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

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

游客2023-12-26  61
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] The passage suggests that ______ benefited from the embargo.
选项 A、the Cuban government
B、the US government
C、Cuban workers and entrepreneurs
D、American workers and entrepreneurs
答案 A
解析 意图细节题型，答案是A。本题涉及作者的论证意图，具体考查古巴禁运的受益者。作者意图往往可见于文章及段落首尾处，速读全文可在第三段第一句话找到相关信息点：“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．”只要锁定了enhance一词，就可得出卡斯特罗(亦即古巴政府)为受益者的结论。本题核心：先重点关注段落首尾寻找主旨脉络，后根据关键词确认正确选项。
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