UNIVERSITATEA BUCURETI

FACULTATEA DE LIMBI I LITERATURI STRINE

CATEDRA DE ENGLEZ
EXAMEN DE LICEN LA LIMBI MODERNE APLICATE
PROBA DE LIMBA ENGLEZ - SESIUNEA FEBRUARIE 2014
I.

TRANSLATE INTO ROMANIAN (9p +1=10p)

Calls for European Central Bank action to help protect the eurozone's fragile recovery have grown after the release of
inflation and jobless data. Official figures showed that eurozone inflation fell to 0.7% in January, down from 0.8% in
December and further below the ECB's 2% target. It has fuelled worries about whether the euro bloc could suffer deflation,
potentially de-railing economic growth. Separate data showed the unemployment rate in December was unchanged at
12%.The European Union's statistics agency, Eurostat, said that although there was a 1.7% rise in the cost of food, alcohol
and tobacco in January, energy costs fell 1.2%. Many economists had forecast the eurozone's inflation rate would rise
slightly in January. The rate last touched 0.7% in October, which was the lowest reading for the 18-nation eurozone in
almost four years. The big challenge is exactly what to do. With the store cupboard of conventional measures largely bare,
any policy action is likely to be unprecedented. Concerns about possible deflation - where the price of goods and assets are
locked in long-term decline, hitting corporate profits, wage growth, and tempting consumers to delay purchases in the hope
of further falls - have grown in recent months. At the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Christine Lagarde, head of the
International Monetary Fund, said that despite signs of recovery across the world, the eurozone inflation, at 0.8%, remained
"way below" the 2% target set by the European Central Bank and that the risks to the bloc's fragile economic recovery
should not be ignored. The head of the International Monetary Fund has warned that deflation remains a real risk to
economic recovery in the eurozone., Christine Lagarde said that potential risks must not be ignored. She was speaking on
the final day of the World Economic Forum, in Davos. Deflation can hinder growth, as prices and the value assets continue
to fall. Ms Lagarde told a Davos debate on the global economic outlook, that - despite signs of recovery everywhere, there
were "old risks" and "new risks". Old risks included any failure to continue banking reforms and re-balance economies, she
said. New risks were, how emerging economies responded to the winding down of economic stimulus measures in the US,
and the problems facing economies whose inflation rate remained stubbornly below target. Mario Draghi, president of the
ECB, has said that although inflation was "subdued, and expected to remain subdued" for about two years, he was
confident that it would return to target. But he added that the ECB was ready to act if necessary. Meanwhile, separate
figures from Eurostat on Friday showed there were about 19.1 million jobless in the eurozone in December, down 129,000
from November 2013, but up 130,000 from December 2012 when the debt crisis was at its peak. Eurostat also said the
unemployment rate for November had been revised down from 12.1% to 12%. Deflation, if it's persistent, can be a very
nasty problem. Consumers have an incentive to delay buying things that might cheaper in the future. It can also aggravate
debt problems. Company revenues may fall, personal incomes can drop in cash terms, but debts do not. You still have to
make the same payments. And the eurozone has plenty of debt problems, scattered through the private sector and of course
among financially stressed governments. Falling prices can hit the income they get from tax revenues. There has been some
progress in getting to grips with government borrowing needs, so a prolonged period of deflation would be a very
unwelcome setback. In fact many of those struggling finance ministers would probably secretly welcome a period of
above-target inflation to make the debts a little more manageable. That's not on the near horizon. Instead the European
Central Bank is coming under pressure to do something dramatic to ward off falling prices. The job crisis is far from over
and efforts must continue at EU level and in member states to fight this scourge and ensure an inclusive and sustainable
recovery," said EU employment commissioner Laszlo Andor.
II.LANGUAGE IN USE (9p +1 =10 points)
1. Identify the tenses and their values in the underlined instances (have grown; would rise; was speaking; would
welcome; is coming) (5 x 0.4 = 2 points)
2. Provide contextual synonyms for the following words underlined in the text above: recovery; jobless; rise; reading;
bare; purchases; target; hinder; winding down; stimulus; at its peak; income; getting to grips; setback; to ward off
( 0,20 x 15 = 3 points)
3. Define the following terms in English and use them in sentences of your own: inflation, euro bloc, unemployment
rate, assets, emerging economies (5 x 0.5 = 2.5 points)
4. Passivize the sentences below if possible. If there is no passive counterpart explain why:
1. The newcomer solved the puzzle. 2. Music resembles poetry. 3. Mary admired herself in the mirror. 4. He gave the
flowers to Mary. 5. They did away with that law. (5 x 0.5 = 2.5 points)