题目：
The Unity of China
Around 1400,Islamic societies were the most dynamic and expansionist political entities on the Eurasian continent.But it was China whose wealth and power were preeminent.Despite periodic disruption by dynastic upheaval and external invasion,China displayed a political and cultural cohesion unmatched by Europe or the Islamic world.This cohesion had been severely tested, especially in the thirteenth century when China was part of the Mongol empire. After 1370,under the new Ming dynasty, whose founder was a Han, or native Chinese, the unity of the Chinese world was restored and strengthened.
The crucial ingredient of that unity could perhaps be found in China’s social and cultural origins. China had been formed as a result of the cumulative expansion of intensive agriculture from its beginnings in the Northwest, where fertile, fine-grained soils had been exceptionally favorable to close cultivation. A continual process of agricultural colonization carried this Chinese culture across the plains of North China, and then to the Yangtze valley and into the south. Here the basis of agriculture changed, from the wheat and millet of the drier north to the growing of wet field rice. This great southern expansion, absorbing new land and people into the Chinese world, was the crucial stage in the making of China. It added the hugely productive rice-growing region (where double and triple cropping was possible) to the agrarian economy. It brought new crops and commodities from the subtropical south to stimulate a rise in domestic trade. “The north in the past,” claimed a contemporary writer, “profited from dates and millet, neither of which southern China has had at any time. Nowadays, the south enjoys dynamic profits from perfumes and teas, neither of which has ever existed in the north. The north benefits from its hares, the south from its fish. None of these things has been possessed by both north and south.”
The southward expansion also encouraged the relatively rapid emergence between 900 and 1300 of a commercial economy whose geographical regions were physically linked by a network of waterways. With these in place, specialization accelerated (necessities could be brought from some distance away); an elaborate system of credit grew up; and the use of paper money eased the expansion of business. China assembled these basic components of a market economy earlier, and on a much larger scale, than any other part of Eurasia. It reaped the rewards from interregional exchange and the impulse this gave to technical change. Before 1300,a range of innovations in both agriculture and manufacturing(cotton textile weaving was by then well established in the lower Yangtze valley) had been widely adopted, and a culture of innovation favored the diffusion of new techniques.
This remarkable growth path, whose trajectory was quite different from the rest of Eurasia’s, shaped China’s political as well as economic history. To a much greater extent than anywhere else in Eurasia, the commercial economy that made China so wealthy needed the active support of public authority, mainly to build and maintain the waterways. China’s communications, as well as the managing of its fragile environment-dependent on water, threatened by floods-required an unusual degree of bureaucratic liaison between center, province, and district. Second, it was brutally clear that without the union of north and south, the pattern of regional exchange that drove the commercial economy would function poorly at best. That meant exerting effective control over a much larger land area than any other state in Eurasia was able to rule continuously. Thirdly, it was North China’s acquisition of the vast, rich land far from commercial centers and stretching away to the South China Sea that allowed it to meet its main geopolitical challenge-although not all the time. The Chinese empire, with its highly evolved agrarian culture, confronted the nomad empires in the Inner Asian steppe. Indeed much of North China was quite close to areas where nomads often lived, areas where the steppe and cultivated land came closest together. The primary role of the Chinese emperor was to safeguard the frontier against nomadic invaders who threatened to devastate (physically and politically) the emperor’s complex agrarian world. The resources to pay for this protection against invasion depended heavily on the south’s contribution of foodstuffs and trade.
1
Around 1400,Islamic societies were the most dynamic and expansionist political entities on the Eurasian continent.But it was China whose wealth and power were preeminent.Despite periodic disruption by dynastic upheaval and external invasion,China displayed a political and cultural cohesion unmatched by Europe or the Islamic world.This cohesion had been severely tested, especially in the thirteenth century when China was part of the Mongol empire. After 1370,under the new Ming dynasty, whose founder was a Han, or native Chinese, the unity of the Chinese world was restored and strengthened.
