covered 25,000 hectares in upper Silesia (in Central Europe) and 40,000 hectares in central France.
Aquaculture ponds were created by damming streams and rivers. This process of converting long reaches of riverine habitat into lakes had the unintended effect of rendering Europe’s rivers even less able to support species of migratory fish. It blocked their access, reduced water clarity, and buried spawning habitats deep under mud. While ponds helped ensure stable supplies of fish to the elite who owned them, they could not compensate for the plummet in populations of migratory species such as salmon, trout sturgeon, shad, whitefish, and lamprey that was caused by the transformation of Europe’s waterways. This loss in productivity of the converted habitat occurred despite the fact that those species favoring warm, still, muddy waters actually thrived in the ponds and watercourses that became blocked by sand and other materials Examples of such year-round resident species include bream, tench, roach, dace, pike, eel, and an exotic species introduced from the Danube basin in Eastern Europe to stock ponds, the carp.
Species that breed in freshwaters and then migrate to the sea support very productive fisheries(commercial fish industries) because these fish benefit from the rich and far more extensive food sources available in the ocean. Although the amount of freshwater spawning habitat limits numbers of young entering the sea, when the survivors eventually return upriver to breed, their bodies have been fattened by ocean food. Few animals feed on these migrating fish, enabling even modest-sized rivers to support astonishing spawning runs containing hundreds of thousands of fish. In this way, migratory fish transported bounty from the sea to the doorsteps of poor peasants in inland Europe. But as Europeans continued to transform their waterways, deteriorating freshwaters were increasingly unable to support migratory species. As a consequence Europe entered an age of marine fishing-by the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, cod, herring, and other marine fishes constituted 60 to 80 percent of fish bones in archaeological deposits.
1
In Europe, rapid human population growth and the rise of agriculture toward the end of the first millennium had profound effects on freshwater fish, especially migratory fish like salmon that are born in freshwaters, migrate to the sea, and return to freshwaters to spawn (produce offspring). With agricultural development came demand for power, and dams were constructed along almost every watercourse. Migratory fish require cool, clear. fast-running waters for spawning, and this habitat decreased sharply as a result of dam construction. The construction of weirs (low dams built across rivers) offered sites where people could easily trap, net, and spear migrating fish, and this further contributed to the decline of freshwater fish. Over time, weirs became more numerous and more effective in diminishing fish populations than natural barriers like waterfalls had ever been in the past. An emerging crisis in freshwater fish supply is evident from the written record of the High and Late Middle Ages(circa 1001-1500). In 1210， the Bishop of Trento in ltaly required milldams(dams that turned waterwheels) to be removed from the River Sarca at Arco because they were blocking runs of fish from reaching Lake Garda. A Scottish law of 1214 required milldams to have an opening sufficient to allow salmon clear passage and for all barrier nets to be lifted on Saturdays. Barrier nets, set across the paths of migratory fish to block and catch them, could quickly eliminate fish populations.
According to paragraph 1,which of the following are TWO ways in which barriers from the construction of weirs and dams reduced the freshwater fish populations? To receive credit, you must select TWO answers.
AThey allowed people to catch more fish by providing more places to trap, spear, and net fish.
BThey reduced the number of natural barriers that fish depended on for spawning.
CThey trapped the small fish and other available foods that freshwater fish consumed.
DThey reduced the amount of territory that was suitable for fish reproduction.
2
In Europe, rapid human population growth and the rise of agriculture toward the end of the first millennium had profound effects on freshwater fish, especially migratory fish like salmon that are born in freshwaters, migrate to the sea, and return to freshwaters to spawn (produce offspring). With agricultural development came demand for power, and dams were constructed along almost every watercourse. Migratory fish require cool, clear. fast-running waters for spawning, and this habitat decreased sharply as a result of dam construction. The construction of weirs (low dams built across rivers) offered sites where people could easily trap, net, and spear migrating fish, and this further contributed to the decline of freshwater fish. Over time, weirs became more numerous and more effective in diminishing fish populations than natural barriers like waterfalls had ever been in the past. An emerging crisis in freshwater fish supply is evident from the written record of the High and Late Middle Ages(circa 1001-1500). In 1210， the Bishop of Trento in ltaly required milldams(dams that turned waterwheels) to be removed from the River Sarca at Arco because they were blocking runs of fish from reaching Lake Garda. A Scottish law of 1214 required milldams to have an opening sufficient to allow salmon clear passage and for all barrier nets to be lifted on Saturdays. Barrier nets, set across the paths of migratory fish to block and catch them, could quickly eliminate fish populations.
In paragraph 1， why does the author discuss the Scottish law of 1214 that required the lifting of barrier nets on Saturdays?
