【正文】 O Merchants began to trust one another when it became too slow and dangerous for a single merchant to ship coins.6. According to paragraph 3, Hanseatic merchants benefited by all of the following EXCEPTO the use of trading centers in distant citiesO a new system of recording mercial transactionsO the opening of overland trade routes across northern EuropeO access to markets in about 200 cities7. The word decisive in the passage is closest in meaning toO probableO determiningO helpfulO limiting8. Why does the author provide the information in paragraph 4 that the mercial classes never exceeded 10 percent of the population?O To argue that the wealth created by the mercial revolution benefited only a small number of peopleO To challenge the view that the mercial classes made up a majority of the population of EuropeO To suggest a reason that the mercial revolution ended around A. D. 1300O To emphasize the point that the mercial revolution was brought about by a small part of the population9. According to paragraph 4, which of the following was associated with the rise of modem states?O Increased wealth for the ruling classesO The weakening of the aristocracyO The decline of the middle classO A reduction in taxes10. The word alliances in the passage is closest in meaning toO transactionsO municationsO partnershipsO conflicts11. According to paragraph 5, the most important result of the mercial revolutionwas toO simplify the organization of European societyO provide employment to agricultural workersO encourage merchants to bee munity leadersO change Europe from a rural to a more urban society12. Paragraph 5 supports which of the following inferences about the mercial revolution between ad 1000 and 1300?O It had very little impact on social attitudes and values.O It brought about major political changes throughout Europe.O It lessened the influence of the church.O It increased the population of small towns.13. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.While It originated in the German city of Liibeck, it began to expand in 1241 when Liibeck entered into a mutual protection treaty with the city of Hamburg.Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square [■] to add the sentence to the passage.14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.Drag your answer choices to the spaces where they belong To remove an answer choice, click on itTo review the passage, click VIEW TEXTDuring the High Middle Ages (. 10001300), Europe underwent a mercial revolution.Answer ChoicesMerchants adopted new accounting and trading procedures to make longdistance trading more efficient.The faster transportation made possible by improved roads expanded the variety of goods that could be brought to European towns from far away.The increasing importance of mercial trade led to a decline in the influence of traditional sources of power, such as kings and church leaders.The mining of silver improved the security of mercial transactions by allowing coins to replace credit and bills of exchange as the means of exchange.The Hanseatic League was an association of European towns that obtained shipping, trading, and financial benefits for its members.European society became increasingly urban, with better living conditions and a stronger centralized government. the carriers who transported goods by land and sea。 it was excellent in quality but, like any paper, fragile. Mesopotamia’s rivers boasted no such useful reeds, but its land did provide good clay, and as a consequence the clay tablet became the standard material. Though clumsy and bulky it has a virtue dear to archaeologists: it is durable. Fire, for example, which is death to papyrus paper or other writing materials such as leather and wood, simply bakes it hard, thereby making it even more durable. So when a conqueror set a Mesopotamian palace ablaze, he helped ensure the survival of any clay tablets in it. Clay, moreover, is cheap, and forming it into tablets is easy, factors that helped the clay tablet bee the preferred writing material not only throughout Mesopotamia but far outside it as well, in Syria, Asia Minor, Persia, and even for a while in Crete and Greece. Excavators have unearthed clay tablets in all these lands. In the Near East they remained in use for more than two and a half millennia, and in certain areas they lasted down to the beginning of the mon era until finally yielding, once and for all, to more convenient alternatives.The Sumerians perfected a style of writing suited to clay. This script consists of simple shapes, basically just wedge shapes and lines that could easily be incised in soft clay with a reed or wooden stylus。3. Ecosystem Diversity and StabilityConservation biologists have long been concerned that species extinction could have significant consequences for the stability of entire ecosystems—groups of interacting organisms and the physical environment that they inhabit. An ecosystem could survive the loss of some species, but if enough species were lost, the ecosystem would be severely degraded. In fact, it is possible that the loss of a single important species could start a cascade of extinctions that might dramatically change an entire ecosystem. A good illustration of this occurred after sea otters were eliminated from some Pacific kelp (seaweed) bed ecosystems: the kelp beds were practically obliterated too because in the absence of sea otter predation, sea urchin populations exploded and consumed most of the kelp and other m