Travel agents are market intermediaries who make their living by gathering, organizing, and dispensing information about travel-related services that is not readily available to most consumers through new information technologies, such as the internet much of this information can now be made directly available to consumers. Demand for the services of travel agents will be drastically reduced.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
A.Travel agents routinely use the internet and other new information technologies as sources for the information they obtain for their customers.
B.The amount of information available through the internet and other new information technologies is increasing faster than the capabilities of most consumers to process it
C.Many people use travel-related services, such as airlines and hotels without consulting a travel agent.
D.The people who currently use the services of travel agents are also those most likely to gain access to new information technologies
E.The internet and other new information technologies are currently used by a relatively small proportion of the population
本题argument的核心是在于讨论the role of travel agents（TA）。第一层次是说TA的作用（抑或存在价值）主要是提供对大部分消费者来说无法获得的信息，然后第二层次的一个驳论说由于新科技提供了接触这些之前无法触及信息的机会，所以TA的作用被大大削弱了。
这样来看：A选项没有给出这方面的有用信息——我是要证明TA有没有用，而不是它怎么工作；E选项其实可以部分削弱题目的观点，即新科技对TA的传统职能冲击还不是非常大，但是E有缺陷——what if the small proportion using the internet is just the major group of customers for the services of TA?再看B，说信息增长的速度超过了大多数消费者的处理能力，则TA的传统职能——处理信息，就又有了用武之地。 作者: tulip37 时间: 2012-4-5 08:48
