The past five years have been a bad time to be a taxpayer in Europe. Across the continent, governments have relied heavily on tax rises to cut budget deficits, increasing the total burden by almost 5% of GDP in France and Greece. But rather than raise taxes any further, many countries are starting to cut them. The European Commission reckons that the euro zone's tax-to-GDP ratio stabilised in 2013 and is now falling. In January France announced plans to cut payroll taxes by 30 billion. This month Italy unveiled income-tax cuts worth 10 billion for those earning less than 25,000 a year. This week Britain proposed tax cuts for most people on low or medium incomes. Ireland and Spain are also planning tax cuts later this year. Lower taxes may be popular, but how are such giveaways being financed? Few countries have the scope to borrow much more. The commission has criticised France and Spain for repeatedly missing their deficit-reduction targets, though it is not taking action against them. Italy's high level of public debt, which hit 133% of GDP in 2013, has also landed it on the commission's fiscal "watch list". Instead, most countries plan to pay for their tax proposals with public-spending cuts. Italy says it will reduce spending by an extra 7 billion this year and save a further 2. 2 billion thanks to lower yields on its debt—though these figures may prove optimistic. The politicians hope that lower taxes will boost growth. As euro-zone countries cannot devalue or lower their own interest rates, tax cuts are one of the few ways of trimming business costs fast, says Guillaume Menuet at Citigroup. France and Italy both hope to improve their competitiveness by reducing the tax "wedge" between employers' costs and what workers actually take home. In 2012 this tax take reached nearly 50% of the payroll bill in France and Italy, against an OECD average of just 36%. Some economists doubt that cutting income tax, Italy's approach, is the best way forward. Instead, they favour slashing Europe's high employer-paid social security charges, as France proposes to do. This would directly lower labour costs, encouraging companies to hire extra workers as well as to increase their investment. That would also give a welcome boost to growth.

单选题 In the past half decade, Europeans have suffered from______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：细节题。根据题干in the past half decade“在过去5年”定位到首段第一句：the past five years，再根据Europeans一词定位到首段首句的Europe，确定答案来源为第一段。而首句仅仅帮助我们定位，具体答案来自下一句：Across the continent，governments have relied heavily on tax rises to cut budget deficits．“在整个欧洲，政府严重依靠税收增长来减少预算赤字。”由此可以知道第一句提到“过去5年对于欧洲纳税人来说是一段艰难的时光”的原因，是“税收增长”，即[C]项heavy revenue“繁重的税收”。[B]budget deficit是迷惑选项，定位句中Across the continent，governments have relied heavily on tax rises to cut budget deficits，出现了[B]选项，财政赤字是政府遭遇的状况，而欧洲人面临的是繁重的税收。

单选题 It can be inferred from the second paragraph that______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：推理题。定位到第二段。选项[A]all domestic taxes，soon等词过于肯定，从该段第一句提到France的句子中未能推断出来，故该项错误。选项[B]对应该段第三句，该句提到“英国提议减少大多数中低收入人群的税收”，故该项推理“减税对于一些英国人来说是好消息”是正确的。选项[C]对应第二句，该句指出：意大利为年薪低于2．5万欧元的人减税，但是有多少人并不知道，故该项的most people benefit无法推断出来，该项错误。选项[D]对应最后一句，原文只是提到爱尔兰计划减税，并没有提到针对哪些群体，故该项错误。综上，答案为[B]。

单选题 France and Spain have been blamed for______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：细节题。根据题干France and Spain，blamed for等词定位到第三段第三句：The commission has criticised France and Spain for repeatedly missing their deficit-reduction targets，though it is not taking action against them．其中blamed=criticised；而原文for之后的内容就是答案来源句，即repeatedly missing their deficit-reduction targets“一次又一次未达到减少赤字的目标”，与之相等的选项是[D]，其中being unable to=missing；reduce their deficit=their deficit-reduction targets；故[D]为正确答案。

单选题 According to the last paragraph, some economists______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：细节题。定位到最后一段前两句：Some economists doubt that cutting income tax，Italy’s approach，is the best way forward．Instead，they favour slashing Europe’s high employer-paid social security charges，as France proposes to do．选项[A]prefer Italy’s approach to France与they favour…as France proposes to do相悖，这些经济学家赞同法国的提议，而非意大利。故选项[A]是错误的。选项[B]favour slashing employers’salaries“赞同减少雇主工资”与原文they favour slashing…employer-paid social security“他们赞同减少雇主支付的社会保险”不符，故错误。选项[C]agree to reduce the costs of employees“赞同降低员工成本”与they favour slashing…social security．This would directly lower labour costs一句相符，故正确。选项[D]对应首句Some economists doubt that cutting income tax…，对于减税这些经济学家持怀疑态度，而非“认为减税是唯一手段”，故[D]项错误。该题答案为[C]。

单选题 The author's attitude towards France's proposal seems to be______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：态度题。根据France’s proposal定位到最后一段最后两句：．．．as France proposes to do．This would directly lower labour costs，encouraging companies to hire extra workers as well as to increase their investment．That would also give a welcome boost to growth．这两句话可以表明作者态度，其中directly lower labour costs“直接降低劳动力成本”，encouraging companies“鼓励企业”，increase their investment“增加投资”，和give a welcome boost to growth“大大促进增长”这些信息都在表明作者对于法国提议的态度，是积极、认可的，故[A]favorable“赞同的”为答案。