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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.
According to the Labor Department, weekly applications for unemployment pension______.
选项 A、have reduced from 348,000 to 5,000 this season
B、have steadily dropped from 355,000 to 348,000
C、have reached the lowest level since February 2008
D、have gradually declined to the lowest in four years
答案C
解析 事实细节题。由定位句可知，劳动部本周四宣布本周申请失业救济金的人数减少了5000人，降低到348000人，这个数字是2008年2月以来的最低数字，故C)“达到了2008年2月以来的最低值”正确。A)“从348000降低到5000”是对原文的错误理解。5000是降低的幅度，而不是一个水平，故排除；B)“从355000稳步下降到348000”不符合原文意思，原文中的355000指四周以来的平均人数，故排除；D)“已经逐步降低到四年内的最低水平”不符合原文，原文中的四年以来的最低水平指四周以来申请失业救济金的平均人数，而不是本周的人数，故排除。
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