历史类文章在托福阅读中几乎占据了半壁江山，古代历史常考古罗马古埃及，东西罗马和金字塔相信大家都非常熟悉了，近代历史偏爱英美发展史，详细介绍工业革命和经贸发展等。除了这些耳熟能详的主流国家地区，威尼斯的发展史也非常亮眼，在历史类文章中常常考到。
威尼斯 （Venice），这座漂浮在水上的城市，以其独特的建筑和浪漫的水道（canals）闻名于世。然而，在历史的长河中，威尼斯不仅仅是一个旅游胜地，它曾经是一个强大的商业帝国，其兴衰历程充满了传奇色彩。让我们通过三篇托福阅读文章一起走进威尼斯的历史，看看托福会用哪些关键词描写这座城市的辉煌与衰落。
威尼斯的崛起：盐贸易的奇迹 Salt and the Rise of Venice (TPO68P1)
威尼斯的崛起与盐贸易（salt trade）有着密不可分的关系。在中世纪（Middle Ages），威尼斯凭借其在盐贸易中的主导地位，迅速成为南欧的商业中心。最初，威尼斯在本土的奇奥贾盐场（saltworks）生产盐，但随着需求的增加（increased demand）和自然灾害的破坏，威尼斯开始从其他地区进口盐。1281年起，威尼斯政府（Venetian government）对进口盐的商人提供补贴（subsidy），使得盐贸易利润丰厚。这一政策不仅让威尼斯商人积累了财富，还使他们能够以低价销售其他商品，如印度香料（Indian spices），从而在欧洲市场上占据优势。
The city of Venice, on Italy’s coastline, achieved commercial dominance of southern Europe during the Middle Ages中世纪 largely because of its extensive trade in the valuable commodity商品 of salt. At first, Venice produced its own salt at its Chioggia saltworks. Then, in the thirteenth century, after a series of floods and storms destroyed about a third of the salt-producing ponds in Chioggia, the Venetians威尼斯人 were forced to import even more salt. Beginning in 1281, the government paid merchants a subsidy补贴 on salt landed in Venice from other areas. As a result of this assistance, shipping salt to Venice became so profitable that the salt merchants could afford to ship other goods at prices that undersold their competitors以低于竞争的价格出售.
威尼斯的盐贸易不仅带来了经济利益，还为城市的基础设施建设提供了资金支持。政府通过盐贸易的税收，修建了宏伟的公共建筑（public buildings）和复杂的水利系统（hydraulic system），以防止城市被海水侵蚀。此外，威尼斯通过控制盐的生产和供应，巧妙地操纵了市场。例如，在13世纪末，威尼斯为了提高盐的市场价格，甚至摧毁了希腊克里特岛的盐场，并禁止当地生产盐。通过这种方式，威尼斯不仅控制了盐的供应，还保持了其在市场上的主导地位。
The salt administration also maintained Venice’s palatial宏伟的 public buildings and the complex hydraulic system水利系统 that prevented the metropolis from washing away. Many of Venice’s grand statues and ornamental buildings were financed by the salt administration. Venice manipulated操控 markets by controlling production. In the late thirteenth century, wishing to raise the world market price, Venice had all saltworks on the Greek island of Crete destroyed, and it banned禁止 the local production of salt.
威尼斯的衰落：造船业的没落 The Decline of Venetian Shipping (TPO25P2)
然而，威尼斯的辉煌并没有持续太久。到了17世纪，威尼斯的经济地位逐渐被其他欧洲国家取代。威尼斯的造船业（shipbuilding）开始衰退，这标志着其经济实力的下滑（economic decline）。在16世纪，威尼斯的造船厂面临着木材短缺（timber shortage）的问题。造船成本日益上升，威尼斯仍坚持使用过时的造船标准（outdated standards），而荷兰（the Netherlands/ the Dutch）等国则创新出了轻型并易于操作的船只。此外，威尼斯的船员短缺问题（shortage of sailors/crews）也日益严重，尽管水手的工资在1550年至1590年间翻了一番，但仍然无法吸引足够的劳动力。
The problem in shipping extended to the Arsenale, Venice’s huge and powerful shipyard造船厂. Timber木材 ran short, and it was necessary to procure it from farther and farther away. As the costs of shipbuilding rose, Venice clung to its outdated过时的 standard while the Dutch were innovating in the lighter and more easily handled ships. The shortage of crews船员 proved to be a greater and greater problem, despite continuous appeal to Venic’s tradition of maritime greatness. Even though sailors’wages doubled among the northern Italian cities from 1550 to 1590, this did not elicit引发引出 an increased supply.
