单选题
No one could have imagined that Japan, the second largest economy in the world, would contract at a rate of nearly 13% on an annualized basis or that Korea's economic output could drop 20%. In the U.S., the GDP is shrinking at a rate of 6% now, but there is nothing in the economic or employment news that keeps us from believing that America will avoid a double-digit drop in GDP. If the U.S. skids at that rate, the other large economies in the world, all of which depend on the American consumer to some great degree, will have the hulls of their exports breached below the water line.
One of the reasons that the drop in economic activity has accelerated is that there is no mechanism in place to cope with a failure of this magnitude. The world in which The Great Depression played itself out predated the globalization of credit and economic interdependence. Even the worst of the large post-war recessions rarely lasted more than a year. Even at their most inventive, government policy systems are incapable of operating in an environment where the pace of negative change quickens by the week.
The largest issue between now and whenever the cataclysm ends is whether the major economic powers develop more intimate relationships or are driven to isolation in order to defend their economies through protectionism. This development would reach an epic level if nations such as China began to hold capital in their country and slow their purchase of U.S. debt. That would begin a lethal exchange between the greatest exporting and importing nations of the world, with America blocking the inflow of Chinese goods and China flailing back by throttling its appetite for Treasuries. Without the ability to borrow money at reasonable rates any hope of continuing to stimulate the U.S. economy would flag and China's manufacturing machine would lose its largest market.
The most valuable treasure that will be lost is the fundamental economic transition from one generation to the next. In developed nations, the old will no longer have the means to retire, the middle-aged will face joblessness and an obliteration of the standard of living to which they believed they were entitled since they were very young, and the young may have to fight for a small number of jobs most of which pay little more than a fraction of what their parents made in 2004, 2005, and 2006.
In the underdeveloped world the misery's fallout will be incomprehensible. Whatever social services and generosity that has come from the more wealthy nations will dry up along with the financial capacity that has created a history for large scale compassion. A hoarding of natural resources, especially those that are agriculturally based, will cause the cost of humanitarian aid to become unaffordable, especially when there is so little capital for charity efforts because of ruined economies. In places like East Africa, where millions of people look into the face of starvation every year, the misery could be apocalyptic.
It is almost a betrayal to paint such a dark picture of the failure of the American financial system which has carried the nation through sixty years of prosperity. That system is now fractured mid-axle. It may take a lifetime or more for historians to sort out its causes, and the federal government feels the need to sift through that sand in the name of justice. When blame can be defined it will be too late to bring back the world we knew.

单选题 If the U.S. economy keeps going down, what would happen to other countries?
A The productivity will be lowered gradually.
B No agreements will be made in some countries.
C The GDPs will be reduced by more than 10%.
D The foreign trade will be damaged to a great extent.

单选题 According to the text, no available ways exist to handle the present situations fundamentally because
A the world economy is much more integrated than ever before.
B the financial crisis develops at an uncontrollable rate.
C the big recession lasts for a much longer time.
D the economic systems fail to function as usual.

单选题 The most dangerous threat the crisis poses to the world economy is that
A the world trade order will be ruined at all.
B the plan to save the American economy might be stopped.
C the established bonds between big nations might be changed.
D the nations with large amount of debts might be bankrupted.

单选题 In what way will people in developed countries suffer from the crisis according to the text?
A Retirement will be meaningless to the old without secured pension.
B People will no longer afford the lifestyle they are used to.
C The graduates will get a decent salary like their parents.
D The young will get nothing from their parents.

单选题 The reason that misfortune will be worsen in the undeveloped world is because
A no money will be donated to the countries in need.
B the natural resources will be run out soon.
C the price of food will be too high for charities to afford.
D wealthy people are stuck with their own business.

单选题 According to the final paragraph, the author thinks that
A the American financial system should not be condemned.
B it is not significant to check out who is to blame.
C the government should make informed decisions.
D the American financial system contributed a lot to the country.