It started small. Just a political slogan, pasted onto a poster in a back office somewhere; NO EURO in 1999. Germany's main opposition party, the Social Democrats, planned to print the poster by the thousands for the state elections, and exposed the party's jingoist(极端爱国主义的)tune. On March 24 the Social Democrats gathered just 25 percent of the vote, their lowest postwar result. The party did almost as poorly in the two other state elections the same day. The big winner; Helmut Kohl and his pet project, the European monetary union, the plan to give the continent a single currency by 1999 and further enclosed Germany into a greater Europe. Only a few months ago, many Europeans were attacking the EMU. But the day after the state e-lections, Holger Schmieding, senior strategist in Frankfurt, reverses his prognosis(预测)on the EMU's likelihood from 40-60 against to 60-40 in favor. At an intergovernmental conference in Italy, the Kohl government gave up some demands for speedy political and diplomatic integration in the interest of pushing the EMU through. French President Jacques Chirac threw in his lot with the German chancellor. Other countries like Spain, Sweden and Italy have recently changed governments and showed a new willingness to introduce EMU-in-spired principles. The result; the markets have now lined up behind the EMU, driving Europe's long-term bond yields closer together and pushing other currencies higher against the German mark. All this has supplied a nice tail wind(顺风)for the prospective Euro, the new currency supposed to replace the cash of the first group of "core" countries. "You can trace the changed mood to one clear source— those state elections," says John Lipsky, chief economist in New York. " Before, the working assumption had been that the German public was distrustful of EMU. But this was viewed as the first time it was tested on the ground rather than in public opinion polls. " The EMU, clearly, won.
单选题
The German Social Democrats lost in the state elections mainly because______.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】解析：第一段说明了The German Social Democrats’political slogan is“NO EURO”，正是因为对欧元的反对，才导致了战后以来最低的得票数——25 percent，只有A项符合。
单选题
What can be inferred from the prognosis of Holger Schmieding, the senior strategist?
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】解析：第二段Holger Schmieding reverses his prognosis on the EMU’s likelihood from 40—60 a—gainst to 60—40 in favor，赞同欧元的人数由少于反对的人数变为多于反对的人数，故此可推断越来越多的人开始接受欧元了，故选D。
单选题
Concerning the attitude of the governments of some European countries towards Euro, which of the following is true?
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】解析：从第三段Kohl government gave up some demands…French President threw in hislot…Spain，Sweden and Italy have…showed a new willingness这些政府的态度可知他们逐渐开始愿意接受欧元，而一开始并不是赞成的。故C正确，A不正确。B中re-luctant(勉强的)和D中have no choice but(不得不，只好)均不合原文。
单选题
According to the passage, Euro will be used to replace the currencies of______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】解析：最后一段第二句the new currency…replace the cash of the first group of“core”coun-tries，欧元将首先替代一些核心欧洲国家，故C项正确。
单选题
What is suggested about the reliability of estimates of public opinions in the last paragraph?
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】解析：根据最后一段“Before，…public was distrustful of EMU．…on the ground rather than inpublic opinion polls．”可知，以前公众不相信EMU(经济和货币联盟)是因为其测验的方式为public opinion polls(民意测验)，而非on the ground，即“当场调查”，也就是C项意思，“investigations要比public opinion polls更加可信”。