单选题 Today the average worker is paid less than $4 an hour in Portugal and $9 an hour in Spain, compared with $13 in Germany and almost $16 in Denmark. Taking accounts of non-wage costs, such as employer"s social-security contributions, the gap is wider still: from $6 in Portugal to $24 in Germany. With the EC"s single market knocking down barriers in intra-European trade, no wonder German companies now seem keener on sunnier climes. But how long will southern Europe"s cost advantage last?
Conventional wisdom argues that greater economic integration within the single market, and later under a single currency, will cause wages to converge. Increased labor mobility, for example, should allow worker to move from low-wage to high-wage economics. Increased trade and cross-border investment should also push labor costs closer.
The experience of the past 20 years seems to confirm this: Spanish wages rose from 29% of German wages in 1970 to 68% in 1991. Italy"s rose from 42% to 74%. If convergence continued at this pace, the gap would vanish within the next 20 years. But a study concludes that the pace of convergence will slow, and that low-wage economics will stay that way for some time. Because of Europe"s linguistic and cultural barriers, labor migration and so pressures for wage convergence—will remain modest.
The study estimates that two-thirds of the existing wage gap between EC countries will remain in 2010. But total labor cost may converge much faster. Non-wage costs will remain about the same. This could be wrong. Non-wage costs now range from 22% of total labor costs in Denmark to 102% in Italy. As more and more companies employ people across Europe, and as 11 of the EC"s 12 govemments move to standardize worker"s right and benefits, such wide disparities are unlikely to survive.
单选题 The German companies now have a burning desire to invest and trade in southern Europe just because ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。该题内容出现在文章第一段。But how long will southeill Europe"s cost advantage last?但是这种成本优势会持续多长时间呢?第三段最后一句讲到，由于语言和劳动力转移等障碍，所以各国之间工资水平趋于平衡的趋势会缓慢下来，说明这种成本优势还将持续一段时间。A选项错误，选项中的decreased偷换了文中的“increased”，请大家注意。B选项错误，因为各国之间交流并不容易，而是有很多的障碍。C选项与本题无关。所以D选项是正确答案。
单选题 According to the passage, why do Denmark companies now seem keener on sunnier climes?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。文中虽然没有直接提到丹麦公司会到一些南欧国家去投资，但是从第一段第一句中可得知丹麦和德国在工资水平上都很高，所以它们二者都有可能去劳动力成本较低的国家投资。结合本题，第一段中讲，由于欧共体的单一市场打破了欧洲国家间的贸易障碍，德国公司热衷于在南欧那些多光照地区投资也就不奇怪了。B与C选项文中均没有提到，所以与题意不符。D选项也不正确，虽然选项中讲到多元市场之间的经济分裂使得工资很难趋于平衡，看上去合理，但不是其直接原因。所以A选项是正确答案。
单选题 According to the passage, all the following statements are false EXCEPT that ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 判断题。A选项错误。因为第二段最后一句讲，这种投资使得劳动力成本的差距在逐渐减小，该选项意思刚好相反。B选项错误，因为第三段中间已经明确讲到这种趋势在今后20年还无法完全消失。C选项错误，第三段最后一句讲，这些障碍已经阻碍了国家之间工资趋于平衡。D选项的内容出现在文中第四段，第二、三、四句印证了这个选项是正确的。所以D选项是正确答案。
单选题 From Paragraph 3, why will labor migration remain modest?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。相关内容出现在文中第三段Because of Europe"s linguistic and cultural barriers, labor migration and so pressures for wage convergence—will remain modest. 由于语言和文化的障碍，使得工资均衡将保持适中的水平，故C选项错误，A和B选项都过于片面。所以D选项是正确答案。
单选题 Compared with wage cost, the non-wage cost differences in EC countries are much more likely to ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。本题内容在文中最后一段。因为许多的公司到欧洲其他国家雇用员工，而且有11个政府已经在劳动者的权利和利益上形成了统一标准，所以在欧洲国家非工资成本之间的差异将逐渐消失。increase dramatically意为“急剧增加”；decline sharply意为“迅速减少”；fluctuate intermittently意为“间歇性波动”。A，B，C选项都不符合文中的内容。所以D选项是正确答案。