单选题 The fire caused great losses, but the factory tried to ______ the consequences by saying that the damage was not as serious as reported.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】minimize减到最低限度；decrease(使)减少，下降；subtract减去，做减法；扣除；degrade使堕落，降低；使分解。句意：火灾已造成巨大损失，但工厂却说损失没报道的那样严重，竭力对火灾的后果做最低估计。