China's Housing Bubble Trouble Is there a property bubble emerging in China？As ever,getting an answ

China's Ministry of Finance said it will introduce tax breaks for certain housing transactions from Nov.1, 2008 and relax mortgage （抵押）rates for first-time home buyers, the moves could help stabilize the country’s property market.

The ministry said the measures, which had been widely anticipated, are intended to help the general public, particularly the poor.But their effects could support housing purchases and help developers as well.

The government data showed that the growth of investments in real-estate development has slowed in recent months.Urban property prices slowed for the eighth month in a row in September to the lowest increase in more than three years.

Among the moves, China will suspend the stamp duty （印花税）on purchases and sales of individual homes, and the value-added tax on land for individual home sales.

It will also cut the deed tax （契税）rate to 1% for first-time homebuyers purchasing homes that are 90 square meters or smaller, lowering housing transaction costs.

The People’s Bank of China said it will lower the floor on mortgage rates to 0.7 times its benchmark （基准）lending rates for individuals buying their first ordinary homes for their own use, from 0.85 times now.It will also adjust the minimum down payment requirement to 20% of the purchase price on such transactions.

The National Development and Reform. Commission （NDRC）said property prices in 70 of China’s large and medium-sized cities rose 3.5% in September from a year earlier, down from August’s 5.3% rise.

However, the Chinese government has already been busy using fiscal （财政的）policy to drive economic growth.The state is making great efforts to tide over the current housing market downturn arising from the global financial crisis.

1.In Paragraph 1, the word “moves” could be replaced by which of the following？

A.Progress.B.Direction.C.Measures.D.Investments.

2.According to Paragraph 2, who will benefit from the measures？

A.Property developers.B.Low-income people.

C.Home buyers.D.All of the above.

3.The Chinese government’s main purpose in suspending several taxes is （）.

A.to reduce housing transaction costs

B.to disturb housing market

C.to improve building quality

D.to enhance the competitiveness of property developers

4.Which of the following is not mentioned in the passage？

A.The growth of property investments in China has slowed.

B.Second-home buyers can also enjoy these favorable policies.

C.Up to September, urban housing prices slowed down for 8 months in succession.

D.The tax breaks for certain housing transactions had been widely expected.

5.We may infer from the passage that the attitude of the Chinese government towards the depression in the housing market is （）.

A.not clear B.activeC.negative D.indifferent

high speed.For those who earn less but are eager to own a decent and comfortable place of their own in a big city, the high housing price is a heavy burden that they cannot afford.For this reason, the government has taken a series of measures to prevent the housing price from rising too fast, including raising interest rates(利率)and increasing taxes on real estate(房产税)etc.Presently, these measures have achieved initial effects in some cities.

A.30%

B.40%

C.50%

D.60%

A．Tell the owner two months in advance that she's moving.

B．Alert the housing authorities to her problem.

C．Move to another apartment in the same building.

D．Leave the end of the month.

Compass deviation is caused by ______.

A.magnetism from the earth’s magnetic field

B.misalignment of the compass

C.magnetism within the vessel

D.a dirty compass housing

Although residential real estate activity makes up less than 8% of total U.S. GDP, a housing market like this one can make the difference between positive and negative growth. Most significantly, consumer spending is 66% of GDP, and the purchase of a new home tends to have an "umbrella effect" on the homeowner's spending as he has to stock it with a washer/ dryer, a new big-screen TV, and maybe a swing set for the yard.

The main factor in housing's continued strength is a classic economic example of zero-sum boom: the persistent weakness everywhere else. As the 2003 recovery continues to be more forecast than reality. Falling stock prices raised investor appeal for U.S. Treasury Bonds, which in turn, allowed most interest rates to drift even lower. But there are not many signs that there's a bubble ready to burst.

December's new record in housing starts, for example, was nicely matched by the new record in new home sales. If you build it, they will buy and even if an economic pickup starts to reduce housing's relative attractiveness, there's no reason why modest economic growth and improved consumer mood can't help sustaining housing's strength. "The momentum gained from low mortgage interest rates will carry strong home sales into 2003, with an improving economy offsetting modestly higher mortgage interest rates as the year progresses", said David Lereah, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors.

Just as housing has taken up much of the economic slack for the past two years, both as a comforting investment for fretting consumers and a driver of consumer spending itself, a big bump elsewhere in the economy in 2003 could be housing's downfall. If stocks roar back this spring, capital inflows could steal from the bond market, pushing up long-term interest rates. Or Alan Greenspan and the Fed could do the same to short-term rates, as a way to hit the brakes on a recovery that is heating up too fast. In other words, if everything possible goes wrong for housing, homeowners should have plenty to compensate them in terms of job security and income hikes.

The author draws a sharp contrast between the housing market and the rest of the economy so as to show

A．the boom of real estate activity.

B．the statistics on home prices.

C．the role of housing market.

D．the degree of consumer spirits.