54. What do the officials hope to achieve through the drills?
- A. Coordinating various disaster-relief efforts.
- B. Reducing casualties in the event of a disaster.
- C. Minimizing property loss caused by disaster.
- D. Establishing disaster and emergency management.
答案：B
答案句：Thousands of casualties are expected if a 9.0 earthquake were to occur. … Not all casualties can necessarily be prevented-but by coordinating across local, state, and even national borders, officials hope that the worst-case scenario can be averted.
参考译文：如果发生9.0级地震，预计将有数千人伤亡。……并非所有伤亡都能必然避免，但通过跨地方、跨州甚至跨国界的协调，官员们希望最坏的情况能够避免。
定位线索：题干“officials hope to achieve through the drills”→答案句“officials hope that the worst-case scenario can be averted”；文中“casualties”和“worst-case scenario”对应选项B“Reducing casualties in the event of a disaster”。
解析：题干问官员希望通过演习实现什么。答案句提到“Thousands of casualties are expected”和“officials hope that the worst-case scenario can be averted”，即希望避免最坏情况（大量伤亡），对应B项“减少灾害中的伤亡”。A项“协调救灾工作”是手段而非目的，C项“减少财产损失”原文未提及，D项“建立灾害应急管理”是演习的产出而非目标，均不准确。