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Stock prices tumbled on Wall Street and across much of the rest of the world yesterday. They were driven sharply lower by worries over slowing economic growth in the United States and worsening borrowing conditions that could make everything from huge corporate buyouts to buying a new home more difficult. Major stock market gauges -- including the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index -- were down more than 2 percent.
It was the worst one-day decline on Wall Street since markets plunged worldwide in late February after an investing scare in Shanghai, and it occurred amid the biggest volume of trading on the New York Stock Exchange in five years. Losses were comparable throughout Europe, and larger in many developing countries. ''The preconditions for a shock are in place,'' said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. ''Until very recently investors were very nonchalant about risks.''
Stock markets have been volatile in recent weeks. Continued strong profits for many companies and an economic boom in Asia have helped push oil prices higher. Meanwhile, however, there are various signs of weakness in the American economy and new difficulties in borrowing for many homeowners and companies that are highly leveraged or have poor credit.
The plunge came a day after the private equity firm buying Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler said it would complete the transaction for the automaker despite an inability to borrow the money in credit markets, as had been planned. Banks will hold those loans, as they will for a similar deal involving Alliance Boots, a British pharmacy chain. Shares of DaimlerChrysler fell $4.11, to $88.91.'' There is fear, but not a fear of recession,'' said Bill Gross, chief investment officer of the Pacific Investment Management Company, known as Pimco, a large bond management firm. ''The fear is directed toward the question of who will be willing to lend $200 billion to provide takeout financing for previously announced private equity deals.''
Yesterday, the Dow industrials plunged 311.50 points, or 2.3 percent, to 13,473.57, while the S.& P. 500 dropped 35.43 points, or 2.3 percent, to 1,482.66. The Nasdaq composite index was down 48.83 points, or 1.8 percent, to 2,599.34. The S.& P. is still up 4.5 percent for the year, while the Dow is 8.1 percent higher. But the S.& P. has fallen 4.5 percent since reaching a record last week. In the last hour or so of trading, the major Wall Street indexes recovered about a third of their steepest losses for the day. Losses of more than 2 percent were recorded in Spain, France and Germany, while Britain, Argentina, Mexico and Brazil fell more than 3 percent. Asian markets fell less yesterday, closing before the worst selling began, but opened down sharply on Friday.
注(1):本文選自New York Times,07/27/2007
注(2):本文習(xí)題命題模仿對象:第1、2題分別模仿2000年真題Text 3第1題和Text 4第3題,第3題模仿2004年真題Text 4第1題,第4題模仿2001年真題Text 1第2題,第5題模仿1999年真題Text 1第4題。
1. The passage is mainly_______.
[A] a review of the current condition of the American and world stock market
[B] an introduction of the world stock market
[C] a survey of the stock deal of DaimlerChrysler
[D] about the ups and downs of stock prices
2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
[A] Currently it is more difficult for Americans to borrow money from banks for house purchase.
[B] The losses from stock markets are similar in U.S. and some developing countries.
[C] Investors were worried about the potential risks in stock market before yesterday.
[D] Economic boom in Asia prevent its stock market from falling.
3. If you were an investor, you might be able to earn money if _______.
[A] you held the shares of DaimlerChrysler
[B] you purchased new shares when the stock market opened yesterday.
[C] you bought and sold shares at the last one or two hours before closing
[D] you didn’t trade any shares yesterday.
4. We can infer from the text that _______.
[A] The Chrysler transaction will turn to be a failure.
[B] The banks hold the loans because of Alliance Boots.
[C] Bill Gross thinks the fear is from the huge amount of money.
[D] The difficulty of borrowing leads to the shrinking prices of shares of DaimlerChrysler.
5. The writer’s attitude towards the current stock market is_______.
[A] biased
[B] objective
[C] pessimistic
[D] optimistic
篇章剖析
本篇文章是一篇說明文,介紹了美國股市昨日下跌的情況。第一段開門見山地說明了股市大跌的事實及其原因,第二、三段則進一步展開說明了股市最近的狀況,影響股市的各種負(fù)面因素等。第四段用了一個具體的市場交易事例來說明股市不穩(wěn)定導(dǎo)致的后果,并引用了經(jīng)濟專業(yè)分析師的評論。最后兩段綜述了美國各大指數(shù)以及世界各地股市的漲跌情況,引用了大量的數(shù)據(jù)。
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