The US Embargo Against Cuba The real dividing line in U. S. policy toward Cuba is how best to undermine the Castro regime and

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问题                      The US Embargo Against Cuba
   The real dividing line in U. S. policy toward Cuba is how best to undermine the Castro regime and hasten the island’s day of liberation. For almost half a century, the U. S. government has tried to isolate Cuba economically in an effort to undermine the regime and deprive it of resources. Since 1960, Americans have been barred from trading with, investing in, or traveling to Cuba. The embargo had a national security rationale before 1991, when Castro served as the Soviet Union’s proxy in the Western Hemisphere. But all that changed with the fall of Soviet communism. Today, more than a decade after losing billions in annual economic aid from its former sponsor, Cuba is only a poor and dysfunctional nation of 11 million that poses no threat to American or regional security.
   A 1998 report by the U. S. Defense Intelligence Agency concluded that, "Cuba does not pose a significant military threat to the U. S. or to other countries in the region. " The report declared Cuba’s military forces "residual" and "defensive." Some officials in the Bush administration have charged that Castro’s government may be supporting terrorists abroad, but the evidence is pretty shaky. And even if true, maintaining a comprehensive trade embargo would be a blunt and ineffective lever for change.
   As a foreign policy tool, the embargo actually enhances Castro’s standing by giving him a handy excuse for the failures of his homegrown Caribbean socialism. He can rail for hours about the suffering the embargo inflicts on Cubans, even though the damage done by his domestic policies is far worse. If the embargo were lifted, the Cuban people would be a bit less deprived and Castro would have no one else to blame for the shortages and stagnation that will persist without real market reforms.
   If the goal of U. S. policy toward Cuba is to help its people achieve freedom and a better life, the economic embargo has completely failed. Its economic effect is to make the people of Cuba worse off by depriving them of lower-cost food and other goods that could be bought from the United States. It means less independence for Cuban workers and entrepreneurs, who could be earning dollars from American tourists and fueling private-sector growth. Meanwhile, Castro and his ruling elite enjoy a comfortable, insulated lifestyle by extracting any meager surplus produced by their captive subjects.
The author opposes the embargo for the following reasons EXCEPT______.

选项 A、it cost US farmers and other producers billions of dollars of potential exports
B、it deprived Americans of their freedom to travel
C、it curbed the growth of US private sectors
D、it harmed Cuban citizens

答案C

解析 构句细节题型,答案是C。本题在形式上属于是非排除题型,不过得出正确答案仍有赖于对构句细节的正确把握。其中B选项可通过第一段的barred from……traveling to Cuba得到确认,A、D选项可通过“make the people of Cuba worse off by depriving them of lower-cost food and other goods that could be bought from the United States”得以确认。C选项涉及的private sectors一词出现在“It means less independence for Cuban workers and entrepreneurs,who could be earning dollars from American tourists and fueling private-sector growth.”中,原文private-sector之前没有限定词指明到底是哪个国家的私营部门,我们可根据语法规则还原分句结构如下:who could be fueling private-sector growth,who代指巴西工人及企业家,可见此处所指是古巴而非美国的私营部门,由此可判定C为应排除项。本题核心:正确甄别语法结构,勿因就近的American tourists而将private-sector理解为美国的私营部门。
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