雅思阅读模拟试题及答案解析(2)

雅思阅读模拟试题及答案解析（

2

）

资料仅供参考

Next Year Marks the EU's 50th Anniversary of the Treaty

A.

After a period of introversion and stunned self-disbelief

，

continental European governments will recover their enthusiasm for pan-

European institution-building in . Whether the European public will welcome a

return to what voters in two countries had rejected so short a time before is

another matter.

B.

There are several reasons for Europe

’

s recovering self-confidence.

For years European economies had been lagging dismally behind America (to say

nothing of Asia)

，

but in the large continental economies had one of their

best years for a decade

，

briefly outstripping America in terms of growth.

Since politics often reacts to economic change with a lag

，

’

s improvement

in economic growth will have its impact in

，

though the recovery may be

ebbing by then.

C.

The coming year also marks a particular point in a political cycle

so regular that it almost seems to amount to a natural law. Every four or five

years

，

European countries take a large stride towards further integration by

signing a new treaty

：

the Maastricht treaty in 1992

，

the Treaty of Amsterdam

in 1997

，

the Treaty of Nice in . And in they were supposed to ratify a

European constitution

，

laying the ground for yet more integration

—

until the

calm rhythm was rudely shattered by French and Dutch voters. But the political

impetus to sign something every four or five years has only been interrupted

，

not immobilised

，

by this setback.

D.

In the European Union marks the 50th anniversary of another

treaty

—

the Treaty of Rome

，

its founding charter. Government leaders have

already agreed to celebrate it ceremoniously

，

restating their commitment to

“

ever closer union

”

and the basic ideals of European unity. By itself

，

and

in normal circumstances

，

the EU

’

s 50th-birthday greeting to itself would be

fairly meaningless

，

a routine expression of European good fellowship. But it

does not take a Machiavelli to spot that once governments have signed the

declaration (and it seems unlikely anyone would be so uncollegiate as to veto

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it) they will already be halfway towards committing themselves to a new

treaty. All that will be necessary will be to incorporate the 50th- anniversary

declaration into a new treaty containing a number of institutional and other

reforms extracted from the failed attempt at constitution-building and

—

hey

presto

—

a new quasi-constitution will be ready.

E.

According to the German government

—

which holds the EU

’

s agenda-

setting presidency during the first half of

—

there will be a new draft of a

slimmed-down constitution ready by the middle of the year

，

perhaps to put to

voters

，

perhaps not. There would then be a couple of years in which it will

be discussed

，

approved by parliaments and

，

perhaps

，

put to voters if that

is deemed unavoidable. Then

，

according to bureaucratic planners in Brussels

and Berlin

，

blithely ignoring the possibility of public rejection

，

the whole

thing will be signed

，

sealed and a new constitution delivered in -10. Europe

will be nicely back on schedule. Its four-to-five-year cycle of integration

will have missed only one beat.

F.

The resurrection of the European constitution will be made more

likely in because of what is happening in national capitals. The European

Union is not really an autonomous organisation. If it functions

，

it is

because the leaders of the big continental countries want it to

，

reckoning

that an active European policy will help them get done what they want to do in

their own countries.

G.

That did not happen in -06. Defensive

，

cynical and self-

destructive

，

the leaders of the three largest euro-zone countri es

—

France

，

Italy and Germany

—

were stumbling towards their unlamented ends. They saw no

reason to pursue any sort of European policy and the EU

，

as a result

，

barely

functioned. But by the middle of all three will have gone

，

and this fact

alone will transform the European political landscape.

H.

The upshot is that the politics of the three large continental

countries

，

bureaucratic momentum and the economics of recovery will all be

aligned to give a push towards integration in . That does not mean the