随着葡萄牙航海家达伽马开辟了从好望角到印度的航线，葡萄牙（Portugal）可以绕开欧亚大陆直接通往东方，进一步削弱了威尼斯的贸易地位。这条新航线取代了传统的丝绸之路（Silk Road）和地中海贸易路线（Mediterranean trade routes），使得威尼斯的香料和丝绸贸易失去了其原有的优势。到了17世纪初，威尼斯在法国和南德意志等市场上的垄断地位（monopoly）逐渐丧失。威尼斯的航运业（shipping industry）从1530年开始衰退，到世纪末，已经明显落后于荷兰和英国等新兴的航运大国。
The conventional传统的 explanation for the loss of Venetian威尼斯的 dominance in trade is establishment of the Portuguese direct sea route to the East, replacing the overland Silk Road from the Black sea黑海 and the highly profitable Indian Ocean-caravan-eastern Mediterranean route to Venice. Gradually, Venice’s role as a storage and distribution center for spices and silk, dyes cotton, and gold decayed衰退, and by the early seventeenth century Venice had lost its monopoly in markets such as France and southern Germany. Venetian shipping had started to decline from about 1530-before the entry into the Mediterranean of large volumes of Dutch and British shipping-and was clearly outclassed超越 by the end of the century.
威尼斯的困境：水城的供水问题 Water Supply in Venice（托福真题）
威尼斯的供水问题（water supply）一直是这座城市面临的重大挑战。尽管威尼斯是一个被水环绕的城市，但其居民却常常面临缺水的困境。在中世纪，威尼斯的居民主要依赖水井（wells）来获取饮用水。随着人口的增长，威尼斯开始建造大型的雨水收集池——蓄水池（cisterns）。这些蓄水池通过排水沟和管道（gutters and pipes）收集雨水，为居民提供饮用水。
In the early centuries of settlement in the lagoon泻湖 basin, the populations depended on wells on the nearby coastal沿海的 region. By the ninth century, however, with the increase in population density, cisterns became necessary. Basically, the cisterns were large, covered pits dug into the ground and lined with clay to hold water. The cisterns were located in the city, but unlike the wells, the cisterns were not supplied with water from the lagoon, they collected rainwater instead.
然而，即使有了蓄水池系统（cistern system），威尼斯的供水问题仍然没有得到彻底解决。在干旱时期，威尼斯不得不派遣船队到附近的河流口取水，然后将水卖回城市或倒入蓄水池。
In spite of the expansion of the cistern system, Venice continued to have problems with its water supply, especially during dry periods. Flotillas of boats had to be dispatched派遣 to the mouths河口 of nearby rivers—first to the Bottenigo, then to the Brenta—to fetch fresh water淡水.
此外，威尼斯的运河系统（canal system）也面临着污染的问题。为了保护运河的水质，威尼斯政府在14世纪开始禁止在运河中洗涤布料和倾倒染料（dye）废水。到了15世纪，大多数使用血液或靛蓝（indigo）等染料的染坊(dye works) 都迁移到了城市的边缘地区。
The government was obliged to impose controls, and in the early fourteenth century, the Great Council prohibited禁止 the washing of all cloth and dyed woolens in the canals, adding that water used for dyeing染料废水 could not be flushed into the canals. A century later, however, most of the dye works that used blood or indigo靛蓝 (a dark blue dye) had shifted to the periphery郊区/边缘地区 of the city.
威尼斯的历史是一部充满起伏的传奇。从盐贸易的崛起，到造船业的衰落，再到供水问题的困境，威尼斯经历了从辉煌到衰落的全过程。然而，正是这段历史，塑造了今天这座独特而迷人的水城。威尼斯的故事告诉我们，一个城市的命运不仅取决于其经济实力，还受到技术创新、资源管理和环境因素的综合影响。
尽管威尼斯的经济地位已经不如从前，但它的历史和文化遗产仍然吸引着世界各地的游客，让人们铭记这座曾经的商业帝国。希望这篇托福历史类话题科普文章能让你更了解威尼斯的发展史，记得分享给同样在准备托福考试的朋友们！以下是TPO历史类文章目录，有需要的同学快快练起来吧，老师把《托福阅读学科词汇-历史类》也准备好了，抓紧背起来吧～
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