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  3. Will the European Union make it? The question would have sounded strange not long ago. Now even the project’s greatest cheerlead

Will the European Union make it? The question would have sounded strange not long ago. Now even the project’s greatest cheerlead

admin2013-11-29  133
问题     Will the European Union make it? The question would have sounded strange not long ago. Now even the project’s greatest cheerleaders talk of a continent facing a "Bermuda triangle" of debt, population decline and lower growth.
    As well as those chronic problems, the EU faces an acute crisis in its economic core, the 16 countries that use the single currency. Markets have lost faith that the euro zone’s economies, weaker or stronger, will one day converge thanks to the discipline of sharing a single currency, which denies uncompetitive members the quick fix of devaluation.
    Yet, the debate about how to save Europe’s single currency from disintegration is stuck. It is stuck because the euro zone’s dominant powers, France and Germany, agree on the need for greater harmonization within the euro zone, but disagree about what to harmonize.
    Germany thinks the euro must be saved by stricter rules on borrowing, spending and competitiveness, backed by quasi-automatic sanctions for governments that do not obey. These might include threats to freeze EU funds for poorer regions and EU mega-projects, and even the suspension of a country’s voting rights in EU ministerial councils. It insists that economic co-ordination should involve all 27 members of the EU club, among whom there is a small majority for free-market liberalism and economic rigor; in the inner core alone, Germany fears, a small majority favour French interference.
    A "southern" camp headed by France wants something different: "European economic government" within an inner core of euro-zone members. Translated, that means politicians intervening in monetary policy and a system of redistribution from richer to poorer members, via cheaper borrowing for governments through common Eurobonds or complete fiscal transfers. Finally, figures close to the French government have murmured, euro-zone members should agree to some fiscal and social harmonization: e.g. curbing competition in corporate-tax rates or labour costs.
    It is too soon to write off the EU. It remains the world’s largest trading block. At its best, the European project is remarkably liberal: built around a single market of 27 rich and poor countries, its internal borders are far more open to goods, capital and labour than any comparable trading area. It is an ambitious attempt to blunt the sharpest edges of globalization, and make capital benign.
Regarding the future of the EU, the author seems to feel______.
选项 A、pessimistic
B、desperate
C、conceited
D、hopeful
答案D
解析 态度题的基本解题思路是“听其言，观其行”，文章最后一段是作者对欧盟的评论，其中largest trading block(最大的贸易区)、liberal(开放的，自由的)、open(开放的)、an ambitious attempt(有雄心的尝试)、benign(温和的，良性的)评论性词语均表明作者对欧盟持正面态度，由此可见选项D．hopeful为本题答案。
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