Paragraph 5 supports which of the following inferences about the commercial revolution between A.D. 1000 and 1300?
A.
It had very little impact on social attitudes and values.
B.
It brought about major political changes throughout Europe.
C.
It lessened the influence of the church.
D.
It increased the population of small towns.
正确答案:A
译文
Beginning in the 1160s, the opening of new silver mines in northern Europe led to the minting and circulation of vast quantities of silver coins. 从12世纪60年代开始,北欧新银矿的开发导致了大量银币的铸造和流通。 取消收藏 收藏句子 The widespread use of cash greatly increased the volume of international trade. 现金的广泛使用大大增加了国际贸易额。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Business procedures changed radically. 商业流程发生了根本性的变化。 取消收藏 收藏句子 The individual traveling merchant who alone handled virtually all aspects of exchange evolved into an operation involving three separate types of merchants: the sedentary merchant who ran the “home office,” financing and organizing the firm’s entire export-import trade; the carriers who transported goods by land and sea; and the company agents resident in cities abroad who, on the advice of the home office, looked after sales and procurements. 单独处理几乎所有交易的个体行商演变成涉及三种不同商人类型的经营:经营“总部”的定居商人,为公司的整个进出口贸易提供资金并组织贸易;承运人,负责通过陆路和海路运输货物;公司代理人,居住在国外城市,根据总部的建议,负责销售和采购。 取消收藏 收藏句子 从12世纪60年代开始,北欧新银矿的开发导致了大量银币的铸造和流通。现金的广泛使用大大增加了国际贸易额。商业流程发生了根本性的变化。单独处理几乎所有交易的个体行商演变成涉及三种不同商人类型的经营:经营“总部”的定居商人,为公司的整个进出口贸易提供资金并组织贸易;承运人,负责通过陆路和海路运输货物;公司代理人,居住在国外城市,根据总部的建议,负责销售和采购。
Commercial correspondence, unnecessary when one businessperson oversaw everything and made direct bargains with buyers and sellers, multiplied. 当一个商人监督一切并与买卖双方进行直接交易时,商业信函就变得多余了。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Regular courier service among commercial cities began. 商业城市间的定期快递服务开始了。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Commercial accounting became more complex when firms had to deal with shareholders, manufacturers, customers, branch offices, employees, and competing firms. 当公司不得不与股东、制造商、客户、分公司、员工和竞争对手打交道时,商业会计变得更加复杂。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Tolls on roads became high enough to finance what has been called a road revolution, involving new surfaces and bridges, new passes through the Alps, and new inns and hospices for travelers. 道路通行费高到足以支撑所谓的道路革命,包括新的路面和桥梁、新的阿尔卑斯山通道,以及新的旅馆和旅客收容所。 取消收藏 收藏句子 The growth of mutual trust among merchants facilitated the growth of sales on credit and led to new developments in finance, such as the bill of exchange, a device that made the long, slow, and very dangerous shipment of coins unnecessary. 商人之间相互信任的增强促进了赊销的增长,并带来了金融领域的新发展,例如汇票,这种手段使得长途、缓慢且非常危险的硬币运输变得没有必要。 取消收藏 收藏句子 当一个商人监督一切并与买卖双方进行直接交易时,商业信函就变得多余了。商业城市间的定期快递服务开始了。当公司不得不与股东、制造商、客户、分公司、员工和竞争对手打交道时,商业会计变得更加复杂。道路通行费高到足以支撑所谓的道路革命,包括新的路面和桥梁、新的阿尔卑斯山通道,以及新的旅馆和旅客收容所。商人之间相互信任的增强促进了赊销的增长,并带来了金融领域的新发展,例如汇票,这种手段使得长途、缓慢且非常危险的硬币运输变得没有必要。
The ventures of the German Hanseatic League illustrate these advancements. 德国汉萨同盟的经历说明了这些进步。 取消收藏 收藏句子 The Hanseatic League was a mercantile association of European towns dating from 1159. 汉萨同盟是1159年由欧洲城镇组成的商业联盟。 取消收藏 收藏句子 [■] The league grew by the end of the fourteenth century to include about 200 cities from Holland to Poland. 到14世纪末,该联盟发展到包括从荷兰到波兰的约200个城市。 取消收藏 收藏句子 [■] Across regular, well-defined trade routes along the Baltic and North seas, the ships of league cities carried furs, wax, copper, fish, grain, timber, and wine. 联盟城市的船只越过波罗的海和北海的常规的、明确的贸易路线,运载着毛皮、蜡、铜、鱼、谷物、木材和葡萄酒。 取消收藏 收藏句子 [■] These goods were exchanged for finished products, mainly cloth and salt, from western cities. 这些商品从西方城市换来了制成品,主要是布料和盐。 取消收藏 收藏句子 [■] At cities such as Bruges and London, Hanseatic merchants secured special trading concessions, exempting them from all tolls and allowing them to trade at local fairs. 在布鲁日和伦敦等城市,汉萨商人获得了特殊的贸易特许权,免除了所有的过路费,并允许他们在当地集市上交易。