ATo help explain how certain locations successfully managed their freshwater fishing crisis
BTo illustrate the point that the freshwater fishing crisis is documented in the written record of the Middle Ages
CTo emphasize the failure of attempts to solve the freshwater fish crisis
DTo show the differences between how northern and southern Europeans handled the decline of fish populations
3
That supplies of freshwater fish were dwindling can also be inferred from a second development that occurred soon after the beginning of the second millennium. The practice of raising fish in ponds, known as aquaculture, appeared in France at that time and rapidly spread throughout Europe. Few people today realize the scale and importance of freshwater aquaculture in the Middle Ages, historian Richard Hoffmann suggests, because ponds were largely abandoned by the end of the fifteenth century. A possible reason: the availability of cheap supplies of marine (sea)fish supplanted the need for freshwater farming. Aquaculture, as evidenced by the construction of fish ponds and their management in a multiyear cycle of stocking ponds and harvesting fish, emerged in eleventh-century France, and through the twelfth and thirteenth centuries a wave of pond building swept Europe. At the height of this building, ponds covered 25,000 hectares in upper Silesia (in Central Europe) and 40,000 hectares in central France.
According to paragraph 2， all of the following statements about aquaculture in Europe in the Middle Ages are true EXCEPT:
AIt involved raising marine fish together with freshwater fish.
BIt involved people creating a large number of places for fish to live
CIt began in the eleventh century.
DIt spread from France to other parts of Europe.
4
That supplies of freshwater fish were dwindling can also be inferred from a second development that occurred soon after the beginning of the second millennium. The practice of raising fish in ponds, known as aquaculture, appeared in France at that time and rapidly spread throughout Europe. Few people today realize the scale and importance of freshwater aquaculture in the Middle Ages, historian Richard Hoffmann suggests, because ponds were largely abandoned by the end of the fifteenth century. A possible reason: the availability of cheap supplies of marine (sea)fish supplanted the need for freshwater farming. Aquaculture, as evidenced by the construction of fish ponds and their management in a multiyear cycle of stocking ponds and harvesting fish, emerged in eleventh-century France, and through the twelfth and thirteenth centuries a wave of pond building swept Europe. At the height of this building, ponds covered 25,000 hectares in upper Silesia (in Central Europe) and 40,000 hectares in central France.
According to paragraph 2， which of the following may explain why the practice of raising fish in ponds was almost completely stopped?
AIt became too difficult to raise fish in areas outside of France.
BThe cost of raising fish in ponds had increased over time.
COther inexpensive sources of fish were available.
DResources for building and stocking ponds were no longer available.
5
Aquaculture ponds were created by damming streams and rivers. This process of converting long reaches of riverine habitat into lakes had the unintended effect of rendering Europe’s rivers even less able to support species of migratory fish. It blocked their access, reduced water clarity, and buried spawning habitats deep under mud. While ponds helped ensure stable supplies of fish to the elite who owned them, they could not compensate for the plummet in populations of migratory species such as salmon, trout sturgeon, shad, whitefish, and lamprey that was caused by the transformation of Europe’s waterways. This loss in productivity of the converted habitat occurred despite the fact that those species favoring warm, still, muddy waters actually thrived in the ponds and watercourses that became blocked by sand and other materials Examples of such year-round resident species include bream, tench, roach, dace, pike, eel, and an exotic species introduced from the Danube basin in Eastern Europe to stock ponds, the carp.
The word “unintended”in the passage is closest in meaning to
Aunplanned
Bunfavorable
Cdisturbing
Dunneeded
6
Aquaculture ponds were created by damming streams and rivers. This process of converting long reaches of riverine habitat into lakes had the unintended effect of rendering Europe’s rivers even less able to support species of migratory fish. It blocked their access, reduced water clarity, and buried spawning habitats deep under mud. While ponds helped ensure stable supplies of fish to the elite who owned them, they could not compensate for the plummet in populations of migratory species such as salmon, trout sturgeon, shad, whitefish, and lamprey that was caused by the transformation of Europe’s waterways. This loss in productivity of the converted habitat occurred despite the fact that those species favoring warm, still, muddy waters actually thrived in the ponds and watercourses that became blocked by sand and other materials Examples of such year-round resident species include bream, tench, roach, dace, pike, eel, and an exotic species introduced from the Danube basin in Eastern Europe to stock ponds, the carp.
According to paragraph 3， which of the following was true of the aquaculture ponds created by dams in streams and rivers?
AThey provided clearer water, which better supported the survival of certain migratory fish species
BThey could no longer ensure enough supplies of fish for the elite.
CThey limited the ability of certain species to spawn by burying their spawning habitats under mud.
DThey had to be entirely stocked with a variety of species introduced from other parts of Europe.
7
Species that breed in freshwaters and then migrate to the sea support very productive fisheries(commercial fish industries) because these fish benefit from the rich and far more extensive food sources available in the ocean. Although the amount of freshwater spawning habitat limits numbers of young entering the sea, when the survivors eventually return upriver to breed, their bodies have been fattened by ocean food. Few animals feed on these migrating fish, enabling even modest-sized rivers to support astonishing spawning runs containing hundreds of thousands of fish. In this way, migratory fish transported bounty from the sea to the doorsteps of poor peasants in inland Europe. But as Europeans continued to transform their waterways, deteriorating freshwaters were increasingly unable to support migratory species. As a consequence Europe entered an age of marine fishing-by the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, cod, herring, and other marine fishes constituted 60 to 80 percent of fish bones in archaeological deposits.
