托福阅读修辞目的题技巧

2023-09-02 22:02:3805:58 116

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Dependence on long-distance trade also meant that the great empires of the Middle East were built both literally and figuratively on shifting sand. The central state, though often very rich and very populous, was intrinsically fragile, since the development of new international trade routes could undermine the 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.

In paragraph 5, why does the author mention the new trade route opened up by Vasco da Gama’s fifteenth-century voyage around Africa?
To provide evidence that European seafarers took every opportunity to bypass Middle Eastern merchants
To present an instance in which Middle Eastern states lost money and power because of their reliance on long-distance trade
To argue this new route became necessary when European seafarers wanted to avoid Middle Eastern states whose central power had begun to erode
To explain how da Gama helped European traders avoid the dangerous predators prowling the areas surrounding Middle Eastern cities