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New figures from France,Germany and Italy—the three biggest economies in the 12 countryEurozone —suggest the continent’s economic woes may have been exaggerateD、In France, evidence emerged that consumer spending remained solid in July andAugust,rising 1.4%and 0.6%respectively.Forecasters had generally expected the July figure to show a 0.1% slippage,withAugust 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 acrossEurope 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 inEurope’s largest economy—a key reason for theEuropeanCentralBank’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% inAugust,closing in on theEuro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 byAlitalia,the country’s biggest airline,that it will have to get rid of 2，500 staff to cope with the expected contraction as well as selling 12 aeroplanes.And industrial groupConfindustria 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 itsEuropean Union partners.
21.We know from the first paragraph that.
A.new figures from the threeEuropean countries show the prediction of forecasters is exactly right
B.uropean economy gets on better than forecasters have predicted
C.all of the forecasters expect the fully figure to show a reduction
D.in threeEuropean countries the consumer spending continues to rise
22.The term“in the doldrums”in Paragraph 2 refers to .
A.in the process of rising
B.experiencing a sharp turning
C.in the recession
D.rising rapidly
23.Which of the following statements is true according to the text?.
A.The reason for theECB’s unwilling to cut interest rates is inflation was actually expected to fall in Germany
B.In Germany consumer prices were falling
C.Last year’s oil prices dropping out of the yearonyear calculation directly leads to the drop of inflation
D.TheEuropeanCentralBank is willing to cut interest rate
24. ln this passage,the word“buoyant” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to the worD、
A. depressing
B. gloomy
C. active
D. calm
25. lndustrial groupConfindustria warned that.
A. the attacks on US targets lead to the comparatively lower growth
B. the growth had been well short of the government’s target
C. the budget deficit must be about 1.5%
D. the budget deficit will probably be great different from the country’s promise