131. Bank depositors in the United States are all financially protected against bank failure because the government insures all individuals' bank deposits. An economist argues that this insurance is partly responsible for the high rate of bank failures, since it removes from depositors any financial incentive to find out whether the bank that holds their money is secure against failure. If depositors were more selective, then banks would need to be secure in order to compete for depositors' money. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the economist's argument? (A) Before the government started to insure depositors against bank failure, there was a lower rate of bank failure than there is now. (B) When the government did not insure deposits, frequent bank failures occurred as a result of depositors' fears of losing money in bank failures. (C) Surveys show that a significant proportion of depositors are aware that their deposits are insured by the government. (D) There is an upper limit on the amount of an individual's deposit that the government will insure, but very few individuals' deposits exceed thislimit. (E) The security of a bank against failure depends on the percentage of its assets that are loaned out and also on how much risk its loans involve.
解释 The argument that deposit insurance, because of its impact on depositors’ choices of banks, is partially responsible for the high rate of bank failures would be weakened if deposit insurance also prevented certain bank failures. Choice B suggests that deposit insurance does prevent certain bank failures, and is thus the best answer.
Choice A weakly supports the view that insuring deposits contributes to bank failures. Choice C supports the economist’s position that depositors take the safety of deposits into account. Choice D supports the argument’s relevance by indicating that virtually all depositors can afford to be nonselective. It follows that none of these three choices is correct. Choice E is incorrect because it fails to establish any connection between deposit insurance and the factors controlling bank failures. 疑问： E选项的解释是－－－“没有建立任何A和B之间的联系”。 可是如果没有搞错的话，削弱题的正确答案也可以是“他因”啊.这个E不就是一个典型的他因型削弱吗， 尽管没有B好， 可是OG的解释也太不服人了吧。 请NN点拨！！
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