商务英语阅读(第二版) 王关富Unit2The_World_Economic_Forum 课后答案

Unit 2

A Changed Global Reality

Exercises

1. Answer the questions on the text:

1) What are the features of the two major economies that the world has seen for

more than 200 years?

One has dominated technological innovation and trade and amassed great wealth.

The second—much of it politically under the thumb of the first—has remained poor and technologically dependent.

2) How much did low-and-middle-income countries contribute to world growth

in 2010?

Almost half (46%)

3) Taking a long term view, why is it good news that developing countries are

growing fast?

As billions of poor people become more prosperous, they will be able to afford comforts their counterparts in the rich world have long considered the normal appurtenances of life.

4) What are the worst-case scenarios that Europe has so far avoided?

A collapse of the euro, a debt crisis that spills from small economies such as

Greece and Ireland to much bigger ones like Italy and Spain, and bitter social unrest in those nations that are having to massage wages down while cutting public budgets.

5) Why does Jim Walker think that 2011 will be a “year of reckoning”?

Because Jim Walker thinks that the rebound in the US is a mirage created by excessive stimulus. He expects the US to slip into the double dip it dodged in 2010.

6) Why has the private-sector debt crisis of 2008-2009 morphed into a

public-sector debt crisis in 2010-11?

It has been the result of the debt and deficits amassed in the process of stimulating economies and bailing out banks during the downturn.

7) What are the risks that emerging economies face?

a. sharp rise in inflation

b. rising oil prices

c. soaring food price

8) What did China and India do to cope with inflation and rising food prices?

China raised the reserve-requirement ratio;

India resorted to diplomatic means when Pakistan temporarily cut off some exports of onions to the country.

9) How can the disaffection with global capitalism in the developed world be

prevented from turning into a backlash against it?

It would help if there were mechanisms in place to manage the stresses in the international economy.

10) What is the most serious division between countries that policymakers have

to contend with?

Economic disparity

2.Fill in each blank of the following sentences with one of the phrases in the list

given below:

1) The search for the child was scaled back sharply today, with almost a third of the

volunteers heading home.

2) The former Federal Reserve Chairman says there is a risk that the US could slip

into a recession by year’s end.

3) The CEO of the firm said that they would switch priority from traditional

labor-intensive products to more hi-tech and value-added ones.

4) In the aftermath of the financial crisis the group has put on hold some of its

ambitious regional expansion plans.

5) Toyota Motor Corp. is offering widespread job buyouts to its US workers for the first time and cutting the workweek at some of its American plants by 10% to contend with falling sales.

6) Eventually, it must morph into a system that functions on stability, or it will fail

and cause an unstoppable breakdown and widespread hardship.

7) Unfortunately most of the central banks in the world today are still firmly under

the thumb of politicians.

8) The stock market’s endurance could depend heavily on whether economic and

corporate performance remains uncertain, or begins indicating that the economy truly is out of the woods.

9) Survivors were encouraged to talk about their horrible experiences to help them

come to terms with the flood disaster.

10) Other countries—notably Australia—have also avoided a bust in their housing

markets, and have instead seen prices increases flatten out.

3.Match the terms in column A with the explanations in column B:

A B ______ 1）double-dip recession A) A physical substance, such as food, grains, and metals,

which is interchangeable with another product of the

same type, and which investors buy or sell, usually

through future contracts 7

2) credit rating B) A measure that examines the weighted average of

prices of foodstuffs, often used as an important factor

to assess the cost of living. 9

3) austerity C) A government policy of deficit-cutting, lower spending,

and a reduction in the amount of benefits and public