Passage 1 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.
【題組】32.
(A) There are poignant accounts of desperate men and women attacking food convoys
and being beaten off by British soldiers.
(B) Even some high-placed Irish officials did not think so, although the event did stir up a
hatred of the Irish at that time.
(C) You may come across the odd Famine graveyard in your travels, pits where people
were buried together without coffins.
(D) It is hard to argue that the British relief operation was anything like adequate, even
by standards of the time.