According to paragraph 1. how did the Ming period of China differ from the preceding period when China was part of the Mongol empire?
Factual Information Questions事实信息题
AChina became less cohesive than Europe.
BChina was more likely to experience dynastic disruption.
CChina was ruled by native Chinese instead of foreigners.
DChinese wealth and power decreased in relation to the Islamic empires.
2
The crucial ingredient of that unity could perhaps be found in China’s social and cultural origins. China had been formed as a result of the cumulative expansion of intensive agriculture from its beginnings in the Northwest, where fertile, fine-grained soils had been exceptionally favorable to close cultivation. A continual process of agricultural colonization carried this Chinese culture across the plains of North China, and then to the Yangtze valley and into the south. Here the basis of agriculture changed, from the wheat and millet of the drier north to the growing of wet field rice. This great southern expansion, absorbing new land and people into the Chinese world, was the crucial stage in the making of China. It added the hugely productive rice-growing region (where double and triple cropping was possible) to the agrarian economy. It brought new crops and commodities from the subtropical south to stimulate a rise in domestic trade. “The north in the past,” claimed a contemporary writer, “profited from dates and millet, neither of which southern China has had at any time. Nowadays, the south enjoys dynamic profits from perfumes and teas, neither of which has ever existed in the north. The north benefits from its hares, the south from its fish. None of these things has been possessed by both north and south.”
According to paragraph 2, China expanded into the south largely as a result of
Factual Information Questions事实信息题
Aa growing demand for new crops and commodities
Ban ongoing process of acquiring more land for the purpose of growing crops
Cthe invention of double and triple cropping
Dthe desire of southern peoples to join the Chinese world
3
The crucial ingredient of that unity could perhaps be found in China’s social and cultural origins. China had been formed as a result of the cumulative expansion of intensive agriculture from its beginnings in the Northwest, where fertile, fine-grained soils had been exceptionally favorable to close cultivation. A continual process of agricultural colonization carried this Chinese culture across the plains of North China, and then to the Yangtze valley and into the south. Here the basis of agriculture changed, from the wheat and millet of the drier north to the growing of wet field rice. This great southern expansion, absorbing new land and people into the Chinese world, was the crucial stage in the making of China. It added the hugely productive rice-growing region (where double and triple cropping was possible) to the agrarian economy. It brought new crops and commodities from the subtropical south to stimulate a rise in domestic trade. “The north in the past,” claimed a contemporary writer, “profited from dates and millet, neither of which southern China has had at any time. Nowadays, the south enjoys dynamic profits from perfumes and teas, neither of which has ever existed in the north. The north benefits from its hares, the south from its fish. None of these things has been possessed by both north and south.”
In paragraph 2, why does the author include the quotation from a contemporary writer?
Factual Information Questions事实信息题
ATo illustrate how limited to their regions of origin products were before domestic trade between the north and south began
BTo point out how much more productive the north of China was than the south
CTo identify some effects that the southern expansion had on agricultural practices in the north
DTo show that agricultural change continued to occur in China even after the south was absorbed
4
The southward expansion also encouraged the relatively rapid emergence between 900 and 1300 of a commercial economy whose geographical regions were physically linked by a network of waterways. With these in place, specialization accelerated (necessities could be brought from some distance away); an elaborate system of credit grew up; and the use of paper money eased the expansion of business. China assembled these basic components of a market economy earlier, and on a much larger scale, than any other part of Eurasia. It reaped the rewards from interregional exchange and the impulse this gave to technical change. Before 1300,a range of innovations in both agriculture and manufacturing(cotton textile weaving was by then well established in the lower Yangtze valley) had been widely adopted, and a culture of innovation favored the diffusion of new techniques.
