急!!!再次请教OG第259题

Redwing

Passage 42

Modern manufacturers, who need reliable sources of materials and technologically advanced components to operate profitably, face an increasingly difficult choice between owning the producers of these items (a practice known as backward integration) and buying from independent producers. Manufacturers who integrate may reap short-term rewards, but they often restrict their future capacity for innovative product development.

Backward integration removes the need for some purchasing and marketing functions, centralizers overhead, and permits manufacturers to eliminate duplicated efforts in research and development. Where components are commodities (ferrous metals or petroleum, for example), backward integration almost certainly boosts profits. Nevertheless, because product innovation means adopting the most technologically advanced and cost-effective ways of making components, backward integration may entail a serious risk for a technologically active company-for example, a producer of sophisticated consumer electronics.

A company that decides to make rather than buy important parts can lock itself into an outdated technology. Independent suppliers may be unwilling to share innovations with assemblers with whom they are competing. Moreover, when an assembler sets out to master the technology of producing advanced components, the resulting demands on its resources may compromise its ability to assemble these components successfully into end products. Long-term contracts with suppliers can achieve many of the same cost benefits as backward integration without compromising a company’s ability to innovate.

However, moving away from backward integration is not a complete solution either. Developing innovative technologies requires independent suppliers of components to invest huge sums in research and development. The resulting low profit margins on the sale of components threaten the long-term financial stability of these firms. Because the ability of end-product assemblers to respond to market opportunities depends heavily on suppliers of components, assemblers are often forced to integrate by purchasing the suppliers of components just to keep their suppliers in business.

259. Which of the following best describes the way the last paragraph functions in the context of

the passage?

(A) The last in a series of arguments supporting the central argument of the passage is presented.

(B) A viewpoint is presented which qualifies one presented earlier in the passage.

我认为B的确是对的,但想请教A错在哪里? 在我看来,全文的第一句话(见红线所画处)是CENTRAL AGRUMENT, 而最后一段通过说明"不能完全没有BACKWARD INTEGRATION"不正好SUPPORT了全文的中心(即"....facing a difficult choice between owining the producers and buying from independent producers")

难道是我对"argument"的含义理解有偏差?它是指论点还是论据呢?

有点糊涂,请教各位! 在此谢过拉!

wangyu73cn

This question asks you to choose the statement that best describes the function of the last

paragraph of the passage. The best answer is B. At the end of the third paragraph, the author

indicates that assemblers benefit from contracting with, rather than owning, independent suppliers.

In the last paragraph, however, the author indicates that contracting with independent suppliers

can itself present problems. Thus the last paragraph qualifies the viewpoint presented at the end of

the third paragraph. Choice A is not the correct answer because the passage makes several points

about backward integration, but does not present a central argument about this topic. Choice C is

not the correct answer because the final paragraph qualifies rather than supports an argument

made in the third paragraph about contracting with independent suppliers. Choices D and E are

incorrect because the final paragraph does not identify questions or present a specific example.

第一句话是中心论点？从OG来看，并不赞成。

harlequin

请教：qualify在选项B中的意思？

使合格or限制？好像都讲不通，根据OG的意思倒好像是“质疑”的意思。

可是qualify没有这个解释阿