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  3. America’s economic recovery remains uncomfortably weak. The latest data show industrial production falling while the trade defic

America’s economic recovery remains uncomfortably weak. The latest data show industrial production falling while the trade defic

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问题     America’s economic recovery remains uncomfortably weak. The latest data show industrial production falling while the trade deficit soars to record levels. To round off a dismal week for economic statistics, the Fed(美联储)announced that industrial production fell by 0.2% in December compared with the previous month. That came as a disappointment to economists who had been expecting a small rise. Monthly data are always unreliable, of course; there is always a plausible explanation for unexpectedly bad(or good)news. But nearly all recent economic statistics point to the same conclusion— that America’s recovery remains sluggish and erratic. It could put pressure on the Fed to consider cutting interest rates again when its policymaking committee meets at the end of the month.
    The biggest obstacle to healthier economic performance, though, is political. As the Fed’s chairman, Alan Greenspan, acknowledged in the closing months of 2002, uncertainty about the future is holding both investors and consumers back. The shadowy threat of international terrorism and the much more explicit prospect of a war with Iraq have made many Americans nervous about the future. For businesses still reeling from the speed at which the late-1990s boom turned to slump, the political climate is one more reason to put off investing in new plant and equipment or hiring new staff. For consumers, for so long the mainstay of the American economy, the thrill of the shopping mall seems, finally, to be on the wane.
    It is hard to put a favorable interpretation on most of the data. But it is important to keep a sense of perspective. Some recent figures look disappointing partly because they fall short of over-optimistic forecasts — a persistent weakness of those paid to predict the economic future, no matter how often they are proved wrong. The Fed will be watching carefully for further signs of weakness during the rest of the month. Mr. Greenspan is an avid, even obsessive, consumer of economic data. He has made it clear that the Fed stands ready to reduce interest rates again if it judges it necessary — even after 12 cuts in the past two years. At its last meeting, though, when it kept rates on hold, the Fed signaled that it did not expect to need to reduce rates any further.
    Monetary policy still offers the best short-term policy response to weak economic activity, and with the low inflation the Fed still has scope for further relaxation. The former President Bush’s much-vaunted fiscal stimulus is unlikely to provide appropriate help, and certainly not in a timely way.
What factor makes investors put off investing in new plant and equipment?
选项 A、The sluggish economic situation.
B、The direct threat of international terrorism.
C、The possibility of a war with Iraq.
D、Investors’ shortage of capital.
答案C
解析 这是一道细节题。题干中的信号词为put off investing in new plant andequipment，出自于文章第二段第四句话。文章第二段指出：对未来的不确定使得投资者和消费者都望而却步，国际恐怖主义的威胁以及同伊拉克开战的前景使得许多美国人对未来提心吊胆；政治气候是推迟投资新工厂和新设备或者雇用新员工的另一个重要原因。这说明，导致投资者推迟投资新工厂和新设备的原因是国际恐怖主义的威胁、同伊拉克开战的可能性以及政治气候。C说“同伊拉克开战的可能性”，这与文章的意思符合。A明显不是推迟的原因：B不准确，因为文中并没有提到国际恐怖主义的直接威胁：文中没有提到D。
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