Since the early 1930s, Swiss banks had prided themselves on their system of banking secrecy and numbered accounts. Over the year

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问题     Since the early 1930s, Swiss banks had prided themselves on their system of banking secrecy and numbered accounts. Over the years, they had successfully withstood every challenge to this system by their own government who, in turn, had been frequently urged by foreign governments to reveal in formation about the financial affairs of certain account holders. The result of this policy of secrecy was that a kind of mystique had grown up around Swiss banking. There was a widely held belief that Switzerland was irresistible to wealthy foreigners, mainly because of its numbered accounts and bankers" reluctance to ask awkward questions of depositors. Contributing to the mystique was the view, carefully propagated by the banks themselves, that if this secret was ever given up, foreigners would fall over themselves in the rush to withdraw money, and the Swiss banking system would virtually collapse overnight.
    To many, therefore, it came like a bolt out of the blue, when, in 1977, the Swiss banks announced they had signed a pact with the Swiss National Bank (the Central Bank). The aim of the agreement was to prevent the improper use of the country’s bank secrecy laws, and its effect to curb (遏制) severely the system of secrecy.
    The rules which the banks had agreed to observe made the opening of numbered accounts subject to much closer scrutiny than before. The banks would be required, if necessary, to identify the origin of foreign fund going into numbered and other accounts. The idea was to stop such accounts being used for dubious (可疑的) purposes. Also, they agreed not to accept funds resulting from tax evasion or from crime.
    The pact represented essentially a tightening up of banking rules. Although the banks agreed to end relations with clients whose identities were unclear or who were performing improper acts, they were still not obliged to inform on a client to anyone, including the Swiss government. To some extent, therefore, the principle of secrecy had been maintained.
According to the passage, the widely-held belief that Switzerland was irresistible to wealthy foreigners was________by banks themselves.

选项 A、denied
B、criticized
C、reviewed
D、defended

答案D

解析 第一段的第四句提到,瑞士银行不会向其存款人提难堪的问题,由此推断,银行不会批评或者否定自己,相反,他们会为自己辩护,所以选D。deny:否认。criticize:批评。银行既然维护了顾客的利益,没有理由受到批评。review:复习,意思不对。
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