The Black Death, a severe epidemic that ravaged fourteenth-century Europe, has intrigued scholars ever since Francis Gasquet's 1893 study contending that this epidemic greatly intensified the political and religious upheaval that ended the Middle Ages. Thirty-six years later, historian George Coulton agreed but, paradoxically, attributed a silver lining to the Black Death: prosperity engendered by diminished competition for food, shelter, and work led survivors of the epidemic into the Renaissance and subsequent rise of modern Europe.
In the 1930s, however, Evgeny Kosminsky and other Marxist historians claimed the epidemic was merely an ancillary factor contributing to a general agrarian crisis stemming primarily from the inevitable decay of European feudalism. In arguing that this decline of feudalism was economically determined, the Marxist asserted that the Black Death was a relatively insignificant factor. This became the prevailing view until after the Second World War, when studies of specific regions and towns revealed astonishing mortality rates ascribed to the epidemic, thus restoring the central role of the Black Death in history.
This central role of the Black Death (traditionally attributed to bubonic plague brought from Asia) has been recently challenged from another direction. Building on bacteriologist John Shrewsbury's speculations about mislabeled epidemics, zoologist Graham Twigg employs urban case studies suggesting that the rat population in Europe was both too sparse and insufficiently migratory to have spread plague. Moreover, Twigg disputes the traditional trade-ship explanation for plague transmissions by extrapolating from data on the number of dead rats aboard Nile sailing vessels in 1912. The Black Death, which he conjectures was anthrax instead of bubonic plague, therefore caused far less havoc and fewer deaths than historians typically claim.
Although correctly citing the exacting conditions needed to start or spread bubonic plague, Twigg ignores virtually a century of scholarship contradictory to his findings and employs faulty logic in his single-minded approach to the Black Death. His speculative generalizations about the numbers of rats in medieval Europe are based on isolated studies unrepresentative of medieval conditions, while his unconvincing trade-ship argument overlooks land-based caravans, the overland migration of infected rodents, and the many other animals that carry plague.
文章概况：这篇文章属于比较讨厌的多重观点对照型文章，刚开始就说黑死病对政治和宗教产生了一些不好的影响，后面出现转折，有一个家伙认为黑死病还是有一些好处的。第二段又转了，说黑死病不是一个什么危机的主要因素，这个危机的主要原因是经济方面的。第三段开头就说有另外一帮人从不同的角度有一次分析黑死病，并且说黑死病导致的死亡人数比预计的要少很多。最后一段说上面那段的人的研究有一些问题，后面详细叙述了问题所在。
5 D
The passage is primarily concerned with
(A) demonstrating the relationship between bubonic plague and the Black Death
(B) interpreting historical and scientific works on the origins of the Black Death
(C) employing the Black Death as a case study of disease transmission in medieval Europe
(D) presenting aspects of past and current debate on the historical importance of the Black Death
(E) analyzing the differences between capitalist and Marxist interpretations of the historical significance of the Black Death
问主旨，我们来看选项
A 证明瘟疫和黑死病之间的关系，文章是围绕黑死病谈的，没有围绕瘟疫和黑死病之间的关系谈，杀
B 问绕黑死病的起源谈的，文章说得好像是黑死病带来的影响不是起源，反了，杀
C 拿黑死病作为一个研究的案例来研究病毒传播，没提，杀
D 对于黑死病的重要性的过去和现在的探讨，文章谈的就是黑死病的影响并且说不同人的看法，此选项沾边，留着
E 主要围绕两种不同的人对于黑死病的观点的差异谈的，文章谈的不是不同观点之间的差异，杀
6 C
The passage suggests that Twigg believes that rats could not have spread the Black Death unless which of the following were true?
(A) The rats escaped from ships that had been in Asia.
(B) The rats were immune to the diseases that they carried.
(C) The rat population was larger in medieval Europe than Twigg believes it actually was.
(D) The rat population primarily infested densely populated areas.
(E) The rats interacted with other animals that Twigg believes could have carried plague.
问老鼠在什么情况下就会导致黑死病，根据题干中的 Twigg believes that rats我们应该可以定位到文章的倒数第二段的这句话 Building on bacteriologist John Shrewsbury's speculations about mislabeled epidemics, zoologist Graham Twigg employs urban case studies suggesting that the rat population in Europe was both too sparse and insufficiently migratory to have spread plague.大致意思是老鼠数量不足所以不能导致瘟疫，这句话已经可以回答问题，问题问的是在什么条件下老鼠就能传播黑死病，这句话告诉我老鼠数量是影响黑死病传播的因素，也就是说老鼠要想传播黑死病，这个条件应该和老鼠的数量有点关系，我们来看选项，只有CD两个选项和老鼠数量有关系，C谈的是老鼠数量多少问题，而D谈的本质就不是数量问题而是老鼠占地盘的问题，选C
7 E
Which of the following statements is most compatible with Kosminsky's approach to history, as it is presented in the passage?
(A) The Middle Ages were ended primarily by the religious and political upheaval in fourteenth-century Europe.
(B) The economic consequences of the Black Death included increased competition for food, shelter, and work.
(C) European history cannot be studied in isolation from that of the rest of the world.
(D) The number of deaths in fourteenth-century Europe has been greatly exaggerated by other historians.
(E) The significance of the Black Death is best explained within the context of evolving economic systems.
根据题干中的人名我们可以知道这道题考的应该是文章第二段内容，这段内容大概说得是，K这个家伙认为黑死病不是导致危机得主要原因，主要原因和经济有关系，我们来看看选项。
A说得是宗教和政治，这是文章第一段内容，不能回答问题，杀
B 说黑死病导致的结果增加对于食物，住所和工作的竞争，也是文章第一段谈到的，不能回答问题，杀
C 文章根本就没提过，杀
D 说死亡数量被夸大，没提，杀
E 说黑死病的主要性最好在经济系统里被谈到，文章讲的就是黑死病重要性，并且也和经济有联系，留。
8 B
The "silver lining to the Black Death" (the highlighted text) refers to which of the following?
(A) The decay of European feudalism precipitated by the Black Death
(B) Greater availability of employment, sustenance, and housing for survivors of the epidemic
(C) Strengthening of the human species through natural selection
(D) Better understanding of how to limit the spread of contagious diseases
Immunities and resistance to the Black Death gained by later generations
问文章第一段那个词汇什么意思，这个词汇所在那句话有个冒号，冒号就已经告诉我们冒号后面的内容就会把这个词汇解释清楚，我们读一下：prosperity engendered by diminished competition for food, shelter, and work led survivors of the epidemic into the Renaissance and subsequent rise of modern Europe.
说由于竞争食物住所和工作导致的繁荣使得当代欧洲出现了。我们来看选项
A European feudalism的销亡，没说过，杀
B 说就业和住房问题，和原文内容有关系，留着
C 说人类和自然选择，很扯的一个选项，杀
D 说病毒的传播，没说，杀
E 后代免疫功能增强，没说，杀。
