TPO16-1 Trade and the Ancient Middle East古代中东与贸易
英语是形合语言，句型句式自有其构成方法，也就使得很多长难句都是“纸老虎”。此篇文章长难句颇多，对句子结构的分析练习可以提高迅速从长句中提取主要信息的能力。
1. Trade was the mainstay of the urban economy in the Middle East, as caravans negotiated the surrounding desert, restricted only by access to water and by mountain ranges. This has been so since ancient times, partly due to the geology of the area, which is mostly limestone and sandstone, with few deposits of metallic ore and other useful materials.(首段首句交代背景及原因，也成为事实信息题考点。)
2. In these shops differences of rank were blurred asartisans and masters labored side by side in the same modest establishment, were usually members of the same guild and religious sect, lived in the same neighborhoods, and often had assumed (or real) kinship relationships.(标红的and连接原因状语从句中的四个并列谓语，此句也细致解释了工作模式。)
3. The growth of independent guilds was furthered by the fact that surplus was not a resultof domestic craft production but resulted primarily from international trading; the government left working people to govern themselves, much as shepherds oftribal confederacies were left alone by their leaders.(修辞目的题出处，体会分号前后两句隐含的关系。)
4. In the multiplicity of small-scale local egalitarian orquasi-egalitarian organizations for fellowship, worship, and production that flourished in this laissez-faire environment, individuals could interact withone another within a community of harmony and ideological equality, following their own popularly elected leaders and governing themselves by shared consensuswhile minimizing distinctions of wealth and power.(本段密集的长难句中也提供了大量信息：排除题出处，试着凝练句子提取信息。)
5. As among tribes people, personal relationships and a careful weighing of character have always been crucial in a mercantile economy with little regulation, where one's word is one's bond and where informal ties of trust cement together an international trade network. (句子简化题出处。)
6. Nor have merchants and artisans ever had much tolerance for aristocratic professions of moral superiority, favoring instead anegalitarian ethic of the open market, where steady hard work, the loyalty of one's fellows, and entrepreneurial skill make all the difference. (排除题出处。)
7. And,like the pastoralists, Middle Eastern merchants and artisans unhappy with theirenvironment could simply pack up and leave for greener pastures—an act of self-assertion wholly impossible in most other civilizations throughout history.(比较信息：细节题出处。)
8. Thecentral state, though often very rich and very populous, was intrinsically fragile, since the development of new international trade routes could underminethe monetary base and erode state power, as occurred when European seafarers circumvented Middle Eastern merchants after Vasco da Gama's voyage around Africa in the late fifteenth century opened up a southern route. (段首句：转折，因果关系并举例，也交代了本段中心内容。修辞目的题出处。)
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