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  3. The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications for unemployment pension dropped 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348

The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications for unemployment pension dropped 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348

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问题     The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications for unemployment pension dropped 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348 ,000,the lowest level since February 2008. The four-week average of applications, a less unstable measure, dipped to 355,000. That’s also a four year low.
    Applications have steadily declined since last fall. The drop has coincided with the best three months of hiring in two years. From December through February, employers added an average of 245, 000 jobs per month. That’s pushed down the unemployment rate to 8.3% , the lowest in three years.
    Companies are hiring more because the economy is picking up. The economy grew at an annual rate of 3% in the final three months of last year. That was better than the 1. 7% rate in the previous quarter.
    There are other signs the economy is steadily recovering. Consumers are more confident and have stepped up spending. Auto sales are rising. Even the housing market is showing signs of improving.
    January and February comprised the best winter for sales of previously occupied homes in five years, according to figures released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors. January sales were the most since May 2010, the final month that a federal tax credit for home buyers was available. Sales dipped in February but were still 13% higher than six months earlier.
    Developers are even seeking to build more homes. Requests for permits to build single-family homes and apartments rose 5% last month. That brought the annual rate for permits to the highest since October 2008, though they are still running at about half the rate of a healthy market.
    One concern is that rising gas prices will force consumers to cut back on discretionary (可自由支配的) spending. That could weigh on economic growth and slow hiring. The Federal Reserve says it expects oil and gas prices to temporarily boost inflation but predicts that longer-term inflation should remain stable.
    The job market still has a ways to go to fully recover from the Great Recession. More than 12.8 million people remain unemployed and the economy still has 5 million fewer jobs than before the downturn.
    But the booming job market has caused some so-called " discouraged workers" to start looking ahead again. The work force rose by nearly a half-million in February.
The rise of gas prices could______.
选项 A、have a negative impact on economy and employment
B、damage the consumers’ confidence in oil and gas market
C、encourage the consumers to increase the discretionary spending
D、trigger a long-term inflation as expected by the Federal Reserve
答案A
解析 推理判断题。定位句中的that指的是本段首句提到的内容，即上涨的油价会迫使消费者削减可自由支配的开销。而定位句中则指出这会对经济增长产生压力，同时也会减缓雇佣，故A)“对经济和就业产生负面影响”正确。B)“破坏消费者对石油市场的信心”未在原文提及，故排除；C)“鼓励消费者增加可自由支配的花费”和原文相反，故排除；D)“导致美联储所预测的长期的通货膨胀”和原文相反，原文提到美联储预测通货膨胀是暂时的，故排除。
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