Passage 45 (45/63) (OG-30)

龍之哀伤

Passage45 (45/63) (OG-30)Excess inventory, amassive (large in scope or degree “thefeeling of frustration, of being ineffectual, is massive David Halberstam”)problem for many businesses, has several causes, some of which are unavoidable.Overstocks may accumulate through production overruns (a run in excess of the quantity ordered by a customer)or errors. Certain styles and colors prove unpopular. With someproducts—computers and software, toys, and books—last year’s models aredifficult to move even at huge discounts. Occasionally the competitionintroduces a better product. But in many cases the public’s buying tastessimply change, leaving a manufacturer or distributor with thousands (ormillions) of items that the fickle public no longer wants.
One common way todispose of (dispose of: v.处理) this merchandise is to sell it toa liquidator, who buys as cheaply as possible and then resells the merchandisethrough catalogs, discount stores, and other outlets (an agency (as a store or dealer) through which a product ismarketed “retail outlets”). However, liquidators may pay less for themerchandise than it cost to make it. Another way to dispose of excess inventoryis to dump it. The corporation takes a straight cost write-off on its taxes andhauls the merchandise to a landfill. Although it is hard to believe, there is asort of convoluted logic to this approach. It is perfectly legal, requireslittle time or preparation on the company’s part, and solves the problemquickly. The drawback is the remote possibility of getting caught by the newsmedia. Dumping perfectly useful products can turn into a public relationsnightmare. Children living in poverty are freezing and XYZCompany has just sent 500 new snowsuits(snowsuit: n.孩童用防雪装) to thelocal dump. Parents of young children are barely getting by and QRS Companydumps 1,000 cases of disposable diapers because they have slight imperfections.
The managers ofthese companies are not deliberately wasteful; they aresimply unaware of all their alternatives. In 1976 the Internal Revenue Serviceprovided a tangible incentive for businesses to contribute their products tocharity. The new tax law allowed corporations to deduct the cost of the productdonated plus half the difference between cost and fair market selling price,with the proviso that deductions cannot exceed twice cost. Thus, the federalgovernment sanctions—indeed, encourages—an above-cost federal tax deduction forcompanies that donate inventory to charity.



By asserting that manufacturers “aresimply unaware” (line 31), the author suggests which ofthe following?
(A)Manufacturers might donate excess inventory to charity rather than dump it ifthey knew about the provision in the federal tax code.
(B) The federalgovernment has failed to provide sufficient encouragement to manufacturers tomake use of advantageous tax policies.
(C)Manufacturers who choose to dump excess inventory are not aware of the possibleeffects on their reputation of media coverage of such dumping.
(D) Themanufacturers of products disposed of by dumping are unaware of the needs ofthose people who would find the products useful.（A）
(E) Themanufacturers who dump their excess inventory are not familiar with theemployment of liquidators to dispose of overstock.


请教NN们, 我觉得这个"simply unaware"是"承前"的作用, 说的是manager没想到那些穷人们, 而不是"启后"说那个law的.....


不知道该怎么想...