探讨：GWD-9-5

Q4 to Q7:
By the sixteenth century, the Incas
of South America ruled an empire that
extended along the Pacific coast and
Line Andean highlands from what is now
(5) Ecuador to central Chile. While most
of the Incas were self-sufficient
agriculturists, the inhabitants of the
highland basins above 9,000 feet were
constrained by the kinds of crops they
(10) could cultivate. Whereas 95 percent
of the principal Andean food crops can
be cultivated below 3,000 feet, only
20 percent reproduce readily above
9,000 feet. Given this unequal
(15) resource distribution, highland Incas
needed access to the products of
lower, warmer climatic zones in order
to enlarge the variety and quantity of
their foodstuffs. In most of the prein-
(20) dustrial world, the problem of different
resource distribution was resolved by
long-distance trade networks over
which the end consumer exercised
little control. Although the peoples
(25) of the Andean highlands participated
in such networks, they relied primarily
on the maintenance of autonomous
production forces in as many ecological
zones as possible. The
(30) commodities produced in these
zones were extracted, processed,
and transported entirely by members
of a single group.

This strategy of direct access
(35) to a maximum number of ecological
zones by a single group is called
vertical economy. Even today,
one can see Andean communities
maintaining use rights simultaneously
(40) to pasturelands above 12,000 feet, to
potato fields in basins over 9,000 feet,
and to plots of warm-land crops in
regions below 6,000 feet. This
strategy has two principal variations.
(45) The first is “compressed verticality,”
in which a single village resides in
a location that permits easy access
to closely located ecological zones.
Different crop zones or pasturelands
(50) are located within a few days walk of
the parent community. Community
members may reside temporarily
in one of the lower zones to manage
the extraction of products unavailable
(55) in the homeland. In the second variation,
called the “vertical archipelago,”
the village exploits resources in widely
dispersed locations, constituting a
series of independent production
(60) “islands.” In certain pre-Columbian
Inca societies, groups were sent from
the home territory to establish permanent
satellite communities or colonies
in distant tropical forests or coastal
(65) locations. There the colonists grew
crops and extracted products for their
own use and for transshipment back
to their high-altitude compatriots.
In contrast to the compressed
(70) verticality system, in this system,
commodities rather than people
circulated through the archipelago.

Q5:
According to the passage, the inhabitants of the Andean highlands resolved the problem
of unequal resource distribution primarily in which of the following ways?
A. Following self-sufficient agricultural practices
B. Increasing commodity production from the ecological zones in the highland
basins
C. Increasing their reliance on long-distance trade networks
D. Establishing satellite communities throughout the Andean highlands
E. Establishing production forces in ecological zones beyond their parent
communities

参考答案是A，我选E.

原文中：

While most
of the Incas were self-sufficient
agriculturists,

Although the peoples
(25) of the Andean highlands participated
in such networks, they relied primarily
on the maintenance of autonomous
production forces in as many ecological
zones as possible.

说明：Following self-sufficient agricultural practices的是most of the Incas, 而the inhabitants of the Andean highlands 则通过Establishing production forces in ecological zones beyond their parent communities来解决the problem of unequal resource distribution.

Discussion welcome!

"they relied primarily
on the maintenance of autonomous
production forces in as many ecological
zones as possible"

Primarily may be the clue to chose A, this paraphrase the Andean people mainly focus on their controlable reginon to supply food stuff.

多谢！

但我还是觉得应该选E。

请讨论！

偶的感觉A的回答比E更全面.

原文: they relied primarily on the maintenance of autonomous production forces in as many ecological zones as possible. 文章的侧重点在autonomy的保留上. 答案A更直接对应.

多谢讨论。

但我想，从文中的这句话来看：

While most
of the Incas were self-sufficient
agriculturists, the inhabitants of the
highland basins above 9,000 feet were
constrained by the kinds of crops they
(10) could cultivate.

the inhabitants of the Andean highlands与most of the Incas的self-sufficient形成了一种对比，所以我感觉E更准确一些。

同意E,

问题问inhabitants of the Andean highlands

While most
of the Incas were self-sufficient
agriculturists, the inhabitants of the
highland basins above 9,000 feet were
constrained by the kinds of crops they
(10) could cultivate.

while A, B, 就是高原人民没有办法通过self-sufficient来解决问题。

E.更加准确，而且和文章讨论的中心符合，

我就觉得还是A

尽管有楼上说的while..强对比取非，但原文接下去又说 Although the peoples of the Andean highlands participated in such networks, they relied primarily on the maintenance of autonomous production forces in as many ecological zones as possible.,  

选项 E只是是两种autonomous strategies 中的一种，是典型的以偏盖全。

The above sounds reasonable, but I do not think the above sentance implies that the inhibitants of the highland were not self-sufficient - it only says basins above 9000 feet.

I think A is more appropriate.

Let's discuss.

E. Establishing production forces in ecological zones beyond their parent
communities

E 错就错在BEYOND上，应该是within.

Different crop zones or pasturelands
(50) are located within a few days walk of
the parent community.

我开始选了B，觉得它象是这段的改写：

they relied primarily
on the maintenance of autonomous
production forces in as many ecological
zones as possible. The
(30) commodities produced in these
zones were extracted, processed,
and transported entirely by members
of a single group.

谁能告诉我，B哪里错了？B. Increasing commodity production from the ecological zones in the highland basins

是不是Increasing原文未提？