2. 职称英语
  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2025-01-20  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] The following are the purposes of US sanctions against Cuba EXCEPT______.
选项 A、to change the nature of the Cuban government
B、to liberate Cuban citizens
C、to deprive Cuba of resources
D、to counter military threats from the Soviet Union
答案 C
解析 用词细节题型，答案是C。本题涉及美国制裁古巴的意图。尽管原文未出现purpose这一字眼，但我们仍可凭借how best to、has tried to、in an effort to、rationale等字眼将着眼点锁定在第一段，从undermine the Castro regime可知，A选项“改变古巴政府的性质”无误；从hasten the island’s day of liberation可知，B选项“解放古巴人民”无误；从national security一句可知，D选项“对抗来自苏联的军事威胁”无误。C选项“剥夺古巴的资源”存在对原文的误读，文中原句为deprive it of resources，仔细阅读此处细节可知，承前代词it指的是the regime(即卡斯特罗政权)而非古巴，故选C。本题核心：准确理解原文相关句段中的指示词。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3921223.html
相关试题推荐
随机试题
最新回复(0)