The job recovery could perhaps best be described as modest , and Friday ’ s jobs report for May further solidified that descript

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问题     The job recovery could perhaps best be described as modest , and Friday ’ s jobs report for May further solidified that description. U. S. employers added 175,000 new jobs last month—a strong showing, but only moderately so. And from the perspective of a central banker, that might be welcome news.
    An employment report that showed too big of a spike in job creation could spook investors, even as it signals a healthy economy, says Brett Wander, chief investment officer in fixed income at Charles Schwab Investment Management. "There’s some concern[among investors]that in turn[Federal Reserve Chairman Ben]Bernanke’s going to take the punch bowl away. Then it may be a very shortlived party. He wants a long sustained jobs growth," says Wander.
    That "punch howl" is the Fed’s $85 billion of monthly purchases of bonds and mortgage backed securities, known as QE3. While Bernanke has mentioned the possibility of tapering in coming months. he has also said he believes sustained and substantial job market improvement will be a prerequisite for dialing back the program. Markets have been watching closely for any signs of when that might be.
    Those bond buys have been keeping interest rates very low. However, even Bernanke’s mention of possible future tapering in a congressional testimony last month sent bond yields spiking. If a job report comes in too strongly, says Wander, it will trigger a bond sell-off, sending bond yields upward. In other words, there is a scenario in which a supremely positive jobs report could, ironically, hurt the economy. "It’s those low yields that are arguably stimulating the economy," says Wander. For example, low bond yields mean low mortgage rates, which could inspire more buyers to get into the housing market. Higher interest rates could slow that down.
    On the other hand, it’s important to remember that low interest rates are not the Fed’s ultimate goal. Rather, they’re a means to the end of boosting employment. For that reason, it may be that the economic outlook is sunny, whether jobs data is modest or booming.
    "If you take a bullish view—and we are bullish—we’re kind of in a win-win situation here," says Hank Smith, chief investment officer and director at Haverford Trust. "Yes. better data will lead to the fed starting to pull back from its quantitative easing, but better data is something that is desired. So that should be good for corporate earnings, which is the ultimate driver of stock prices. "
    In Smith’s opinion, the latest jobs report was better than expected but "still reflective of an economy that’s growing at a below-average rate. " He’s not the only one who considers economic growth middling. In its latest Beige Book report released Wednesday, the Federal Reserve characterized activity as growing at "modest to moderate pace. " So while the chatter grows, even among Fed Presidents, about the prospect of tapering, more mixed data could mean a full punch bowl for at least a few more months.
The most accurate description for the word "tapering" in the passage is______.

选项 A、quantitative easing
B、bond sell-off
C、negative jobs report
D、dialing back QE3

答案D

解析 本题考查考生对QE3的综合理解以及对“tapering”一词在文中意思的把握。首先要搞清楚QE3的概念及其与就业报告之间的联系,文章第三段解释了“潘趣碗”是关联储用于按月购买债券及按揭抵押证券的85亿美元.即众所周知的QE3,也即文中后来提到的量化宽松。就业报告越好,量化宽松越可能减缓。其次,“taper”一词是“逐渐变细,逐渐减弱”的意思,在文中以动词ing的形式出现数次,指逐渐减少货币供应量,减缓量化宽松,即回调QE3,D是正确选项。A项错误,应该是减缓定量宽松,而不是定量宽松本身。B债券抛售是“tapering”一减缓定量宽松 可能造成的后果,不是“tapering”的意思,也不正确。C负面的就业报告反而会有利于维持定量宽松,而不是“tapering”一减缓定量宽松,而且,也不是对“tapering”的描述,因此错误。
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