单选题 Two thirds of the U.S. basketball players are black, and the number would be greater ______ the continuing practice of picking white bench warmers for the sake of balance.

A、 was it not because of
B、 had it not been for
C、 were it not for
D、 would it not have been for

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查的是虚拟语气的倒装用法。省略if，将be动词提前，又因为前句是 would be greater，可见是一般现在时的虚拟语气，所以后半句要用were作谓语，因此C项正确。