2020年9月PETS四级考试题库【章节题库】第三~五章【圣才出品】

第三章阅读理解C节（补全短文、段落排序、选择标题或相关句）◆补全短文类Passage 1(1)_____ There is a tendency to see Japan as a harbinger of all that is doomed in the economies of the euro zone and America--even though figures released on November 14th show its economy grew by an annualised 6% in the third quarter, rebounding quickly from the March tsunami and nuclear disaster.Look dispassionately at Japan's economic performance over the past ten years, though, and "the second lost decade", if not the first, is a misnomer. Much of what tarnishes Japan's image is the result of demography—more than half its population is over 45—as well as its poor policy in dealing with it. (2)______In aggregate, Japan's economy grew at half the pace of America's between 2001 and 2010. Yet if judged by growth in GDP per person over the same period, then Japan has outperformed America and the euro zone. In part this is because its population has shrunk whereas America's population has increased.Though growth in labour productivity fell slightly short of America's from 2000 to2008, total factor productivity, a measure of how a country uses capital and labour, grew faster, according to the Tokyo-based Asian Productivity Organisation. Japan's unemployment rate is higher than in 2000, yet it remains about half the level of America and Europe.Besides supposed stagnation, the two other curses of the Japanese economyare debt and deflation. Yet these also partly reflect demography and can be overstated. People often think of Japan as an indebted country. In fact, it is the world's biggest creditor nation, boasting 253 trillion ($3.3 trillion) in net foreign assets.To be sure, its government is a large debtor; its net debt as a share of GDP is one of the highest in the OECD. (3)______ Social security expenditure doubled as a share of GDP between 1990 and 2010 to pay rising pensions and health-care costs. Over the same period tax revenues have shrunk.(4)______ That gives it plenty of room to manoeuvre. Takatoshi Ito, an economist at the University of Tokyo, says increasing the consumption tax by 20 percentage points from its current 5%—putting it at the level of a high-tax European country —would raise 50 trillion and immediately wipe out Japan's fiscal deficit.That sounds draconian. But here again, demography plays a role. Officials say the elderly resist higher taxes or benefit cuts, and the young, who are in a minority, do not have the political power to push for what is in their long-term interest. David Weinstein, professor of Japanese economy at Columbia University in New York, says the elderly would rather give money to their children than pay it in taxes. Ultimately that may mean that benefits may shrink in the future. "If you want benefits to grow in line with income, as they are now, you need a massive increase in taxes of about10% of GDP," he says.(5)______ After all, falling prices give savers—most of whom are elderly—positive real yields even when nominal interest rates are close to zero. Up until now,holding government bonds has been a good bet. Domestic savers remain willing to roll them over, which enables the government to fund its deficits. Yet this comes at a cost to the rest of the economy. In short, Japan's economy works better for those middle-aged and older than it does for the young. But it is not yet in crisis, and economists say there is plenty it could do to raise its potential growth rate, as well as to lower its debt burden.[A] Falling tax revenues are a problem. The flip side, though, is that Japan has thelowest tax take of any country in the OECD, at just 17% of GDP.[B] Demography helps explain Japan's stubborn deflation, too, he says.[C] Even so, most Japanese have grown richer over the decade.[D] However, the public debt has been accrued not primarily through wastefulspending or "bridges to nowhere", but because of aging, says the IMF.[E] Young people also express their strong dissatisfaction towards economicalinjustice.[F] The Japanese say they suffer from an economic disease called “structuralpessimism”. Overseas too,[G] In fact, the financial situation is not that bad during the last decade.【答案及解析】1.F 本空后面一句说“海外人也趋向于把日本看成是欧美遭遇的所有经济灾难的先行卒”。

F项指出“日本人说他们自己患上了一种叫‘结构性悲观主义’的经济疾病”。

意思表达最为接近。

故选F。

2.C 本段开始说“凭借过去十年中日本的经济表现，‘第二个失去的十年’的说法失之偏颇”。

第三段说“单看GDP日本比美国和欧元区的表现都要好”。

C项“即便如此，大多数日本人还是在这十年里变得更富有了”最能连贯上下文。