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  3. New figures from France, Germany and Italy -- the three biggest economies in the 12-country Eurozone- suggest the continent’s ec

New figures from France, Germany and Italy -- the three biggest economies in the 12-country Eurozone- suggest the continent’s ec

admin2010-07-06  45
问题       New figures from France, Germany and Italy -- the three biggest economies in the 12-country Eurozone- suggest the continent’s economic woes may have been exaggerated.  In France, evidence emerged that consumer spending remained solid in July and August, rising 1.4% and 0.6% respectively. Forecasters had generally expected the July figure to show a 0.1% slippage, with August unchanged. But the figures were flattered slightly by a down grade to the June figure, to 0.7% from 1.5%.
     With manufacturing in the doldrums across Europe and the U. S. , consumer spending has been increasingly seen as the best hope of stopping the global economic slowdown from turning into a recession. The French government said the news proved that the economy was holding up to the strain of the slowdown.
     Meanwhile in Germany, new regional price figures went someway towards calming fears about inflation in Europe’s largest economy -- a key reason for the European Central Bank’s reluctance to cut interest rates 15 states said consumer prices were broadly stable, with inflation falling year on year. The information backed economists’ expectations that inflation for the country as a whole is set to fall back to a yearly rate of 2.1%, compared to a yearly rate of 2.6% in August, closing in on the Euro-wide target of 2%. The drop is partly due to last year’s spike in oil prices dropping out of the year-on-year calculation.
     The icing on the cake was news that Italy’s job market has remained buoyant. The country’s July unemployment rate dropped to 9.4% from 9.6% the month before, its lowest level in more than eight years. And a business confidence survey from quasi-governmental research group ISAE told of a general pick-up in demand in the six weeks to early September.  But the news was tempered by an announcement by Alitalia, the country’s biggest airline, that it will have to get rid of 2,500 staff to cope with the expected contraction as well as selling 12 aeroplanes. And industrial group Confindustria warned that the attacks on U. S. targets meant growth will be about 1.9% this year, well short of the government’s 2.4% target. And it said the budget deficit will probably be about 1.5%, nearly twice the 0.8% Italy’s government has promised its European Union partners.
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the text?
选项 A、The reason for the ECB’s unwillingness to cut interest rates is that inflation was actually expected to fall in Germany.
B、In Germany consumer prices were falling.
C、Last year’s oil prices dropping out of the year-on-year calculation directly leads to the drop of inflation.
D、The European Central Bank is willing to cut interest rate.
答案A
解析 第三段中谈到，德国作为欧洲最大的经济国，其新的区域价格指数在一定程度上安抚了人们对于通货膨胀的恐惧。这是欧洲中央银行直到“9. 11”事件几天之后才决定降低利率的一个关键原因。因此A项“ECB不愿降低利率的原因是期望通货膨胀可以降低”是正确的。
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