How does the country’s economy compare with those of the EU?
SOME of the concerns surrounding Turkey’s application to join the European Union, to be voted on by the EU’s Council of Ministers on December 17th, are economic-in particular, the country’s relative poverty. Its GDP per head is less than a third of the average for the 15 pre-2004 members of the EU. But it is not far off that of one of the ten new members which joined on May 1st 2004 (Latvia), and it is much the same as those of two countries, Bulgaria and Romania, which this week concluded accession talks with the EU that could make them full members on January 1st 2007.
Furthermore, the country’s recent economic progress has been, according to Donald Johnston, the secretary-general of the OECD, "stunning". GDP in the second quarter of the year was 13.4% higher than a year earlier, a rate of growth that no EU country comes close to matching. Turkey’s inflation rate has just fallen into single figures for the first time since 1972, and this week the country reached agreement with the IMF on a new three-year, $10 billion economic programme that will, according to the IMF’s managing director, Rodrigo Rato, "help Turkey... reduce inflation toward European levels, and enhance the economy’s resilience".
Resilience has not historically been the country’s economic strong point. As recently as 2001, GDP fell by over 7%. It fell by more than 5% in 1994, and by just under 5% in 1999. Indeed, throughout the 1990s growth oscillated like an electrocardiogram recording a violent heart attack. This irregularity has been one of the main reasons (along with red tape and corruption) why the country has failed dismally to attract much-needed foreign direct investment. Its stock of such investment (as a percentage of GDP) is lower now than it was in the 1980s, and annual inflows have scarcely ever reached $1 billion (whereas Ireland attracted over $25 billion in 2003, as did Brazil in every year from 1998 to 2000).
One deterrent to foreign investors is due to disappear on January 1st 2005. On that day, Turkey will take away the right of virtually every one of its citizens to call themselves a millionaire. Six noughts will be removed from the face value of the lira; one unit of the local currency will henceforth be worth what 1m are now-ie, about 0.53 ($0.70). Goods will have to be priced in both the new and old lira for the whole of the year, but foreign bankers and investors can begin to look forward to a time in Turkey when they will no longer have to juggle mentally with indeterminate strings of zeros.
注（1）：本文选自Economist；12/18/2004, p115-115, 2/5p；
注（2）：本文习题命题模仿2004年真题text 1第1题和第3题（1，3），2001年真题text 1第2题（2），1999年真题text 2第2题（4）和2002年真题text 3第4题（5）；
1. What is Turkey’s economic situation now?
[A] Its GDP per head is far lagging behind that of the EU members.
[B] Its inflation rate is still rising.
[C] Its economy grows faster than any EU member.
[D] Its economic resilience is very strong.
2. We can infer from the second paragraph that__________.
[A] Turkey will soon catch the average GDP level of the 15 pre-2004 EU members
[B] inflation rate in Turkey used to be very high
[C] Turkey’s economy will keep growing at present rate
[D] IMF’s economic program will help Turkey join the EU
3.The word “oscillated” (Line 3, Paragraph 3) most probably means_________.
[A] fell
[B] climbed
[C] developed
[D] swang
4. Speaking of Turkey’s foreign direct investment, the author implies that_________.
[A] it’s stock is far less than that of other countries
[B] it does not have much influence on Turkey’s economic progress
[C] steady GDP growth will help Turkey attract more foreign direct investment
[D] Turkey’s economic resilience relies on foreign direct investment
5. We can draw a conclusion from the text that__________.
[A] foreign investment environment in Turkey will become better
[B] Turkey’s citizens will suffer heavy loss due to the change of the face value of the lira
[C] the local currency will depreciate with the removal of six noughts from the face value
[D] prices of goods will go up
答案：C B D C A
篇章剖析
本篇文章是一篇说明文，介绍了土耳其的经济状况。第一段将土耳其的经济情况和其他几个欧盟新成员国的经济情况进行了一下对比，说明土耳其的经济状况并非如人们担心的那样糟糕；第二段对土耳其这几年的经济增长情况进行了简要介绍；第三段说明土耳其的经济缺乏弹性以及由此带来的影响；最后一段说明妨碍投资者的一个因素即将消失。
词汇注释
GDP: 国内生产总值(gross domestic product)
accession: [Ak5seFEn] n. 添加, 增加
OECD: 经合，经济合作与发展组织 (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development)
resilience: [rI5zIlIEns] n. 弹回, 有弹力, 恢复力,
oscillate: [5Csileit]v. 振荡
electrocardiogram: [IlektrEJ5kB:dIEJ^rAm] n. .[医]心电图, 心动电流图(略作ECG)
inflow: [5inflEu] n. 流入, 流入物
deterrent: [di5tE:rEnt] n. 阻碍物
nought: [nC:t] n. 无, 零
lira: [5liErE] n. 里拉
juggle: [5dVQ^l] v. （常与with连用）耍杂耍
indeterminate: [7indi5tE:minit] adj. 在程度、体积、性质或数量上没有准确确定的
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