请教真题12，13 谢谢

merlion

12. Business Consultant: Some corporations shun the use of executive titles because they fear that the use of titles indicating position in the corporation tends to inhibit communication up and down the corporate hierarchy. Since an executive who uses a title is treated with more respect by outsiders, however, use of a title can facilitate an executive’s dealings with external businesses. The obvious compromise is for these 24 executives to use their corporate titles externally but not internally, since even if it is widely known that the corporation’s executives use executive titles outside their organization, this knowledge does not by itself inhibit communication within the corporation.
In the consultant’s reasoning, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?
A. The first presents an obstacle to achieving a certain goal; the second presents a reason for considering that goal to be undesirable.
B. The first is a consideration that has led to the adoption of a certain strategy; the second presents a reason against adopting that strategy.
C. The first describes a concern that the consultant dismisses as insignificant; the second is a consideration that serves as the basis for that dismissal.
D. The first is a belief for which the consultant offers support; the second is part of that support.
E. The first is a belief against which evidence is offered; the second is part of the evidence offered against that belief.

13. A sudden increase in the production of elephant ivory artifacts on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa occurred in the tenth century. Historians explain this increase as the result of an area opening up as a new source of ivory and argue on this basis that the important medieval trade between North Africa and East Africa began at this period.
Each of following, if true, provides some support for the historians’ account described above EXCEPT:
A. In East Africa gold coins from Mediterranean North Africa have been found at a tenth-century site but at no earlier sites.
B. The many surviving letters of pre-tenth-century North African merchants include no mention of business transactions involving East Africa.
C. Excavations in East Africa reveal a tenth-century change in architectural style to reflect North African patterns.
D. Documents from Mediterranean Europe and North Africa that date back earlier than the tenth century show knowledge of East African animals.
E. East African carvings in a style characteristic of the tenth century depict seagoing vessels very different from those used by local sailors but of a type common in the Mediterranean.


i choose B, D. answer E, B. why? 不明白， 请帮帮忙 解释一下。 谢谢了。

cranberry

13，文章的意思是北非的象牙贸易在10世纪突然增加，推测是因为找倒了新的象牙产地，并且推测北非和东非的贸易就是此时开始的。文章暗示了东非是所谓的新象牙产地，b说的是10世纪前没有往来，那么不但不能支持10世纪后开始有贸易，并且可能削弱关于10世纪开始象牙贸易的推测，因为此前如果不知道有大象，那象牙贸易就没有根据了，而E恰好说明10世纪以前就知道东非有大象，不过这些推定都有点勉强，不过B是最好的答案