Directions: Read the following text carefully and
then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should be
written clearly on ANSWER SHEET 2.
In the long period from 1500 to 1800, western European
nation-states were all influenced by a set of ideas known as mercantilism.
(46) Mercantilist doctrine and institutions were important because they were
held by practical businesspeople and heads of state who strongly influenced
public policy and institutional change. The primary aim of
mercantilists was to achieve power and wealth for the state. To generate an
inflow of gold or silver through trade, the value of exports should exceed the
value of imports. And the state could attain great power only if political and
economic unity became a fact. (47) If all the materials necessary to foster
domestic industry were not available, they could best be obtained by
establishing colonies or friendly foreign trading posts from which such goods
could be imported. And a strong merchant marine could carry foreign goods,
thereby helping to secure favorable trade balances. (48) Mercantilists
believed that these means of achieving national power could be made effective by
the passage and strict enforcement of legislation regulating economic
life. (49) Almost as soon as Virginia tobacco began to be
shipped in commercial quantities to England, King James I levied a tax on it
while agreeing to prohibit the growth of competing tobacco in England.
Taxes, regulation, and subsidies were all used as mercantile policies, but the
primary ones that affected the colonies were the Navigation Acts.
In 1640s, Americans had slipped into the habit of shipping their goods
directly to continental ports, and the Dutch made great inroads into the
carrying trade of the colonies. After the Restoration, England was in a
position to enforce a strict commercial policy, beginning with the Navigation
Acts of 1660 and 1663. Despite the continued modifications to these acts by
policy changes, it is sufficient to note three primary categories of trade
restriction: (50) All trade of the colonies was to be carried
in vessels that were English built and owned, commanded by an English captain,
and manned by a crew of whom three-quarters were English.
All foreign merchants were excluded from dealing directly in the commerce
of the English colonies. They could engage in colonial trade only through
England and merchants resident there. Certain commodities
produced in the colonies could be exported only to England (essentially any
destination within the Empire). These "enumerated" goods included sugar,
tobacco, cotton, indigo, ginger and so on.