Will the European Union make it? The question would have sounded strange not long ago. Now even the project"s greatest cheerleaders talk of a continent facing a "Bermuda triangle" of debt, population decline and lower growth. As well as those chronic problems, the EU face an acute crisis in its economic core, the 16 countries that use the single currency. Markets have lost faith that the euro zone" s economies, weaker or stronger, will one day converge thanks to the discipline of sharing a single currency, which denies uncompetitive members the quick fix of devaluation. Yet the debate about how to save Europe" s single currency from disintegration is stuck. It is stuck because the euro zone"s dominant powers, France and Germany, agree on the need for greater harmonisation within the euro zone, but disagree about what to harmonise. Germany thinks the euro must be saved by stricter rules on borrow spending and competitiveness, barked by quasi-automatic sanctions for governments that do not obey. These might include threats to freeze EU funds for poorer regions and EU mega-projects, and even the suspension of a country" s voting rights in EU ministerial councils. It insists that economic co-ordination should involve all 27 members of the EU club, among whom there is a small majority for free-market liberalism and economic rigour; in the inner core alone, Germany fears, a small majority favour French interference. A "southern" camp headed by French wants something different: "European economic government" within an inner core of euro-zone members. Translated, that means politicians intervening in monetary policy and a system of redistribution from richer to poorer members, via cheaper borrowing for governments through common Eurobonds or complete fiscal transfers. Finally, figures close to the France government have murmured, euro-zone members should agree to some fiscal and social harmonisation: e.g., curbing competition in corporate-tax rates or labour costs. It is too soon to write off the EU. It remains the world" s largest trading block. At its best, the European project is remarkably liberal: built around a single market of 27 rich and poor countries, its internal borders are far more open to goods, capital and labour than any comparable trading area. It is an ambitious attempt to blunt the sharpest edges of globalization, and make capitalism benign.

单选题 The EU is faced with so many problems that

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：细节题。题干的意思是，欧盟因为面临很多问题以至于出现了什么状况。考生通过第一段的最后一句话可以得出．A项“甚至它的支持者们也开始感到担忧”为正确答案，此处只要理解“cheerleader”是“队队长”的含义就不难做选择。B项为“它多少已经失去了对市场的信心”．而文章第二段提到的是“Markets have lost faith…”，即“市场已然失去了信心…”，并非B项所表达的意思，故为错误选项；C项“它的一些成员国计划放弃欧元”以及D项“它意欲否决贬值的可能性”都无法在文中找到依据，故均为错误选项。

单选题 The debate over the EU" s single currency is stuck because the dominant powers

单选题 To solve the euro problem, Germany proposed that

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：细节题。题干问的是德国为解决欧元问题是如何提议的。从文章第四段第一句可以断定B项“实行更严格的法规”是正确答案。A项“欧盟增加给贫穷地区的资金”干扰性较大，但从第四段第二句可以看出，德国的建议有可能导致冻结对贫穷地区的资金，所以A项是错的。C项“经济协调只牵涉核心成员”，而从第四段最后一句话的前半部分可以看出，德国坚持所有27个成员国的参与，所以C项不对。D项“欧盟成员的选举权得到保障”，文章中没提到。

单选题 The French proposal of handling the crisis implies that

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：推断题。题干问的是法国应对危机的提议的含义。根据文章倒数第二段第二句话可以得出．A项“穷国更有可能得到资金”为正确答案。B项“严格的资金政策将被用于穷国”这一观点有悖法国提议的原则．在文中也没有依据；C项贷款对于富国来说将可轻易获得”也是没有依据的，而D项“富国将基本上控制欧元基金”也不符合文中意思，因为该段虽然提及“Eu—robonds”．却没有说它们将由富国控制。

单选题 Regarding the future of the EU, the author seems to feel

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：态度题。A项“悲观的”；B项“绝望的”；C项“自负的”，都不是作者对欧元未来的态度，所以都不对。考生根据信号词从文章最后一段可以看出，作者认为否定欧盟还为时过早，它依然是世界上最大的贸易实体，有着很多不可忽视的优势，所以，对于欧元的未来，作者是怀有希望的．因此，D项“有希望的”是正确答案。