Text 2 When Europe caught America's flu

练习题库2022-08-02  39

问题 Text 2 When Europe caught America's flu after 2008,bond markets picked off the euro's weakest members one by one.Greece,Portugal,Ireland and Spain were forced into bail-outs.Italy,the euro's third largest economy,tottered.Emergency funds were created,and the European Central Bank(ECB)implied it would create unlimited quantities of cash if needed,and the euro limped on.Today,growth is picking up and unemployment falling.But no one believes that the euro,which lacks the political and fiscal institutions typical of a currency area,can remain half-built forever.Investors are uncertain of its future,and governments have piled on debt since the last crisis,shrinking the space available to respond to the next one.The case for reform is much-talked about.The creation of the euro in 1999 denied its members the option of restoring competitiveness by devaluing.Labour-market mobility and fiscal transfers,which smooth the effects of shocks in other currency areas,were limited by rules and by culture.Bail-outs and belt-tightening were the prescribed solution for governments hit by sudden capital stops,which annoyed everyone:creditors resented opening their wallets;debtors contracted an acute case of austerity fatigue.The currency turned from an instrument of convergence between countries to a wedge driving them apart.Just compare Germany's unemployment rate with Greece's.All this created a legacy of mistrust that haunts the euro zone today.That helps explain why,despite this endless talk of troubles,conversations about euro-zone reform have gone nowhere.Indebted countries like Italy have grown addicted to the ECB's cheap money,ignoring pleas from Mario Draghi,the bank's president,to use the time he has bought them to reinvent their economies.Hardliners like Germany are more convinced than ever of the need for strict rules on spending and structural reform.Anxious officials wonder where the political impetus for a debate on the euro's future might come from.If the euro area is capable of taking advantage of good conditions,best to build confidence slowly.Start with the incomplete banking union,which still lacks a common deposit-insurance scheme(thanks to German objections),and a backstop for its resolution fund.The much-celebrated capital-markets union,which aims to reduce European firmsJ reliance on banks for finance,is only getting off the ground.Improving cross-border financial flows matters as much as the more contentious fiscal risk-sharing.In time,that might open the way to more radical changes.They will require the sort of political courage for which the euro zone has never been known,but it could turn out to be less painful than some suspect:polls find record support for the single currency among voters,and a surprising appetite for reform.Like self-hating addicts,governments have shivered in the euro zone's halfway house for too long,hooked up to Mr Draghi's monetary medicine and convincing themselves that they deserve no better.It is time to move on.It can be learned from the first paragraph that_____.A.the 2008 global financial crisis originated in EuropeB.euro-zone economy is still in the midst of recessionC.the ECB has helped euro's weak members step out of troubleD.the euro is ill-prepared to respond to another crisis

选项 A.the 2008 global financial crisis originated in Europe
B.euro-zone economy is still in the midst of recession
C.the ECB has helped euro's weak members step out of trouble
D.the euro is ill-prepared to respond to another crisis

答案 D

解析 [信息锁定]首段末句指出自上次危机以来,政府债务持续累积,导致应对下次危机的空间被压缩,即欧元区没有准备好应对另一场危机,D.正确。[解题技巧][人]与①句“欧洲受到美国流感的传染”喻义“危机从美国传到欧洲”相悖。[L3]与⑤句欧元区经济现状“经济增长提速,失业率下降”相悖。C.将①至③句中the euro's weakest members、④句ECB implied.…if needed、⑤句所述欧元区经济复苏现状杂糅形成干扰,但文意仅表明“金融危机下.央行随时准备对最弱成员国采取救急措施”,但未表明已助其走出困境。
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