托福阅读真题+题目+答案：Europe in the High Middle Ages

托福阅读真题+题目+答案：Europe in the High Middle Ages

1. For 500 years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 A.D., a period known as the early Middle Ages, Europe endured an age of political instability, economic decline, and reduced population. But as the millennium approached, the situation began to improve. Toward the end of the tenth century, an increase in the amount of crop-producing land was accompanied by an increase in population, with the potential for that number to rise even higher. The increase in agricultural production came about as a result of a combination of factors, the most prominent of which were changing methods of field management and improvements in agricultural technology.

2. For much of the early Middle Ages, peasants continued the Roman practice of dividing their fields in two leaving one fallow, or uncultivated, for a year, and planting their crops in the other half. Fallow land restored its nutrients, but the practice meant that half the land produced nothing every year. In southern Europewith its drier climatethis system of two-field crop rotation continued, but in northern Europe, peasants improved on this system by dividing their land into three parts. One they left fallow, another they planted in the spring, and the third they planted with winter crops. This three-field crop rotation, dependent on more rainfall than southern Europe received, meant that two-thirds instead of one-half of a peasant's land was under production in one year.

3. Related to the changes in crop rotation were improvements in plows and animal harnessing. More land under cultivation spurred experimentation in the construction of plows. Peasants attached wheels to their plows, which made it easier for oxen to pull them through the heavier, wetter soil of northern Europe, and made it possible for a plow to move more quickly down a rowprovided it had a speedy animal pulling it.

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托福阅读真题题目：

1..Paragraph 2 suggests that the land-management practices developed in the north could not have been adopted in southern Europe because

A. the southern climate was too dry

B. southern farmers were too strongly tied to traditional Roman farming practices

C. the new practice would have required much additional farmland, which was lacking in the south

D. southern farmers had already developed a new crop-rotation system

2..Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

A. Peasants had to attach wheels to their plows to make it possible for their oxen to plow the heavy, wet soil of northern Europe.

B. With speedy oxen pulling the plow, peasants were able to plow the heavy soil of northern Europe.

C. Adding wheels to a plow made plowing the heavy soil of northern Europe much easier and potentially faster.

D. Attaching wheels to a plow made it necessary to use speedier animals.

3..According to paragraph 4, what initially kept farmers from using horses to pull their plows

A. Horses moved too quickly for traditional farmwork.

B. Farmers did not have access to many horses.

C. Horses were thought to be too weak to pull plows.

D. The traditional harness was unsuitable for horses.

4..According to paragraph 4, farmers found horses to be better than oxen for pulling plows for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:

A. Horses are smarter than oxen.

B. Horses can pull plows faster.

C. Horses are able to plow for longer periods of time.

D. Horses do not need verbal signals to turn and stop.

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