III. 篇章結構：10％，每題 2 分
During the period from 1648 to 1780, Europe was not well off everywhere. Famine was
the occasional collective crisis in the life of the poor. 33 Poverty was the normal
condition of at least half the people of Europe. Of this mass the more fortunate did certainly
live in a reasonably secure way: they were those who had sufficient land, perhaps 15 acres or
more, or a regular living wage. 34 Below those fortunate ones ranged a great many who
could slide into the pit of destitution at any time. Because of the lack of realizable assets, debt
was a familiar condition everywhere: unlikely to be repaid, usually the start of a progressive
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decline. 35 It might be illness or injury to a bread winner, the failure of a crop or the
death of a cow—any one such event could be fatal.
There was a tendency to marry later, while a surprisingly high proportion of western
European girls, between 10 to 15 percent, did not marry at all. Among the rest, almost half
married after the age of 25. 36 On the other hand, there was generally no understanding
of birth control for the poor, though in desperation a couple might practice some voluntary
abstinence.
37 The prevalence of infanticide has a grim significance. A drain opened in Rennes in
the course of rebuilding in 1721 revealed the skeletons of eighty babies suffocated in the first
hours of life.
(A) Anyone who possesses neither goods nor chattels is destined to fall into misery at the
least accident.
(B) The poor had no reserves, and the third or fourth child was a disaster for many young
families.
(C) Nature has way of restoring the precarious balance between people and resources.
(D) As the price of bread soared beyond the earning capacity of the poor, the church began to
take over obligations of relief.
(AB) This was the key to the rate of child-bearing—the real contraceptive weapon of classical
Europe.
(AC) Whatever the variants, the essence of the situation was that enough was earned to provide
the daily bread.
【題組】34.
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