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  3. The housing market exited the trauma ward (急救室) in 2013. Prices rose as much

The housing market exited the trauma ward (急救室) in 2013. Prices rose as much

游客2024-03-07  7
问题     The housing market exited the trauma ward (急救室) in 2013. Prices rose as much as 30 percent in some areas, bidding wars broke out and the foreclosure rate (丧失赎取权率) halved from its peak. But the patient is by no means fully recovered. In fact, five years after the housing bubble collapsed, one in five mortgage holders still owe more than their home is worth.
    At its worst in early 2012, almost 16 million Americans were under water on their mortgage. In some of the hardest hit neighborhoods, such as Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Detroit, 70 percent of homeowners owed more than the value of their home. Since then, rising home prices have pushed 5 million homeowners back into the black, but 11 million out of a total of 50 million mortgage holders remain in what financial folks call a negative equity (负资产) position. "This is the new normal in the housing market," said Svenja Gudell, director of economic research at Zillow, an online real estate database, "We will have high levels of negative equity for some time."
    With mortgage rates rising and expected to hit 5 percent late next year, many economists predict a more subdued (萧条的) housing market in 2014. That means price gains should moderate and it could take a while longer for homeowners who are under water to recover. Out of the 75 million homeowners in America, about one in seven stay trapped in their homes, unable to move or sell.
    Housing prices have gone up and down over the decades, but until the financial crisis of 2008, it was rare to owe a bank more than a home is worth. For all of the 19th century and even during the Great Depression, this was virtually unheard of.
    Until all the negative equity disappears, the housing market won’t be back to normal. It looks like we still have years to go. [br] What does the phrase "back into the black" (Line 4, Para. 2) mean?
选项 A、Repay all their mortgage.
B、Become depressed again.
C、Back into a profitable state.
D、Get their houses back.
答案 C
解析 语义题。根据题干中的back into the black可定位到原文第二段第三句。该句指出，上涨的房价已使500万名房主……，但有1100万人仍旧处于负资产状态中。由此可推知back into the black应该和后半句提到的negative equity语义相反，可猜测back into the black指的是“扭亏为盈，有盈余”，选项C符合，答案为C。报表余额，赤字用红色标注，盈余用黑色标注，故有此说法。
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