请教补充材料16-16.5

asasasas1

我的很多知识掌握的都有些似是而非，请高手们指点。谢谢！

16题以前讨论过，正确答案的解释我明白了，但是A为什么错还不是很清楚。觉得A好像更好啊，它是不是说大量的客户（customer）不去零售业选购了，而是选择直接从生产厂家（manufacturers）购买。我觉着这个说法既能说明small firms have gone out of business又能说明原因不是出于superstores。

16. The recent upheaval in the office-equipment retail business, in which many small firms have gone out of business, has been attributed to the advent of office equipment “superstores” whose high sales volume keeps their prices low. This analysis is flawed, however, since even today the superstores control a very small share of the retail market.

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument that the analysis is flawed?

(A) Most of the larger customers for office equipment purchase under contract directly from manufacturers and thus do not participate in the retail market.

(B) The superstores’ heavy advertising of their low prices has forced prices down throughout the retail market for office supplies.

(C) Some of the superstores that only recently opened have themselves gone out of business.

(D) Most of the office equipment superstores are owned by large retailing chains that also own stores selling other types of goods。

(E) The growing importance of computers in most offices has changed the kind of office equipment retailers must stock.

5. Archaeologists have found wheeled ceramic toys made by the Toltec, twelfth-century inhabitants of what is now Veracruz. Although there is no archaeological evidence that the Toltec used wheels for anything but toys, some anthropologists hypothesize that wheeled utility vehicles were used to carry materials needed for the monumental structures the Toltec produced.

Which of the following, if true, would most help the anthropologists explain the lack of evidence noted above?

(A) The Toltec sometimes incorporated into their toys representations of utensils or other devices that served some practical purpose.

(B) Any wheeled utility vehicles used by the Toltec could have been made entirely of wood, and unlike ceramic, wood decays rapidly in the humid climate of Veracruz.

(C) Carvings in monument walls suggest that the Toltec’s wheeled ceramic toys sometimes had ritual uses in addition to being used by both children and adults as decorations and playthings.

(D) Wheeled utility vehicles were used during the twelfth century in many areas of the world, but during this time wheeled toys were not very common in areas outside Veracruz.

(E) Some of the wheeled ceramic toys were found near the remains of monumental structures.

这道题A是不是说toys代表具有实际用途的工具模型？这个好像对啊。

himba

原文开头就说“The recent upheaval in the office-equipment retail business”，both small firms & superstores are under retail business. directly buy from manufacture是wholesaling而不是retailing，和原文的主题并没有直接联系。原文的analysis有flaw，那也应该是在解释small firms和superstores的关系中发生的。另外retail business的upheaval和第一个答案中对wholesale business的说明是矛盾的。如果都从厂家直接卖。零售业是不可能upheaval的

后面一题是help to explain the lack of envidence。A的话正好相反，C，D也是，起了反作用，个人觉得答案是B