Business travel dropped dramatically last year. The U.S. Travel Association says roughly $215 billion was spent on business trav

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问题     Business travel dropped dramatically last year. The U.S. Travel Association says roughly $215 billion was spent on business travel in 2009, down from $244 billion in 2008. The travel industry predicts an increase this year. There was a 1.5% increase in spending on travel and entertainment during the first quarter of 2010 compared with that period last year, says Mike McCormick, executive director of the National Business Travel Association, or NBTA, and a 2.8% increase during the first quarter of 2010 over the fourth quarter of 2009.
    And that travel can spur more — for competitive reasons. "The stabilising and growing economy puts companies, competitors, back out on the road — especially the sales departments," says Kevin Mitchell of the Business Travel Coalition. "So you can’t really sit back like you were able to comfortably do through most of 2009, comforted in the knowledge that most of your competitors were scaling travel way back as well."
    Some business-travel analysts say that for businesses to profit and grow, travel is essential. An NBTA study conducted by HIS Global Insight determined that for every dollar spent on corporate travel, the average business would see $15 in profits. "The only way to grow sales is to go out and get them," McCormick says. "All it takes is for a company to lose that piece of business because their competitor showed up and they didn’t, and they’re back on the road."
    Ultimately when evaluating whether to hit the road, corporate travel experts say, companies are trying to figure if the potential for revenue in the near future or down the line is greater than the cost of the trip. Such decisions are often as much art as science. They depend on many factors, including a company’s priorities, the service or product it’s selling, and the status of a particular client relationship and transaction. "It’s very much down to individual companies and what they prioritise," says Eric Bausman, of Carlson Wagonlit Travel, a global firm that helps companies manage corporate travel programmes.
Why could some companies sit back comfortably through most of 2009?

选项 A、There was a stable and growing economy.
B、Most companies hadn’t taken business travel as a way to compete.
C、The majority of their competitors reduced business travel as they did.
D、There were fewer competitors for every kind of companies.

答案C

解析 第2段末句凯文·米切尔说,你不能像2009年的大多数时候那样舒舒服服地安心坐在办公室,因为那时候你知道大多数竞争对手也在削减旅行。C)是对原文的同义转述,故为答案。
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