单选题

"What does the middleman do but add to the price of goods in the shops?" Such remarks are aimed at the intermediate operations between manufacturers and final customers. This practice usually attracts a lot of attention from the public and the press and the operation most talked about is what is often called wholesaling.
The wholesaler buys goods in large quantities from the manufacturers and sells them in smaller parcels to retailers, and for this service his selling price to the retailer is raised several percent higher. But his job is made more difficult by retail demand not necessarily running level with manufacturers' production. Because he adjusts or regulates the flow of goods by holding stock until required, he frees the manufacturer, to some extent, from the effect on production of changing demand and having to bear the whole risk.
The manufacturer can then keep up a steady production flow, and the retailer has no need to hold heavy stocks, who can call on the wholesaler for supplies any time. This wholesale function is like that of a valve in a water pipe. The middleman also bears part of the risk that would otherwise fall on the manufacturer and also the retailer.
The wholesaler provides a purely commercial service, for which he is too well rewarded. But the point that is missed by many people is that the wholesaler is not just someone adding to the cost of goods. It is true one could eliminate the wholesaler but one would still be left with his function: that of making sure that goods find their way to the people who want them.

单选题 "Middleman" in the passage almost equals to all the following in meaning EXCEPT______.

单选题 "This practice" in Paragraph 1 most probably refers to the fact that the middleman______.

单选题 The wholesaler obtains higher selling prices for______.

单选题 A middleman's work may become difficult because______.

单选题 The wholesaler regulates the flow of goods by______.

单选题 The middleman relieves the producer of______.

单选题 What function of the wholesaler is compared to a valve?

单选题 Which of the following statements is true?

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 是非题型。答案出自第四段第一句话The wholesaler provides a purely commercial service, for which he is too well rewarded．A项的意思是人们离不开批发商，在第四段第三句提到one could eliminate the wholesaler，所以排除A。第二段第二行中提到批发商卖给零售商时价格提高了百分之几，第四段中有someone adding to the cost of goods，所以B和C也是错误的。

单选题 The author quite possibly believes that the function of the wholesaler is______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 态度题型。从文章的最后一句It is true one could eliminate the wholesaler but one would still be left with his function：that of making sure that goods find their way to the people who want them．可以看出，虽然批发商并不是必不可缺的，但是必要的。