The word “elaborate” in the passage is closest in meaning to
Vocabulary Questions词汇题
Acomplex
Bsecure
Cunusual
Dconvenient
5
The southward expansion also encouraged the relatively rapid emergence between 900 and 1300 of a commercial economy whose geographical regions were physically linked by a network of waterways. With these in place, specialization accelerated (necessities could be brought from some distance away); an elaborate system of credit grew up; and the use of paper money eased the expansion of business. China assembled these basic components of a market economy earlier, and on a much larger scale, than any other part of Eurasia. It reaped the rewards from interregional exchange and the impulse this gave to technical change. Before 1300,a range of innovations in both agriculture and manufacturing(cotton textile weaving was by then well established in the lower Yangtze valley) had been widely adopted, and a culture of innovation favored the diffusion of new techniques.
The word “diffusion” in the passage is closest in meaning to
Vocabulary Questions词汇题
Acreation
Bacceptance
Cspread
Dinvestigation
6
This remarkable growth path, whose trajectory was quite different from the rest of Eurasia’s, shaped China’s political as well as economic history. To a much greater extent than anywhere else in Eurasia, the commercial economy that made China so wealthy needed the active support of public authority, mainly to build and maintain the waterways. China’s communications, as well as the managing of its fragile environment-dependent on water, threatened by floods-required an unusual degree of bureaucratic liaison between center, province, and district. Second, it was brutally clear that without the union of north and south, the pattern of regional exchange that drove the commercial economy would function poorly at best. That meant exerting effective control over a much larger land area than any other state in Eurasia was able to rule continuously. Thirdly, it was North China’s acquisition of the vast, rich land far from commercial centers and stretching away to the South China Sea that allowed it to meet its main geopolitical challenge-although not all the time. The Chinese empire, with its highly evolved agrarian culture, confronted the nomad empires in the Inner Asian steppe. Indeed much of North China was quite close to areas where nomads often lived, areas where the steppe and cultivated land came closest together. The primary role of the Chinese emperor was to safeguard the frontier against nomadic invaders who threatened to devastate (physically and politically) the emperor’s complex agrarian world. The resources to pay for this protection against invasion depended heavily on the south’s contribution of foodstuffs and trade.
Which of the following is identified in paragraph 4 as a way that China’s economy differed from the economies of the rest of Eurasia?
Factual Information Questions事实信息题
AIt was more likely to be negatively impacted by environmental damage.
BIt was more independent of public authority.
CIt was more dependent on foreign trade.
DIt required more bureaucratic support.
7
This remarkable growth path, whose trajectory was quite different from the rest of Eurasia’s, shaped China’s political as well as economic history. To a much greater extent than anywhere else in Eurasia, the commercial economy that made China so wealthy needed the active support of public authority, mainly to build and maintain the waterways. China’s communications, as well as the managing of its fragile environment-dependent on water, threatened by floods-required an unusual degree of bureaucratic liaison between center, province, and district. Second, it was brutally clear that without the union of north and south, the pattern of regional exchange that drove the commercial economy would function poorly at best. That meant exerting effective control over a much larger land area than any other state in Eurasia was able to rule continuously. Thirdly, it was North China’s acquisition of the vast, rich land far from commercial centers and stretching away to the South China Sea that allowed it to meet its main geopolitical challenge-although not all the time. The Chinese empire, with its highly evolved agrarian culture, confronted the nomad empires in the Inner Asian steppe. Indeed much of North China was quite close to areas where nomads often lived, areas where the steppe and cultivated land came closest together. The primary role of the Chinese emperor was to safeguard the frontier against nomadic invaders who threatened to devastate (physically and politically) the emperor’s complex agrarian world. The resources to pay for this protection against invasion depended heavily on the south’s contribution of foodstuffs and trade.
