The Improving Economic Situation in Greece?

Greece, economically, is in the black. With very little to export other than such farm products as tobacco, cotton and fruit, the country earns enough from ‘invisible earnings’ to pay for its needed, growing imports. From the sending out of things the Greeks, earn only $285 million; from tourism, shipping and the remittances of Greeks abroad, the country takes in an additional #375 million and this washes out the almost $400 million by which imports exceed exports.

It has a balanced budget. Although more than one drachma out of four goes for defense, the government ended a recent year with a slight surplus -- $66 million. Greece has a decent reserve of almost a third of a billion dollars in gold and foreign exchange. It has a government not dependent on coalescing incompatible parties to obtain parliamentary majorities.

In thus summarizing a few happy highlights, I don’t mean to minimize the vast extent of Greece’s problems. It is the poorest country by a wide margin in Free Europe, and poverty is widespread. At best an annual income of $60 to $70 is the lot of many a peasant, and substantial unemployment plagues the countryside, cities, and towns of Greece. There are few natural resources on which to build any substantial industrial base. Some years ago I wrote here:

“Greek statesmanship will have to create an atmosphere in which home and foreign savings will willingly seek investment opportunities in the back ward economy of Greece. So far, most American and other foreign attempt have bogged down in the Greek government’s red tape and shrewdness about small points.”

Great strides have been made. As far back as 1956, expanding tourism seemed a logical way to bring needed foreign currencies and additional jobs to Greece. At that time I talked with the Hilton Hotel people, who had been examining hotel possibilities, and to the Greek government division responsible for this area of the economy. They were hopelessly deadlocked in almost total differences of opinion and outlook.

Today most of the incredibly varied, beautiful, historical sights of Greece have new, if in many cases modest, tourist facilities. Tourism itself has jumped from approximately $31 million to over $90 million. There is both a magnificent new Hilton Hotel in Athens and a completely modernized, greatly expanded Grande Bretagne, as well as other first-rate new hotels. And the advent of jets has made Athens as accessible as Paris or Rome – without the sky-high prices of traffic-choked streets of either.

1. The title below that best expresses the ideas of this passage is
[A] Greek income and expenditures.
[B] The improving economic situation in Greece.
[C] The value of tourism.
[D] Military expenditures.

2. Many peasants earn less than
[A] $60 a week.
[B] $2 a week.
[C] $1 a day.
[D] $10 a month.

3. The Greek Government spends
[A] more than 25%of its budget on military terms.
[B] More than its collects.
[C] A third of a billion dollars in gold.
[D] Less than 25% of its budget on military terms.

4. According to the passage, Greece has
[A] a dictatorship.
[B] a monarchy.
[C] a single majority party.
[D] too much red tape.

5. Greece imports annually goods and materials
[A] totaling almost $700 million.
[B] that balance exports.
[C] that are paid by tourists.
[D] costing $66 million.

答案詳解（反白可見）：

1. B 希臘經(jīng)濟(jì)形式的改善。文章圍繞這一中心而寫。文章一開始就提出希臘出口除了農(nóng)產(chǎn)品之外，沒有什么東西，而無形資產(chǎn)如旅游、運(yùn)輸和國外的匯款等可掙得37500萬美元。兩項(xiàng)加在一起來抵消入超赤字近4億美元，稍有結(jié)余。第三段指出，希臘是自由歐洲最窮的國家，許多農(nóng)民年收入為60－70美元。失業(yè)現(xiàn)象席卷城市鄉(xiāng)鎮(zhèn)，建立工業(yè)基地的自然資源極少。政府的繁瑣事務(wù)程序，關(guān)注瑣事等情況使美國和其他國家試圖展開工作陷于停滯狀態(tài)。第四段開始指出1956年起開拓旅游業(yè)，不過意見還是分歧。第五斷提出今天驚人的變化，美麗的歷史古城呈現(xiàn)新貌，就旅游一項(xiàng)收入由3100萬增至9000萬美元。旅館面貌大變。
A.希臘的收支。C.旅游的價(jià)值。D.軍事費(fèi)用。
2. B少于2美元一星期。文章第三段第三句：最佳情況，年收入為60－70美元使大多數(shù)農(nóng)民的份額。所以B項(xiàng)最接近年收入。
A.60美元一星期。C.一天一美元。D.一個(gè)月10美元。
3. A 百分之25以上用于軍事。第二段：雖然四個(gè)德拉克馬中有一個(gè)用于國防，政府最終還稍有結(jié)余――6600萬美元。
B.比收入的還多。C.十億金子中的三分之一。D.少于百分之25。
4. C單一大黨。第二段：希臘的政府不依靠水火不相容的政黨之間的合作來取得一會(huì)的多數(shù)席位，這說明是單一大黨。
A.獨(dú)裁、專政。B.君主政體。D.太多的繁瑣程序。
5. A總計(jì)幾乎在7億美元左右。第一段中提到希臘出口商品價(jià)值28500萬美元，而進(jìn)口超出出口4億美元。兩者相加為6億2千5百萬美元，相當(dāng)于幾乎在7億美元左右。
B.和出口平衡。C.由旅游者支付。D.花費(fèi)6600萬美元。

翻頁查看詞匯及難句譯注>>>