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  3. National Rifle Association President Oliver North has been ousted amid internal strife and external pressure. In a statement

National Rifle Association President Oliver North has been ousted amid internal strife and external pressure. In a statement

admin2022-09-20  72
问题     National Rifle Association President Oliver North has been ousted amid internal strife and external pressure.
    In a statement read at the NRA’s annual meeting in Indianapolis on Saturday, North said he would not seek a second term, citing confrontations with board members and donors over what they called extremely high payments to a law firm, a lawsuit against the group’s longtime public relations firm and press reports about alleged financial mismanagement.
    The announcement by North, who said he created a committee to look into the organization’s finances, came a day after NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre issued his own letter to the NRA’s board claiming North had attempted to extort him.
    According to that letter, North told LaPierre that he would send the board a letter alleging sexual harassment by a staff member, a "devastating account" of the NRA’s financial status and accusations of profligate spending on clothes and travel, unless LaPierre resigned from his position and withdrew the NRA from a lawsuit it filed against Ackerman McQueen, the public relations firm it has used for decades.
    "I believe the purpose of the letter was to humiliate me, discredit our Association, and raise appearances of impropriety that hurt our members and the Second Amendment," LaPierre wrote in the letter, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. "I believe our board and devoted members will see this for what it is; a threat meant to intimidate and divide us. I choose to stand and fight, and hope to bring 5 million members with me.
    The internal drama and strife comes as outside pressures mount on the organization, which is manifested in several lawsuits. There have been reports about divisions within the organization over NRATV—operated by Ackerman McQueen—which streams dire, dystopian programming that often has little to do with guns. In the lawsuit, the NRA alleges that Ackerman is refusing to hand over business records, including those involving billing.  The suit said the NRA paid the firm   $40 million in 2017.
    The gun rights group, which spent $ 31 million to help elect President Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, has been operating in the red ever since, according to financial records. During the 2017 fiscal year, the NRA reported it was more than $ 17 million in the red; in 2015, it was more than $ 33 million in the black.
    In a lawsuit last year that the NRA filed against the state of New York, which discouraged insurance companies from carrying the NRA’s insurance product, the organization claimed that it would be "unable to exist" if it were unable to collect donations or safeguard its assets.
    But Winkler, as well as current and former NRA board members, believe it would be wrong to count out the organization, which has gone through numerous ups and downs in its 147-year history. "They’ve been in worse shape; their obituary has been written more times than anyone knows," said Richard Feldman, a former NRA lobbyist. "Anyone who writes off the NRA is kidding themselves. They’ll come back. "
The word "extort"  (Line 3, Para. 3) is closest in meaning to_________’.
选项 A、support
B、retort
C、blackmail
D、ridicule
答案C
解析 词汇题。根据题干信息提示定位到第j三段第三行。
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