首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Could the bad old days of economic decline be about to return? Since OPEC agreed to supply-cuts in March, the price of crude oil
Could the bad old days of economic decline be about to return? Since OPEC agreed to supply-cuts in March, the price of crude oil
admin
2016-11-25
69
问题
Could the bad old days of economic decline be about to return? Since OPEC agreed to supply-cuts in March, the price of crude oil has jumped to almost $ 26 a barrel, up from less than $ 10 last December. This near-tripling of oil prices calls up scary memories of the 1973 oil shock, when prices quadrupled, and 1979 -80, when they also almost tripled. Both previous shocks resulted in double-digit inflation and global economic decline. So where are the headlines warning of gloom and doom this time?
The oil price was given another push up this week when Iraq suspended oil exports. Strengthening economic growth, at the same time as winter grips the northern hemisphere, could push the price higher still in the short term.
Yet there are good reasons to expect the economic consequences now to be less severe than in the 1970s. In most countries the cost of crude oil now accounts for a smaller share of the price of petrol than it did in the 1970s. In Europe, taxes account for up to four-fifths of the retail price, so even quite big changes in the price of crude have a more muted effect on pump prices than in the past.
Rich economies are also less dependent on oil than they were, and so less sensitive to swings in the oil price. Energy conservation, a shift to other fuels and a decline in the importance of heavy, energy-intensive industries has reduced oil consumption. Software, consultancy and mobile telephones use far less oil than steel or car production. For each dollar of GDP (in constant prices) rich economies now use nearly 50% less oil than in 1973. The OECD estimates in its latest Economic Outlook that, its oil prices averaged $22 a barrel for a full year, compared with $ 13 in 1998, this would increase the oil import bill in rich economies by only 0.25 -0.5% of GDP. That is less than one-quarter of the income loss in 1974 or 1980. On the other hand, oil-importing emerging economies—to which heavy industry has shifted—have become more energy-intensive, and so could be more seriously squeezed.
One more reason not to lose sleep over the rise in oil prices is that, unlike the rises in the 1970s, it has not occurred against the background of general commodity-price inflation and global excess demand. A sizable portion of the world is only just emerging from economic decline. The Economist’ s commodity price index is broadly unchanging from a year ago. In 1973 commodity prices jumped by 70% and in 1979 by almost 30%.
From the text we can see that the writer seems______.
选项
A、optimistic
B、sensitive
C、gloomy
D、scared
答案
A
解析
文章第三段第一句“Yet there are good reasons to expect the economic consequences now to be less severe than in the 1970s.”和第四段第一句都指出“Rich economies are also less dependent on oil than they were,and so less sensitive to swings in the oil price.”也就是说各国有很好的理由盼望现在的经济前景会比二十世纪七十年代的情况乐观。发达国家对石油的依赖性较以前有所下降,因而对石油价格变动的敏感度也降低,这些都表明作者是持有乐观态度的。故应选A。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/e6Wd777K
本试题收录于:
公共英语五级笔试题库公共英语(PETS)分类
0
公共英语五级笔试
公共英语(PETS)
相关试题推荐
WhatiscausingglobalwarmingaccordingtoDr.Patz?
WhichofthefollowingsustainabilityprogramsisNOTmentionedinWal-Mart’sreport?
WhichofthefollowingstudentscanmostprobablygetascholarshipatGallaudet?
Peoplewhohavealotofstressaremorelikelytobecomesick.
Thingsmustbegoingwellintheparcelsbusiness.Consumersandcompaniescontinuetoflockindrovestotheinternettobuyan
Thingsmustbegoingwellintheparcelsbusiness.Consumersandcompaniescontinuetoflockindrovestotheinternettobuyan
Grown-ups,asanychildwilltellyou,aremonstroushypocrites,especiallywhenitcomestotelevision.Itistotaketheirmin
Whydidthe1906SanFranciscoearthquakehelpgivebirthtomodernearthquakescience?What’stheauthor’sopiniontowardsthe
______thereisapalacesituatedonthetipofoldConstantinople?______AyaSophiaexperiencedanearthquakewhichmadecentra
Peopletravelforalotofreasons.Some-touristsgotoseebattlefieldsofreligiousshrines.Othersarelookingforculture,o
随机试题
某届“百花奖”评选结束了。甲电影制片厂拍摄的《黄河颂》获得最佳故事片奖,乙电影制片厂拍摄的《孙悟空》获得最佳美术片奖,丙电影制片厂拍摄的《白娘子》获得最佳戏曲片奖。授奖大会以后,甲厂的导演说:“真是有趣得很,我们三个人的姓分别是三部片名的第一个字,而且,我
由于经营思想的不同,在国际企业中一般有哪些管理方式?
一平面简谐波沿x轴正方向传播,t=0时刻波形曲线如图所示,则坐标原点O处质点的振动速度v与时间t的关系曲线为()[img][/img]
流行性腮腺炎并发脑膜脑炎时首要检查是
治疗阵发性室上性心动过速首选使用
某国际工程合同额为5000万元人民币,合同实施天数为300d;由国内某承包商总承包施工,该承包商同期总合同额为5亿人民币,同期内公司的总管理费为1500万元;因为业主修改设计,承包商要求工期延期30d。该工程项目部在施工索赔中总部管理费的索赔额是(
企业投资者买卖基金份额获得的差价收入,应并入企业的应纳税所得额,()企业所得税。企业投资者从基金分配中获得的收入,()企业所得税。
(1)本国货币升值(2)财政收入减少(3)外贸竞争力降低,出口减少(4)公共服务水平降低(5)外向型企业萎缩
新民主主义社会属于( )
以下不能用来创建HTML文档的编辑器是()。
最新回复
(
0
)