填空题

No event has had such a decisive effect in shaping the attitude of the Irish people towards the British as the Irish Famine. (26) the famine, the most remarkable fact was that it should ever have reached such (27) . Although the potato crop failed, there was plenty of food left in Ireland, and while thousands died because some of it was being exported. Even if the local organisations for (28) a crisis of such magnitude were completely inadequate, more positive and generous action by the British Government could have (29) some of the worst effects. In the light of the large scale Government relief projects (30) today, the supreme irony of all was that the richest nation in Europe should have allowed one of the poorest to starve on its doorstep.
Yet the famine looked very different through nineteen-century eyes. Then, the principles of letting people do things without the government’s interference were generally accepted—in fact, (31) almost sacred. It was thought that people should help themselves, and thus the Government should not (32) . In the case of the Irish famine, it was argued, the Government had done all it could to help.
This argument may or may not be valid, but a little more (33) shown by the Government could have done no harm, and it seems strange that the reports of suffering could have failed to move the Government towards a greater use of its resources. The violent (34) of the British rule was increasingly advocated, and hatred of Britain grew. Few Irish families had not been (35) hit by the famine, and there were even fewer who did not lay the blame fairly and directly at Britain’s door. No event has had such a decisive effect in shaping the attitude of the Irish people towards the British as the Irish Famine. (26) the famine, the most remarkable fact was that it should ever have reached such (27) . Although the potato crop failed, there was plenty of food left in Ireland, and while thousands died because some of it was being exported. Even if the local organisations for (28) a crisis of such magnitude were completely inadequate, more positive and generous action by the British Government could have (29) some of the worst effects. In the light of the large scale Government relief projects (30) today, the supreme irony of all was that the richest nation in Europe should have allowed one of the poorest to starve on its doorstep.
Yet the famine looked very different through nineteen-century eyes. Then, the principles of letting people do things without the government’s interference were generally accepted—in fact, (31) almost sacred. It was thought that people should help themselves, and thus the Government should not (32) . In the case of the Irish famine, it was argued, the Government had done all it could to help.
This argument may or may not be valid, but a little more (33) shown by the Government could have done no harm, and it seems strange that the reports of suffering could have failed to move the Government towards a greater use of its resources. The violent (34) of the British rule was increasingly advocated, and hatred of Britain grew. Few Irish families had not been (35) hit by the famine, and there were even fewer who did not lay the blame fairly and directly at Britain’s door.