2018年托福閱讀練習試題：16世紀的英國經(jīng)濟

　　In the last half of the sixteenth century England emerged as a commercial and manufacturing power in Europe due to a combination of demographic, agricultural and industrial factors. The population of England and Wales grew rapidly from about 2.5 million in the 1520s to more than 3.5 million in 1580, reaching about 4.5 million in 1610. Reduced mortality rates and increased fertility, the latter probably generated by expanding work opportunities in manufacturing and farming (leading to earlier marriage and more children), explained this rapid population. While epidemics rise in plague and occasionally took their toll, the people in England still suffered less than did those in continental Europe. Furthermore, the country had been pulled out of the war that occurred in France and central Europe during the same period.

　　在十六世紀的后半期，由于人口因素，農(nóng)業(yè)和工業(yè)因素的綜合作用，英國成為歐洲的商業(yè)和制造業(yè)強國。 英格蘭和威爾士的人口從1520年的約250萬增長到1580年的350多萬，在1610年達到約450萬。降低死亡率和提高生育率，后者可能是通過擴大制造業(yè)和農(nóng)業(yè)工作機會導致早婚和更多的孩子)，解釋了人口的迅速增長。雖然瘟疫引起疫情上升，偶爾也會造成傷害，但英國人民受到的傷害仍然比歐洲大陸人民更少。此外，英國在同一時期已經(jīng)從法國和中歐發(fā)生的戰(zhàn)爭中退出。

　　England provides the prominent example of the expansion of agricultural production well before the general European agricultural revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A larger population stimulated the increased woollen through crop civilization. English agriculture became more efficient and market-oriented than almost anywhere else the continent.Between 1450 and 1640 the yield of grain per acre increased by the least thirty percent. In sharp contrast with farming in Spain, English land owners brought more dense marshes and woodlands into cultivation.

　　英格蘭在十八世紀和十九世紀的歐洲農(nóng)業(yè)革命之前就提供了農(nóng)業(yè)生產(chǎn)擴張的突出例子。更多的人口通過農(nóng)業(yè)文明促進了羊毛的產(chǎn)量。英國農(nóng)業(yè)比大陸其他地區(qū)更加高效和以市場為導向。

　　1450年至1640年間，每英畝谷物產(chǎn)量增加了至少30%。與西班牙的農(nóng)業(yè)形成鮮明對比的是，英國的土地所有者將種植帶到了更密集的沼澤和林地。

　　The great land estates of the English society largely remained intact and many wealthy land owners aggressively increased the size of their holdings, a precondition for increased productivity. Marriages between the children of landowners also increased the size of land estates. Primogeniture (the full inheritance of land by the eldest son) helped prevent land from being subdivided. Younger sons of independent land owners left the family and went locations. Larger contributed more commercialized farming at the time when an expanding population pushed up demand and prices. Farmland owners turned part of their land into pastureland for sheep in order to adapt to developing woollen trade.

　　英國社會的大型土地資產(chǎn)基本上保持完好，許多富裕的地主積極增加其所持有的土地面積，這是提高生產(chǎn)力的先決條件。 土地所有者子女之間的婚姻也增加了土地的規(guī)模。 長子繼承(長子對土地的完全繼承)有助于防止土地被細分。年輕的獨立土地所有者的兒子離開了家庭并遷往了繼承區(qū)。當越來越多的人口推高需求和價格時，商品農(nóng)業(yè)貢獻也越來越大。地主將其部分土地變成羊地牧場，以適應(yīng)發(fā)展羊毛貿(mào)易。

　　Some of the great land owners as well as Yeomen (farmers whose holdings and and status), organized security of land tenure guaranteed their prosperity their holdings in the interest efficiency. Many farmers selected crops for sales in growing London market. In their quest for greater profits, many land owners put their squeeze on their tenants. Between 1580 and 1620 land lords raised rents and altered conditions of land tenure in their favor, preferring shorter phases and forcing tenants to pay an entry fee before agreeing to rent them land. Landlords evicted those who could not afford annual, more onerous terms. But they also pushed tenants toward more productive farming methods, including crop rotation.

　　一些大地主和Yeomen(擁有土地和地位的農(nóng)民)組織土地使用權(quán)保障，保證他們的持續(xù)獲利。許多農(nóng)民在倫敦市場上選擇了作物進行銷售。為了獲得更多的利潤，許多地主對租戶進行打壓。在1580年至1620年之間，地主提出租金和改變土地使用權(quán)的條件，以減少階段，迫使租戶同意在租用土地之前支付入場費。地主們驅(qū)逐那些無法承受年度收費或更加繁重條款的人。但他們也推動租戶采用包括輪作在內(nèi)的更有效的耕作方式。

　　England's exceptional economic development also drew the country's natural resources,including iron, timber, and coal, extracted in far greater quantity than elsewhere in the continent. New industrial development expanded the production of iron and pewter in and around the city of Birmingham. But above all textile manufacturing transformed English economy. Woolens, which accounted for eighty percent of the exports, worsteds (sturdy yarn spun from combed wool fibers), and other cloth found eager buyers in England as well as in the continent. Moreover, late in the sixteenth century as English merchants began making forays across the Atlantic these textiles were also sold in the Americas. Cloth manufacturers undercut production by urban craftspeople by "putting out" work to the villages and farms of the countryside. In such domestic industry poor rural women could spin and make cading (combing fibers in preparation for spin) in their homes.

　　英國特殊的經(jīng)濟發(fā)展也引起了該國的自然資源的開采，包括鐵，木材和煤炭，這些資源的開采量遠遠超過歐洲其他地區(qū)。新的工業(yè)發(fā)展擴大了伯明翰市內(nèi)和周圍的鐵和錫的生產(chǎn)。但最重要的是紡織品制造改變了英國經(jīng)濟。占出口百分之八十的毛紡織品(精梳羊毛纖維紡制的堅固紗線)以及其他布料在英格蘭和非洲大陸都有發(fā)現(xiàn)。此外，十六世紀末期，隨著英國商人開始在大西洋上運輸這些紡織品，這些紡織品也在美洲銷售。城市手工業(yè)者通過向農(nóng)村的農(nóng)村和農(nóng)場“推銷”工作，使布廠商減產(chǎn)。在這樣的家庭工業(yè)中，貧窮的農(nóng)村婦女可以在家中紡紗并制作皮毛(梳理纖維以備紡紗)。