Sales of existing homes rose by the largest amount in more than 5 years in September. But analysts cautioned against reading too

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问题     Sales of existing homes rose by the largest amount in more than 5 years in September. But analysts cautioned against reading too much into the gain, noting that it reflected conditions before the latest upheaval in financial markets increased the likelihood of a recession in the overall economy.
    The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes rose by 5.5 percent from August to September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.18 million units—far better than the depressed results analysts had expected. On an unadjusted basis, sales were up 7.8 percent from September last year.
    But even with the gain in sales, prices kept falling. But analysts said that the current financial crisis, which has contributed to the biggest upheavals on Wall Street since the 1930s, was sending consumer confidence down, unemployment up and had greatly increased the prospects that the country was either in or about to enter a full-blown recession. All these factors were expected to add to the headwinds hitting housing in the months ahead.
    "In October, mortgage applications sank to six-year lows," said Sal Guatieri, an economist at BMO Capital Markets. "This suggests house sales, like the rest of the economy, fell off a cliff because of the worsening credit crunch."
    Many analysts are predicting that home prices already down 18 percent nationally from their peak in mid-2006—could decline another 10 percent, as a continued glut of foreclosed homes being poured into the market depresses prices further.
    The National Association of Realtors estimated that 35 percent to 40 percent of sales currently are distressed sales—either foreclosed homes or short sales in which the owner is selling the house for less than the value of the mortgage.
    Distressed sales are having a big impact in lowering prices in some formerly red-hot sales markets in such regions as the West, where sales prices fell in September by 18.5 percent from a year ago.
    Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors, said there were some glimmers of hope that the bottom of the housing slump may be near. He said a sales turnaround first seen in California was beginning to broaden to other regions of the country including Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, and Rhode Island.
Which of the following is true according to Paragraph 1?

选项 A、Sales of existing home consistently increase in recent five years.
B、Analysts warn people against reading too much report about the increasing sale.
C、Increasing existing home sales reflect the bad conditions in financial markets.
D、Increasing existing home sales increase people’s preference of the recession.

答案C

解析 本题无关键词,属于段落定位题,根据题目要求定位第一段。根据第一段内容可知,现有住房的销售量在九月实现的最高增长反映了最近金融市场动荡所面临的情况(the latest upheaval in financial markets),选项C的bad conditions与原文upheaval(动荡)的含义相同,为正确答案。根据第一句话可知,现有住房的销售量在九月实现了五年多来的最高增长(rose by the largest amount),但并不能说明现有住房的销售量近五年来一直在增加,因此选项A属于无中生有。在第二句话中,分析人士警告说不要对这个增长过度解读(reading too much into the gain),并不是警告人们不要过多地看销售增长的报告,因此选项B曲解文意。另外,文中没有提到现有住房销售的增长对人们偏好的影响,因此选项D无中生有,而且从常识看,没有人喜欢经济衰退,所以选项D也属于违背常识。第一段:分析人士警告住房销售量增长是金融危机的反映。
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