阅读理解 America is used to making the economic weather. It has the world's largest economy, it's most influential central bank and it issued the main global reserve currency. In recent months, however, some rich-world economies(notably German's)have basked in the sunshine even as the clouds gathered over America.
On August 27th America's second-quarter GDP growth was revises down to an annualized 1.6%. That looked moribund compared with the 9% rate confirmed in Germany a few days earlier. America's jobless rate was 9.5% in July. But in Germany the unemployment rate is lower even than before the downturn. Other rich countries, including Britain and Australia, have enjoyed sprightlier recent GDP growth and lower unemployment than America.
This unusual divergence within the rich world has fostered many competing theories to explain it, including differences in fiscal policies, exchange rates and debt levels. Most of these do not quite fit the facts. On one account Germany and, to a lesser extent, Britain have been rewarded for taking a firm grip on their public finances. In this view, the promise to tackle budget deficits has had a liberating effect on private spending by reducing uncertainty. In America, by contrast, anxiety about public debt is making businesses and consumers tighten their purse strings.
The theory is a little too neat. Although credible plans to curb deficits are helpful to medium-term growth, they are unlikely to explain sudden spurts. Britain's budget plans were announced towards the end of the quarter, on June 22nd. Germany's were set out two weeks earlier. They could scarcely explain why GDP growth was strong. Indeed for most of the second quarter, fiscal uncertainty hung over both countries: in Britain because of a close election, in Germany because of commitments to help Greece and other countries.
Perhaps the explanation is found in currency movements. One effect of the euro-area crisis was to push the euro down against the dollar in the early months of this year—helping German firms but harming American exporters. Much of Germany's second-quarter GDP growth came from trade, even as a wider trade gap sapped America's economy. A weak pound could also explain Britain's renewed economic strength, much as a surge in the yen has increased worries about Japan. On August 30th Japan's central bank said it would offer banks ¥ 10 trillion of six-month secured loans at its benchmark interest rate of 0.1%, on top of the ¥20 trillion of three-month loans it had already pledged. It hopes that this flood of money will push down borrowing costs, cap the yen's rise and help exporters.
The currency theory also has holes in it. The yen's surge is too recent to explain why Japan's GDP barely rose in the second quarter. Net trade added almost nothing to Britain's GDP growth in the last quarter. Indeed America's export growth has been much stronger.
The best explanation for the uneven pattern of rich-world activity is also the most prosaic. America's recovery is more advanced and its firms have rebuilt their stocks sooner. Europe's business cycle tends to lag America's by a quarter or two. Recent indicators point to greater convergence. The index of American manufacturing published by the Institute of Supply Management unexpectedly picked up from 55.5 to 56.3 in August. The corresponding indices for the euro area and Britain fell back, to 55.1 and 54.3 respectively. America's economy may have some unique troubles, but its fortunes strongly tied to the rest of the rich world.
单选题 6.The underlines sentence in the 1st paragraph shows that______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】属信息推断题。选项A断章取义,原文只是陈述了美国过去主宰经济环境的事实,而没有预测将来也会。选项B夸大其词,由划线句只能说明美同经济遇到了麻烦,而不能夸张地说其龙头地位下降。选项C过于武断,仅仅是因为德国经济在经济危机后复苏情况较好并不能说明德国就是未来全球经济的领袖,故选项C错误。由划线句我们能看到富裕国家的经济已经开始出现了节奏不一致的情况,美国在经济危机后并没有出现强势复苏的迹象,相反其他富裕国家的经济开始强力反弹,故选项D符合题意。
单选题 7.The major differences lie between American economy and some rich economies exclude ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】属事实细节题。选项A、B、C都能在文中找到对应的信息,选项D犯了扩大范围的逻辑错误,原文只是说伤及了美国出口商的利益,但根据常识,贸易既包括进口也包括出口,故选项D符合题意。
单选题 8.In the author's view, the theory stated in Paragraph 3 is "a little too neat" in that______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】属逻辑关系题。题干对应第四段第一句主题句,本段后面的信息即是对这一主题句的说明。选项A讲的是较少赤字利于经济发展,是符合该理论的,不是说明该理论不完善的原因,故选项A错误。选项B也不是理论有缺陷的原因,故选项B错误。选项C并不能完全解释理论简单的原因,故选项C错误。作者在第四段第二、五句中明确谈到了该理论的缺陷,故选项D符合题意。
单选题 9.On which of the following would the author least probably agree?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】属信息推断题。选项B不合作者的观点,美元作为最为重要的世界货币之一,其地位可想而知,让美元一味的贬值是不符合经济规律的,若让美元对其他外币汇率浮动过大的话不利于世界经济的平稳发展,不利于各国的经济复苏,更不能维护美国的经济利益。
单选题 10.In the last paragraph, the author quoted the manufacturing index to______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】属逻辑关系题。选项A犯了答不对题的逻辑错误。选项B无中生有,文中并无此表述,故选项B错误。选项D犯了同选项A同样的逻辑错误,故选项D错误。作者在第七段的第三句说美国的经济周期要领先其他国家一个或两个经济周期,而之后作者又引用生产指数的数据来证明自己的论断,故选项C符合题意。