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考研英语阅读理解有一部分是截取自报刊文章,因此考生在复习备考的过程中要注意提高报刊文章的阅读能力,把握时事阅读。下面新东方在线小编分享历年真题同源的30篇报刊文章,附有注释和解析,希望考生认真阅读,提高对此类文章的阅读能力和增加相关词汇量。
考研英语阅读真题同源报刊文章30篇()
The falling dollar
THE dollar's tumble this week was attended by predictable shrieks from the
markets; but as it fell to a 20month low of $1.32 against the euro, the only
real surprise was that it had not slipped sooner. Indeed, there are good reasons
to expect its slide to continue, dragging it below the record low of $1.36
against the euro that it hit in December 2004.
The recent decline was triggered by nasty news about the American economy.
New figures this week suggested that the housing market's troubles are having a
wider impact on the economy. Consumer confidence and durablegoods orders both
fell more sharply than expected. In contrast, German business confidence has
risen to a 15year high. There are also mounting concerns that central banks in
China and elsewhere, which have been piling up dollars assiduously for years,
may start selling.
Yet cyclical factors only partly explain why the dollar has been strong. At
bottom, its attractiveness is based more on structural factors-or, more
accurately, on an illusion about structural differences between the American and
European economies.
The main reason for the dollar's strength has been the widespread belief
that the American economy vastly outperformed the world's other richcountry
economies in recent years. But the figures do not support the hype. Sure,
America's GDP growth has been faster than Europe's, but that is mostly because
its population has grown more quickly too. Dig deeper and the difference
shrinks. Official figures of productivity growth, which should in theory be an
important factor driving currency movements, exaggerate America's lead. If the
two are measured on a comparable basis, productivity growth over the past decade
has been almost the same in the euro area as it has in America. Even more
important, the latest figures suggest that, whereas productivity growth is now
slowing in America, it is accelerating in the euro zone.
So, contrary to popular perceptions, America's economy has not
significantly outperformed Europe's in recent years. And to achieve this
notmuchbetterthan parity, America has had to pump itself full of steroids.
Since 2000 its structural budget deficit (after adjusting for the impact of the
economic cycle) has widened sharply, while American households' saving rate has
plunged, causing the currentaccount deficit to swell. Over the same period, the
euroarea economies saw no fiscal stimulus and household saving barely
budged.
America's growth, thus, has been driven by consumer spending. That
spending, supported by dwindling saving and increased borrowing, is clearly
unsustainable; and the consequent economic and financial imbalances must
inevitably unwind. As that happens, the country could face a prolonged period of
slower growth.
As for Europe, the old continent is hobbled by inflexible product and
labour markets. But that, paradoxically, is an advantage: it means the place has
a lot of scope for improvement. Some European countries are beginning to
contemplate (and, to a limited extent, undertake) economic reforms. If they push
ahead, their growth could actually speed up over the coming years. Once
investors spot this, they are likely to conclude that the euro is a better bet
than the dollar.
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