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  3. International airlines have rediscovered the business traveler. This does not necessarily mean that airlines ever abandoned thei

International airlines have rediscovered the business traveler. This does not necessarily mean that airlines ever abandoned thei

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问题      International airlines have rediscovered the business traveler. This does not necessarily mean that airlines ever abandoned their business travelers, but many airlines were accused of concentrating too heavily in the recent past on attracting passengers by volume, often at the expense of the business traveler.
     Operating a major airline is essentially a matter of finding the right mix of passengers. The airlines need to fill up the back end of their wide-bodied jets with low fare passengers without forgetting that the front end should be filled with people who pay substantially more for their tickets.
     It is no coincidence that the recent two major airlines bankruptcies were among the companies specializing in cheap flights. But low fares require consistently full aircraft to make flights economically viable; and in the recent recession the volume of traffic has reduced. Equally the large number of airliners jostling for the available passengers has created a huge excess of capacity; the net result of excess capacity and cut-throat competition driving down fares has been to push some airlines into collapse and leave many others hovering on the brink.
     Against this grim background, it is no surprise that airlines are turning increasingly towards the business travelers to improve their rates of return; they have invested much time and effort to establish exactly the executive’s demands for sitting apart from the tourists.
     High on the list of priorities is punctuality. In-flight service is another area where the airlines are jostling for the executive’s attention. The free drinks and headsets and better food are other parts of the attention. First-class passengers are now offered sleeperette seats.
     The airlines are also trying to improve things on the ground. Executive lounges are intended to make the inevitable waiting between flights a little more bearable. Luggage handling is being improved. Regrettably, there is little that the airlines can do to speed up the boring immigration and Customs process, which upsets and frustrates passengers of all classes.
     Although it is the airlines’ intention to attract executive passengers from their rivals, the airlines themselves would do nothing to change one bad habit of this kind of traveler--the habit of booking a flight and then failing to turn up. The practice is particularly widespread in Europe, where businessmen frequently book return journeys home on one of several flights. As a result, the airlines throw away empty seats, which cannot be resold. Some airlines have attempted to prevent the practice by offering discounts to passengers who travel on their booked flight. But this inevitably means that the structure of air fares, already highly complex, becomes even more baffling.
What does the phrase "leave many others hovering on the brink" (Para. 3) mean?
选项 A、Make many other airlines prosperous.
B、Force many other airlines to revive.
C、Make many other airlines close to bankruptcy.
D、Lead many other airlines to bankruptcy.
答案C
解析 词义题。文章第三段最后一句话指出，大量班机在争夺现有旅客，这已导致航运能力严重过剩；航运能力过剩的最终结果以及降低费用的残酷竞争已经使一些航空公司破产，使许多其他航空公司在破产的边缘挣扎。这说明，该短语的意思应该是“导致许多其他的航空公司将要破产”。这与C项的意思相符。A、B和D都与文章的意思不符。
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