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Hanseatic merchants established foreign trading centers, the most famous of which was the London Steelyard, a walled community with warehouses, offices, a church, and residential quarters for company representatives. 汉萨商人建立了对外贸易中心,其中最著名的是伦敦钢场,这是一个有围墙的社区,有仓库、办公室、教堂和供公司代表居住的住宅区。 取消收藏 收藏句子 By the late thirteenth century, Hanseatic merchants had developed an important business technique, the business register. 到十三世纪晚期,汉萨商人已经发展出一种重要的商业技术——商业登记。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Merchants publicly recorded their debts and contracts and received a league guarantee for them. 商人们公开记录他们的债务和合同,并获得联盟担保。 取消收藏 收藏句子 This device proved a decisive factor in the later development of credit and commerce in northern Europe. 这种方法被证明是后来北欧信贷和商业发展的决定性因素。 取消收藏 收藏句子 德国汉萨同盟的经历说明了这些进步。汉萨同盟是1159年由欧洲城镇组成的商业联盟。到14世纪末,该联盟发展到包括从荷兰到波兰的约200个城市。联盟城市的船只越过波罗的海和北海的常规的、明确的贸易路线,运载着毛皮、蜡、铜、鱼、谷物、木材和葡萄酒。这些商品从西方城市换来了制成品,主要是布料和盐。在布鲁日和伦敦等城市,汉萨商人获得了特殊的贸易特许权,免除了所有的过路费,并允许他们在当地集市上交易。汉萨商人建立了对外贸易中心,其中最著名的是伦敦钢场,这是一个有围墙的社区,有仓库、办公室、教堂和供公司代表居住的住宅区。到十三世纪晚期,汉萨商人已经发展出一种重要的商业技术——商业登记。商人们公开记录他们的债务和合同,并获得联盟担保。这种方法被证明是后来北欧信贷和商业发展的决定性因素。
These developments added up to what one modern scholar has called “a commercial revolution.” In the long run, the commercial revolution of the High Middle Ages (A.D. 1000–1300) brought about radical change in European society. One remarkable aspect of this change was that the commercial classes constituted a small part of the total population—never more than 10 percent. 这种变化的一个显著的方面是,商业阶层只占总人口的一小部分——从不超过10%。 取消收藏 收藏句子 They exercised an influence far in excess of their numbers. 他们的影响力远远超过了他们的人数。 取消收藏 收藏句子 The commercial revolution created a great deal of new wealth, which meant a higher standard of living. 商业革命创造了大量的新财富,这意味着更高的生活水平。 取消收藏 收藏句子 The existence of wealth did not escape the attention of kings and other rulers. 财富的存在并没有逃过国王和其他统治者的注意。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Wealth could be taxed, and through taxation, kings could create strong and centralized states. 财富可以征税,通过征税,国王可以建立强大而集权的国家。 取消收藏 收藏句子 In the years to come, alliances with the middle classes were to enable kings to weaken aristocratic interests and build the states that came to be called modern. 在接下来的几年里,与中产阶级结盟使国王能够削弱贵族的利益,建立起后来被称为“现代”的国家。 取消收藏 收藏句子 这种变化的一个显著的方面是,商业阶层只占总人口的一小部分——从不超过10%。他们的影响力远远超过了他们的人数。商业革命创造了大量的新财富,这意味着更高的生活水平。财富的存在并没有逃过国王和其他统治者的注意。财富可以征税,通过征税,国王可以建立强大而集权的国家。在接下来的几年里,与中产阶级结盟使国王能够削弱贵族的利益,建立起后来被称为“现代”的国家。
The commercial revolution also provided the opportunity for thousands of agricultural workers to improve their social position. 商业革命也为成千上万的农业工人提供了改善其社会地位的机会。 取消收藏 收藏句子 The slow but steady transformation of European society from almost completely rural and isolated to relatively more urban constituted the greatest effect of the commercial revolution that began in the eleventh century. 11世纪开始的商业革命的最大影响是欧洲社会缓慢而稳定地从几乎完全的乡村和孤立状态向相对比较城市化的状态转变。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Even so, merchants and business people did not run medieval communities, except in central and northern Italy and in the county of Flanders. 尽管如此,除了在意大利中部和北部以及佛兰德斯郡,商人并没有主导和掌控中世纪的社区。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Most towns remained small. 大多数城镇仍然很小。 取消收藏 收藏句子 The nobility and churchmen determined the predominant social attitudes, values, and patterns of thought and behavior. 贵族和教士决定了占主导地位的社会态度、价值观以及思想和行为方式。 取消收藏 收藏句子 The commercial changes of the eleventh through fourteenth centuries did, however, lay the economic foundation for the development of urban life and culture. 然而,11世纪到14世纪的商业变化确实为城市生活和文化的发展奠定了经济基础。 取消收藏 收藏句子 商业革命也为成千上万的农业工人提供了改善其社会地位的机会。11世纪开始的商业革命的最大影响是欧洲社会缓慢而稳定地从几乎完全的乡村和孤立状态向相对比较城市化的状态转变。尽管如此,除了在意大利中部和北部以及佛兰德斯郡,商人并没有主导和掌控中世纪的社区。大多数城镇仍然很小。贵族和教士决定了占主导地位的社会态度、价值观以及思想和行为方式。然而,11世纪到14世纪的商业变化确实为城市生活和文化的发展奠定了经济基础。