参考答案：错

解析：[听力原文] Toyota Motor, having topped Daimler-Chrysler’s American unit in sales for the first time last month, may be poised to dethrone Ford Motor as the world’s second-biggest automaker within two years. It has gained market share since the 1970s, in part by improving the quality of the vehicles it makes. That is reflected in higher customer satisfaction ratings and fewer defects.

[分析]： 因果关系的判断。 原文中谈到Toyota Motor公司有可能在两年内位居世界汽车生产第二大厂家时，认为该公司自从20世纪70年代以来市场份额逐渐扩大的部分原因是“improving the quality of the vehicles it makes”，即“提高其所生产汽车的质量”，该因果关系通过信号词“by”表明，而题干混淆并歪曲了这一因果关系，因此其说法是错误的。 [解题关键] 根据信号词对原文语义关系作出正确判断，如原句中by表明了其前后内容的因果关系。