【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 31-35
US job growth slackened in April, the federal government reported on May 5, 2006, but the hourly wages of ordinary workers jumped, and their pay is finally rising faster than inflation.
The nation's employers added only 138,000 jobs, well below the average of 210,000 a month since last November. The unemployment rate, however, held at a low 4.7 percent. The contradictory numbers left economists unsure whether the weaker April job growth was just a hiccup or early evidence of a slowdown in the economy.
"I am inclined to say that the weak April report is noise in the numbers," said economist Ian Shepherdson, "but I'm not certain. We may be getting an early, ambiguous signal that the economy is weakening. Turning points sometimes start this way."
Wall Street saw in the April jobs report a justification for policy makers at the Federal Reserve to stop raising interest rates after doing so one more time at their next meeting, on Tuesday. Reflecting this sentiment, the Dow Jones industrial average soared.
The Dow closed at 11,577.74, up 138.88 points for the day. That was its highest level since January 2000, the month in which the bubble market of the late 1990's finally ended, peaking at 11,722.98. Some interest rates fell yesterday for the same reason that stock prices rose.
"There is still a substantial minority on Wall Street who say there is a reasonable chance that the Fed will raise rates in June," Mr. Shepherdson said, "but stock market investors focused on what the increased employment numbers suggest."
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】Part Ⅱ
[解题思路]
本题型考查的范围比较全面，需要进行大范围地理解推断，也要准确把握像数字一类的细节信息。题材涉及社会生活的方方面面，所以需要考生有一定的百科知识。
[典型试题解析]
比如，第三篇文章讲的是美国某个月的新增工作数、失业率、股市和利率以及这几个经济指标间的相互关系，是个经济方面的材料。要理解这段录音，不仅要准确地记下一些数字，也需要一定的背景知识，如新增工作数越多，那么正常情况下失业率会越低。
这篇文章的5道题中，第31、33题考查的是对数字的听力和速记。其他3道题都需要在听懂原文的基础上进行大范围的推断。如第32题，看起来是针对新增工作数和失业率均下降这一细节信息的，但如果有相关的背景知识，并理解了这个文章的逻辑脉络，对这一细节信息的把握也会容易些，这样第33题也就不难了。第35题涉及从“Wall Street saw”到“the Dow Jones industrial average soared”这一连串信息的理解。