小安阅读第七篇第一题

Between the eighth and eleventh centuriesA. D., the Byzantine Empire staged (toproduce or cause to happen for public view or public effect “stage a track meet” “stage a hunger strike”) an almostunparalleled economic and cultural revival, a recovery that is all the morestriking because it followed a long period of severe internal decline. By theearly eighth century, the empire had lost roughly two-thirds of the territoryit had possessed in the year 600, and its remaining area was being raided byArabs and Bulgarians, who at times (attimes: adv.有时, 不时) threatened to takeConstantinople and extinguish the empire altogether. The wealth of the stateand its subjects was greatly diminished, and artistic and literary productionhad virtually ceased. By the early eleventh century, however, the empire hadregained almost half of its lost possessions, its new frontiers were secure,and its influence extended far beyond its borders. The economy had recovered,the treasury was full, and art and scholarship had advanced.

To consider the Byzantine military,cultural, and economic advances as differentiated aspects of a singlephenomenon is reasonable. After all, these three forms of progress have gonetogether in a number of states and civilizations. Rome under Augustus andfifth-century Athens provide the most obvious examples in antiquity. Moreover,an examination of the apparent sequential connections among military, economic,and cultural forms of progress might help explain the dynamics of historicalchange.

The common explanation of theseapparent connections in the case of Byzantium would run like this: when theempire had turned back enemy raids on its own territory and had begun to raidand conquer enemy territory, Byzantine resources naturally expanded and moremoney became available to patronize art and literature. Therefore, Byzantinemilitary achievements led to economic advances, which in turn led to culturalrevival.

No doubt this hypothetical pattern didapply at times during the course of the recovery. Yet it is not clear thatmilitary advances invariably came first, economic advances second, andintellectual advances third. In the 860’s the Byzantine Empire began to recoverfrom Arab incursions so that by 872 the military balance with the AbbasidCaliphate had been permanently altered in the empire’s favor. The beginning ofthe empire’s economic revival, however, can be placed between 810 and 830.Finally, the Byzantine revival of learning appears to have begun even earlier.A number of notable scholars and writers appeared by 788 and, by the lastdecade of the eighth century, a cultural revival was in full bloom (in full bloom: adv.开着花), a revival that lasted untilthe fall of Constantinople in 1453. Thus the commonly expected order ofmilitary revival followed by economic and then by cultural recovery wasreversed in Byzantium. In fact, the revival of Byzantine learning may itselfhave influenced the subsequent economic and military expansion.

Which of the following beststates the central idea of the passage?

(A)The Byzantine Empire was a unique case in which the usual order of military andeconomic revival preceding cultural revival was reversed.

(B) The economic, cultural, and militaryrevival in the Byzantine Empire between the eighth and eleventh centuries wassimilar in its order to the sequence of revivals in Augustan Rome and fifth centuryAthens.

(C) After 810 Byzantine economic recoveryspurred a military and, later, cultural expansion that lasted until 1453.

(D) The eighth-century revival of Byzantinelearning is an inexplicable phenomenon, and its economic and militaryprecursors have yet to be discovered.（E）

(E)The revival of the Byzantine Empire between the eighth and eleventh centuriesshows cultural rebirth preceding economic and military revival, the reverse ofthe commonly accepted order of progress.