Selection to participate in a top executive-education program is an important rung on the ladder to top corporate jobs. U. S. corporations (1) billions of dollars in this form of management development -- and use it to (2) and train fast-track managers. Yet one (3) of executive education found that less than 5% of the managers (4) to these high-profile programs are women -- and minorities are terribly (5) as well.
The numbers are (6) . In regular business (7) usually paid for by the participant, not an employer -- there are plenty of women and minorities. Women, for example, (8) for about 30% of MBA candidates. Yet in the (9) programs paid for by corporations that round out a manager’s credentials at a (10) career point, usually at age 40 or 45, companies are making only a (11) investment in developing female and minority executives. A case (12) point: Only about 30% of the 180 executives in Stanford’s recent (13) management program were women.
Most companies say these days they are (14) hiring and promoting women and minorities-- and there are some (15) trends in overall employment and pay levels so why are companies (16) the ball when it (17) executive education The schools (18) that they are neither the cause of nor the cure for the problem. A Harvard Business School dean figures that companies are (19) of sending their female executives (20) they don’t want to lose them to competitors.
9（）
A.privileged
B.prestigious
C.preferable
D.professional
参考答案：B
解析：
形容词辨析与上下文理解题。4个选项的意思分别是privileged“享有(或授予)特权的，特许的”； prestigious“有威望的，有声望的”；preferable“更可取的，更好的”；professional“职业的”。因为前文中曾讲述普通的培训的费用由参加者自己支付的，有很多的妇女和少数民族人士参加。而本句话与之相对的另一种培训，这种培训很有名，由公司出资。从上下文判断，B符合题意。