All of the following are mentioned in paragraph 4 as needed in order for the Chinese economy to function well EXCEPT
Negative Factual Information Questions否定事实信息题
Acommunications between commercial centers and other areas
Bstorage facilities for excess goods
Cprotection against attacks by outsiders
Dcontrol over a relatively large area of land
8
This remarkable growth path, whose trajectory was quite different from the rest of Eurasia’s, shaped China’s political as well as economic history. To a much greater extent than anywhere else in Eurasia, the commercial economy that made China so wealthy needed the active support of public authority, mainly to build and maintain the waterways. China’s communications, as well as the managing of its fragile environment-dependent on water, threatened by floods-required an unusual degree of bureaucratic liaison between center, province, and district. Second, it was brutally clear that without the union of north and south, the pattern of regional exchange that drove the commercial economy would function poorly at best. That meant exerting effective control over a much larger land area than any other state in Eurasia was able to rule continuously. Thirdly, it was North China’s acquisition of the vast, rich land far from commercial centers and stretching away to the South China Sea that allowed it to meet its main geopolitical challenge-although not all the time. The Chinese empire, with its highly evolved agrarian culture, confronted the nomad empires in the Inner Asian steppe. Indeed much of North China was quite close to areas where nomads often lived, areas where the steppe and cultivated land came closest together. The primary role of the Chinese emperor was to safeguard the frontier against nomadic invaders who threatened to devastate (physically and politically) the emperor’s complex agrarian world. The resources to pay for this protection against invasion depended heavily on the south’s contribution of foodstuffs and trade.
Which of the following was true of the nomads discussed in paragraph 4?
Factual Information Questions事实信息题
AThe Chinese emperor sometimes helped protect them against enemies
BThey occupied lands that were not very distant from parts of China.
CThey were starting to become interested in adopting agriculture.
DTheir empires were collapsing as a result of confrontations.
9
Around 1400,Islamic societies were the most dynamic and expansionist political entities on the Eurasian continent.But it was China whose wealth and power were preeminent.⬛Despite periodic disruption by dynastic upheaval and external invasion,China displayed a political and cultural cohesion unmatched by Europe or the Islamic world.⬛This cohesion had been severely tested, especially in the thirteenth century when China was part of the Mongol empire. ⬛After 1370,under the new Ming dynasty, whose founder was a Han, or native Chinese, the unity of the Chinese world was restored and strengthened.⬛
The crucial ingredient of that unity could perhaps be found in China’s social and cultural origins. China had been formed as a result of the cumulative expansion of intensive agriculture from its beginnings in the Northwest, where fertile, fine-grained soils had been exceptionally favorable to close cultivation. A continual process of agricultural colonization carried this Chinese culture across the plains of North China, and then to the Yangtze valley and into the south. Here the basis of agriculture changed, from the wheat and millet of the drier north to the growing of wet field rice. This great southern expansion, absorbing new land and people into the Chinese world, was the crucial stage in the making of China. It added the hugely productive rice-growing region (where double and triple cropping was possible) to the agrarian economy. It brought new crops and commodities from the subtropical south to stimulate a rise in domestic trade. “The north in the past,” claimed a contemporary writer, “profited from dates and millet, neither of which southern China has had at any time. Nowadays, the south enjoys dynamic profits from perfumes and teas, neither of which has ever existed in the north. The north benefits from its hares, the south from its fish. None of these things has been possessed by both north and south.”
Look at the four squares ⬛ that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage
Fortunately, this period of cultural disruption was relatively brief.Insert Text Questions句子插入题
Where would the sentence best fit？Click on a square sentence to the passage.
10
By the fifteenth century, China had become the wealthiest and most cohesive society in Eurasia.
Prose Summary Questions概要小结题
Select 3 answers
AModern China took shape as intensive farming practices originating in the grain-growing north spread to the wet, rice-growing south and domestic trade increased between the two regions
BChina’s development of an efficient transportation system allowed interregional exchange and led to business expansion. credit and paper money, specialization, and technical innovation.
CChina’s commercial economy could not operate successfully without help from authorities with such tasks as maintaining transportation routes and protecting the borders against threats.
DAlthough the people and lands of southern China became part of the larger Chinese world, political power and wealth continued to be concentrated in the north.
EChina expanded more rapidly than other countries, which explains both its unusually active support for public authority and its culture of innovation.
FThe southern expansion largely eliminated a major problem for the Chinese emperors, namely the safeguarding of China’s frontiers against the invasions of nomadic empires from the steppes.