According to paragraph 4， which TWO of the following are benefits enjoyed by fish species that migrate between the sea to freshwater? To receive credit you must select TWO answer choices.
AThese species have more opportunities for breeding in than do other fish species.
BThese species are unlikely to become the prey of other animals when they are in rivers.
CThese species can avoid overcrowded rivers when hundreds of thousands of other fish are present.
DThese species obtain more and better food sources while they are in the sea.
8
Species that breed in freshwaters and then migrate to the sea support very productive fisheries(commercial fish industries) because these fish benefit from the rich and far more extensive food sources available in the ocean. Although the amount of freshwater spawning habitat limits numbers of young entering the sea, when the survivors eventually return upriver to breed, their bodies have been fattened by ocean food. Few animals feed on these migrating fish, enabling even modest-sized rivers to support astonishing spawning runs containing hundreds of thousands of fish. In this way, migratory fish transported bounty from the sea to the doorsteps of poor peasants in inland Europe. But as Europeans continued to transform their waterways, deteriorating freshwaters were increasingly unable to support migratory species. As a consequence Europe entered an age of marine fishing-by the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, cod, herring, and other marine fishes constituted 60 to 80 percent of fish bones in archaeological deposits.
Paragraph 4 suggests that fish bones in archeological deposits provide evidence for which of the following conclusions?
AAn increasingly large number of poor peasants were living in inland Europe.
BThere was a major shift in the European diet away from eating migratory fish to eating marine species.
CModest-sized rivers often produced more fish than larger rivers did.
DEuropeans began to transform their waterways to prevent their freshwaters from continuing to deteriorate.
9
In Europe, rapid human population growth and the rise of agriculture toward the end of the first millennium had profound effects on freshwater fish, especially migratory fish like salmon that are born in freshwaters, migrate to the sea, and return to freshwaters to spawn (produce offspring). With agricultural development came demand for power, and dams were constructed along almost every watercourse. Migratory fish require cool, clear. fast-running waters for spawning, and this habitat decreased sharply as a result of dam construction. The construction of weirs (low dams built across rivers) offered sites where people could easily trap, net, and spear migrating fish, and this further contributed to the decline of freshwater fish. Over time, weirs became more numerous and more effective in diminishing fish populations than natural barriers like waterfalls had ever been in the past. An emerging crisis in freshwater fish supply is evident from the written record of the High and Late Middle Ages(circa 1001-1500). In 1210， the Bishop of Trento in ltaly required milldams(dams that turned waterwheels) to be removed from the River Sarca at Arco because they were blocking runs of fish from reaching Lake Garda. A Scottish law of 1214 required milldams to have an opening sufficient to allow salmon clear passage and for all barrier nets to be lifted on Saturdays. Barrier nets, set across the paths of migratory fish to block and catch them, could quickly eliminate fish populations.
[■] That supplies of freshwater fish were dwindling can also be inferred from a second development that occurred soon after the beginning of the second millennium. The practice of raising fish in ponds, known as aquaculture, appeared in France at that time and rapidly spread throughout Europe. [■] Few people today realize the scale and importance of freshwater aquaculture in the Middle Ages, historian Richard Hoffmann suggests, because ponds were largely abandoned by the end of the fifteenth century. [■] A possible reason: the availability of cheap supplies of marine (sea)fish supplanted the need for freshwater farming.[■] Aquaculture, as evidenced by the construction of fish ponds and their management in a multiyear cycle of stocking ponds and harvesting fish, emerged in eleventh-century France, and through the twelfth and thirteenth centuries a wave of pond building swept Europe. At the height of this building, ponds covered 25,000 hectares in upper Silesia (in Central Europe) and 40,000 hectares in central France.
Look at the four squaresthat indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage
It developed into a major industry that largely replaced catching wild freshwater fish.
Where would the sentence best fit？Click on a square sentence to the passage.
10
The High and Late Middle Ages saw a growth in European population and an increase in agricultural activity.
ADams and weirs destroyed freshwater fish habitat and restricted the spawning of fish species that spend time in both freshwater and marine environments.
BA number of strategies were used to replace the declining supplies of freshwater fish, including the practice of aquaculture that raised and harvested fish in ponds.
COver time, migratory fish that were affected by dams were replaced by year-round fish that thrived in the warmer waters, which became more productive than the migratory habitats they replaced.
DEuropean laws expanded the construction of dams and the use of barrier nets to increase peasants’ access to salmon and other migratory fish returning from the ocean.
ESome historians have suggested that European diets were not affected by the freshwater fish decline because Europeans at the time seemed to prefer marine fish to freshwater fish.
FThe loss of natural habitat for migratory fish during the Middle Ages meant the loss of productive fisheries and ultimately led to the age of marine fishing.
