首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
考研
【F1】It is the world’s fourth-most-important food crop, after maize, wheat and rice, which provides more calories, more quickly,
【F1】It is the world’s fourth-most-important food crop, after maize, wheat and rice, which provides more calories, more quickly,
admin
2016-03-22
35
问题
【F1】
It is the world’s fourth-most-important food crop, after maize, wheat and rice, which provides more calories, more quickly, using less land and in a wider range of climates than any other plant.
It is, of course, the potato.
The United Nations has declared 2008 the International Year of the Potato. It hopes that greater awareness of the merits of potatoes will contribute to the achievement of its Millennium Development Goals, by helping to alleviate poverty, improve food security and promote economic development. It is always the international year of this or month of that.【F2】
But the potato’s unusual history means it is well worth celebrating by readers of The Economist because the potato is intertwined with economic development, trade liberalisation and globalisation.
Unlikely though it seems, the potato promoted economic development by underpinning the industrial revolution in England in the 19th century. It provided a cheap source of calories and was easy to cultivate, so it liberated workers from the land. Potatoes became popular in the north of England, as people there specialised in livestock farming and domestic industry, while farmers in the south(where the soil was more suitable)concentrated on wheat production.【F3】
By a happy accident, this concentrated industrial activity in the regions where coal was readily available, and a potato-driven population boom provided ample workers for the new factories.
Friedrich Engels even declared that the potato was the equal of iron for its "historically revolutionary role".
The potato promoted free trade by contributing to the abolition of Britain’s Corn Laws—the cause which prompted the founding of The Economist in 1843. The Corn Laws restricted imports of grain into the United Kingdom in order to protect domestic wheat producers.【F4】
Landowners supported the laws, since cheap imported grain would reduce their income, but industrialists opposed them because imports would drive down the cost of food, allowing people to spend more on manufactured goods.
Ultimately it was not the eloquence of the arguments against the Corn Laws that led to their abolition—and more’ s the pity. It was the tragedy of the Irish potato famine of 1845, in which 1 million Irish perished when the potato crop on which they subsisted succumbed to blight.【F5】
The need to import grain to relieve the situation in Ireland forced the government, which was dominated by landowners who backed the Corn Laws, to reverse its position.
This paved the way for liberalisation in other areas, and free trade became British policy. As the Duke of Wellington complained at the time, "rotten potatoes have done it all."
【F4】
选项
答案
土地拥有者支持这项法律,因为便宜的进口粮食会让他们的收入减少,但工厂主则反对这项法律,因为进口会让食品价格降低,这样人们就会把更多的钱花在工业产品上。
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/Z0Z7FFFM
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
There’salotofmoneyinreligion.Lookatthetax-freeincomeofAmericanTVevangelists,oratStPeter’sandallthegoodies
ScientistsinBelgiumspentmonthsbuildingroboticversionsofthedreadedverminandthenletthemlooseinacommunityofrea
AcupunctureisabranchoftraditionalChinesemedicinethatinvolvesinsertingfineneedlesatselectedpointsontheskintob
[A]AmongthereasonsIwouldn’tsendmyownchildtoboardingschoolisthatbeingaroundone’sadolescentpeers24hoursaday
TheImportanceofIntegrity诚心的重要性Writeanessayof160-200wordsbasedonthedrawing.Inyouressay,youshould1)describeth
Humanlanguageisthesubjectofendlessscientificinvestigation,butthegesturesthataccompanyspeechareasurprisinglyneg
Suicide,proclaimedAlbertCamus,aFrenchAlgerianauthor,philosopher,andjournalist,in"TheMythofSisyphus",istheonly
Formostofthe20thcentury,Asiaaskeditselfwhatitcouldlearnfromthemodern,innovatingWest.Nowthequestionmustber
Aslongaspeoplehavelookedupatthenightsky,theyhavewonderedwhetherhumanityisaloneintheuniverse.ofplacesclose
"Poverty",wroteAristotle,"istheparentofcrime."Butwasheright?Certainly,povertyandcrimeare【C1】______.Andtheidea
随机试题
消费流行趋势信息属于()
A.维生素B1B.维生素AC.维生素CD.维生素EE.维生素P脚气病是缺乏
治疗心衰使用扩张血管药硝普钠时护士除观察血压、心率外,还应注意
A.行政许可B.行政处罚C.行政复议D.行政诉讼某公民对药品监督管理部门拒绝颁发药品经营许可证的决定不服,可以向人民法院提出()。
出口信贷专指由()而提供的中长期贷款。
火车:轨道:行驶
Thishypothesisstatesthatenvironmentsthataretoocleanmayactuallymakethe______systemdevelopoversensitiveresponses.
根据上下文,文中空格“______”处阿什克罗夫特的话最有可能是()。文中第二段“挤压”灾难发生的原因是()。
(Either)oftheseyoungladies(are)perfectly(qualified)(toteach)GreekandLatin.
Oftenheardpeoplecomplainabout,whynotmyface,whysobadweathertoday,whydoIliveinsuchapoorfamily,whyGodtold
最新回复
(
0
)