单选题 New figures from France，Germany and Italy—the three biggest economies in the 12 country Eurozone—suggest the continent’s economic woes may have been exaggerated．In France，evidence emerged that consumer spending remained solid in July and August，rising 1．4％and 0．6％respectively．Forecasters had generally expected the July figure to show a 0．1％slippage，with August unchanged．But the figures were flattered slightly by a down grade to the June figure，to 0．7％from1．5％． With manufacturing in the doldrums across Europe and the US，consumer spending has been increasingly seen as the best hope of stopping the global economic slowdown from turning into a recession．The French government said the news proved that the economy was holding up to the strain of the slowdown． Meanwhile in Germany，new regional price figures went someway towards calming fears about inflation in Europe’s largest economy--a key reason for the European Central Bank’s reluctance to cut interest 15 states said consumer prices were broadly stable，with inflation falling year on year．The information backed economists’expectations that inflation for the country as a whole is set to fall back to a yearly rate of 2．1％，compared to a yearly rate of 2．6％in August，closing in on the Euro-wide target of 2％．The drop is partly due to last year’s spike in oil prices dropping out of the year-on-year calculation． The icing on the cake was news that Italy’s job market has remained buoyant．The country’s July unemployment rate dropped to 9．4％from 9．6％the month before，?its lowest level in more than eight years．And a business confidence survey from quasi-governmental research group ISAE told of a general pick-up in demand in the six weeks to early September．But the news was tempered by an announcement by Alitalia，the country’s biggest airline，that it will have to get rid of 2500 staff to cope with the expected contraction as well as selling 12 aeroplanes．And industrial group Confindustria warned that the attacks on US targets meant growth will be about 1．9％this year，well short of the government’s 2．4％target．And it said the budget deficit will probably be about 1．5％，nearly twice the 0．8％Italy’s government has promised its European Union partners．
单选题 We know from the first paragraph that_________．
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析：由第一段第一句“the continent’s economic woes may have been exaggerated”可知，B项“欧洲经济的进展比预测者们的预测要好些”显然符合题意。
单选题 The term“in the doldrums”in Paragraph 2．refers to_______．
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析：根据我们知道的欧洲大陆正面临着经济危机的情况，选项A、D必然不是正确选项，而B项说“正在经历一场大的转折”则说法较笼统，并且文中并未表示这层含义，所以只能选C项。
单选题 Which of the following statements is true according to the text?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】解析：根据第三段的第一句所说可知，“ECB不愿降低利率的原因是期望通货膨胀可以降低”是正确的。
单选题 In this passage，the word“buoyant”in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to the word________．
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析：根据最后一段的第二句话“The country’S July unemployment rate dropped to 9．4％ from9．6％the month before，its lowest level in more than eight years”可知选C项。
单选题 Industrial group Confindustria warned that________．
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析：在最后一段中，Confindustria warned that the attacks on US targets meant growth will be about 1．9％this year，well short of the government’s 2．4％target．And it said the budget deficit will probably be about 1．5％，nearly twice the 0．8％Italy’S government has promised its European Union partners，因此D项最符合题意。