单选题 "You are not here to tell me what to do. You are here to tell me why I have done what I have already decided to do," Montagu Norman, the Bank of England's longest-serving governor (1920-1944), is reputed to have once told his economic adviser. Today, thankfully, central banks aim to be more transparent in their decision making, as well as more rational. But achieving either of these things is not always easy. With the most laudable of intentions, the Federal Reserve, America's central bank, may be about to take a step that could backfire.
Unlike the Fed, many other central banks have long declared explicit inflation targets and then set interest rates to try to meet these. Some economists have argued that the Fed should do the same. With Alan Greenspan, the Fed's much-respected chairman, due to retire next year—after a mere 18 years in the job—some Fed officials want to adopt a target, presumably to maintain the central bank's credibility in the scary new post-Greenspan era. The Fed discussed such a target at its February meeting, according to minutes published this week. This sounds encouraging. However, the Fed is considering the idea just when some other central banks are beginning to question whether strict inflation targeting really works.
At present central banks focus almost exclusively on consumer-price indices. On this measure Mr. Greenspan can boast that inflation remains under control. But some central bankers now argue that the prices of assets, such as houses and shares, should also somehow be taken into account. A broad price index for America which includes house prices is currently running at 5.5%, its fastest pace since 1982. Inflation has simply taken a different form.
Should central banks also try to curb increases in such asset prices? Mr. Greenspan continues to insist that monetary policy should not be used to prick asset-price bubbles. Identifying bubbles is difficult, except in retrospect, he says, and interest rates are a blunt weapon: an increase big enough to halt rising prices could trigger a recession. It is better, he says, to wait for a housing or stock market bubble to burst and then to cushion the economy by cutting interest rates—as he did in 2001-2002.
And yet the risk is not just that asset prices can go swiftly into reverse. As with traditional inflation, surging asset prices also distort price signals and so can cause a misallocation of resources—encouraging too little saving, for example, or too much investment in housing. Surging house prices may therefore argue for higher interest rates than conventional inflation would demand. In other words, strict inflation targeting—the fad of the 1990s—is too crude.

单选题 The word "minutes" (Line 6, Paragraph 2) most probably means______.
[A] record
[B] new-letter
[C] announcement
[D] motive

单选题 According to the text, it is upsetting that the Federal Reserve does not take into account inflation targets______.
[A] until what to do is clarified
[B] until explicit inflation targets are declared
[C] until increases in asset prices are curbed
[D] until its efficiency is cast doubt on

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[考点解析] 这是一道细节题，测试考生识别和理解原文中币要信息的能力。本题的答案信息来源于原文第二段的倒数第一、二句，这两句的大意是：“这听起来令人鼓舞。但是，美联储刚刚开始考虑这个想法，此时其他一些中央银行开始质疑精确的通货膨胀的目标是否的确起作用”。这表明美联储的动作晚了一步。由此可以推断本题的正确选项应该是D“until its efficiency is cast doubt on”(直到其效用被置疑)。考生在阅读时要善于捕捉转折词所引导出的重要信息内容。

单选题 We can learn from the third paragraph that______.
[A] increases in asset prices are interfered by the Federal Reserves
[B] more emphasis should be placed on consumer-price indices
[C] changes have taken place in the pattern of inflation
[D] inflation have been brought under federal control

单选题 It is implied in the fourth paragraph that Mr. Greenspan is skeptical of______.
[A] the stipulation of anti-monopoly rules and regulations
[B] the intervention by central banks in asset prices
[C] the prevention of economic recession
[D] the countdown by the Federal Reserve of new economic upheavals

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[考点解析] 这是一道细节归纳推导题，测试考生对原文相关信息的归纳和推导能力。本题的答案信息在第四段，尤其是第一、二句。第一句话问：“中央银行是否应该抑制上述资产价格方面的增长?”第二句话回答：“格林斯潘先生继续坚持金融政策不应该被用来刺破资产价格的泡沫”。由此可以推断：格林斯潘不赞成中央银行用相关金融政策去干涉资产价格。故本题的正确选项应该是B“the invention by central banks in asset prices”(中央银行在资产价格方面的干涉)。考生在阅读时应注意对原文上下句之间语意关系的理解和把握。

单选题 Which of the followings would be the best title for the text?
[A] American Monetary Conundrums Are Readily Deciphered.
[B] American Central Banks Are on the Verge of Extinction.
[C] Conventional Inflation Target Is Best Employed in Transparent Environment.
[D] America's Monetary Policy Is off Target.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[考点解析] 本题属于中心主旨题型，测试考生识别全文中心句和归纳全文中心主旨的能力。本题的答案信息来源于首段尾句，该句是全文的中心主旨句，其大意是：“……美国中央银行美联储也许会采取一个可以产生适得其反的结果的措施”。这是控制原文全篇的灵魂句。全文的其他段落均是围绕此句进行的阐述。故本题的正确选项是D“America's Monetary Policy Is off Target”(美国的金融政策偏离目标)。考生在阅读时要重视识别和控制原文的中心主旨句，以免造成误解。