The US Embargo Against Cuba The real dividing line in U.

游客2023-12-26  9

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. [br] From "The embargo had a national security rationale before 1991", we learn that______.

选项 A、a majority of Americans adamantly supported the Cuba embargo before 1991
B、the Bush administration called for the embargo on Cuba before 1991
C、the US Defense Intelligence Agency insisted on the Cuba embargo before 1991
D、the US government had grounds for the embargo before 1991

答案 D

解析 用词细节题型,答案是D。此题题干存在两个关键词:national security和rationale,分别意为“国家安全”和“根据、理据”,故题干意为“1991年之前美国对古巴实行禁运是基于国家安全的考虑”。在四个选项中,A选项为“1991年之前大多数美国人积极支持对古巴禁运”,词句理解存在错误,未将national security视为一个词组,而是将national一词单独分出理解为“全国的”,同时将rationale误解为另一常见词morale(士气,信念)。B选项为“1991年之前布什政府号召对古巴实行禁运”,行为主体存在错误,根据文章和逻辑判断可知,1991年布什还未上台。C选项为“1991年之前美国国防情报局坚持对古巴实行禁运”,属于过度添加,从句子本身而言无法解读出“国防情报局”这样具体的行为主体(原文确实在第二段提及了国防情报局,但仅涉及其1998年时对禁运的态度,且陈述与题干内容相反)。只有D选项“1991年之前美国政府对古巴实行禁运是有理由的”符合题干逻辑。本题核心:准确把握national security和rationale的含义。
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