Choose the best answer to the following questions.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 509.

1. What is the main idea of paragraph 1 of the article?

A. Birthrate in Europe is falling.

B. European countries can no longer provide free education and health care.

C. The economic and demographic situation in Europe has deteriorated.

2. In order to stop the economic decline European governments will need to

A. replenish the workforce.

B. cut down salaries.

C. pursue a tougher labour policy.

3. Bernd Supe-Dienes started moving his production to Hungary because

A. labour force is comparatively cheap there.

B. he has already created many jobs there.

C. the products made in Germany cannot compete with those produced in Hungary.

4. Paragraph 7 of the article says: “It's not just union members who feel this conflict.” What does the word “conflict” refer to?

A. The conflict between trade unions and the government.

B. A demographic disbalance that leads to grave economic consequences.

C. The fact that there is unemployment in EU countries but still they are moving production abroad.

5. Arcelor, Europe's largest steel company, was successful in the 1990s because of

A. its retraining schemes.

B. government subsidies.

C. failure of rival firms.

V Read the article again, find the following words and word combinations in the text and learn their meaning. Make it a particular point to use these words in the further discussion of the problem.

To make up for smth, average per-capita economic growth, a trend, long-term (growth), economic decline, elsewhere, an approach to smth, to cut costs, to create jobs, to reach an agreement, in return for smth, competitive(ly), R&D (Research and Development), (in)flexible rules, to give (smb) formal notice, to go before a labour tribunal, an out-of-court settlement, labour force, to take early retirement, to be laid off