2019年10月26日托福阅读真题+题目+答案：The Rise of Medieval Towns

2019年10月26日托福阅读真题+题目+答案：The Rise of Medieval Towns

Two manifestations of the vitality of the Late Middle Ages were the rise of towns and the development of a new business and commercial class in Europe. Early medieval society had been traditional, agricultural, and rural, so the appearance of a new class that was none of these constituted a social revolution. The new class--artisans and merchants--came from the peasantry. They were landless younger sons of large families, driven away by land shortage. Or they were forced by war and famine to seek new possibilities. Or, as in central Europe and Spain, they were immigrants colonizing newly conquered lands. Or they were the unusually enterprising and adventurous, curious and willing to take a chance.

Historians have proposed three basic theories to explain the origins of European towns. Some scholars believe towns began as boroughs--that is, as fortifications erected during the ninth-century Viking invasions. According to this view, towns were at first places of defense into which farmers from the surrounding countryside moved when their area was attacked. Later, merchants moved into the fortifications because they had something to sell and wanted to be where there were customers. But most residents of early towns made their living by farming outside the towns.

Belgian historian Henri Pirenne maintained that towns sprang up when merchants who engaged in long-distance trade gravitated toward favorable spots, such as a fort. Usually traders settled just outside the walls, in the faubourgs or suburbs. As their markets prospered and as their number outside the walls grew, the merchants built a new wall around themselves every century or so.。。。。。余下托福阅读真题原文省略！

1. According to paragraph 1, each of the following led people to abandon their traditional rural and agricultural lives to become artisans and merchants EXCEPT

A. a severe scarcity of food

B. the arrival of foreign colonizers

C. a desire for adventure

D. the unavailability of farmland

2. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 1 about most of the people who became artisans and merchants?

A. They were foreigners.

B. They had a previous interest in business or artisan work.

C. They were particularly ambitious.

D. They were forced by circumstances to find a new way to support themselves.

3. According to historian "Henri Pirenne", what was the main factor that led to the rise of towns?

A. The building of forts to protect long-distance traders

B. The availability of materials that could be used to construct protective walls

C. The concentration of merchants in a place favorable for long-distance trading

D. Local merchants' growing acceptance of outsiders

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