研究所、轉學考(插大)、學士後-英文題庫下載題庫

The word “Famine” in Ireland usually refers to the Great Famine of 1845-49, which killed about a million people and drove millions more into exile over the following two decades. Those who perished, as usual with famines, died more of disease than starvation. In fact 30 In most famines, there is enough food around the place. The problem lies in bringing the food and the hungry people together. In other words, famines are usually caused by people’s inability to buy food, not by its total absence. 31 The bug which blighted the potato crop year after year seems to have caused an absolute food shortage in the country. Some nationalists point angrily to the fact that food nevertheless went on being exported to Britain during the Famine. 32 But some historians claim that keeping this food in the country might not have made that much difference. 33 After all, Ireland at the time was supposed to be part of the United Kingdom and there was more than enough food in the UK as a whole.