今天的内容选自《经济学人》0613期Letter部分，和欧盟相关。

I doubt that bigger transfers from northern European countries to southern ones and debt mutualisation will “avert catastrophe” as you claim. On the contrary, these transfers will continue to discourage Italy, France and other southerners from carrying outoverduereforms, leading to catastrophe in the not-too-distant future instead of averting it. Italy and others should be made to abandon the euro, thereby saving the EU. You quoted Konrad Adenauer’s saying that “German problems can only be solved under a European roof”. But Ludwig Erhard, Germany’s minister of the economy and architect of the Wirtschaftswunder, said in 1957 that it is impossible to move Sicily to the Ruhr without causing economic difficulties. For too many years we have been confronted with the problems Erhard predicted in widely different economies bound together by monetary union.

Gerald Scheriau 

Vienna

单词讲解：

mutualisation：

mutualise: VERB (1) to make or become mutual

(2) to organize or convert a business enterprise so that custormers or employees own a majority of shares. 

Derived forms:noun

mutualization (ˌmutualiˈzation) or mutualisation (ˌmutualiˈsation) 

avert：VERB If you avert something unpleasant, you prevent it from happening. 避免;阻止;防止

eg：Talks with the teachers' union over the weekend have averted a strike.

overdue：ADJ-GRADED [usually verb-link ADJ] If you say that a change or an event is overdue, you mean that you think it should have happened before now. （变化或事件）早该发生的

eg：This debate is long overdue.

写作练习：

1、I doubt that bigger transfers from northern European countries to southern ones and debt mutualisation will “avert catastrophe” as you claim.

“I doubt…… as you claim”，这句话可以用来阐述个人观点：“我不同意你所说的……”，可作为I do not agree with your opinion on ……的同义替换表达。

2、On the contrary, these transfers will continue to discourage Italy, France and other southerners from carrying out overdue reforms, leading to catastrophe in the not-too-distant future instead of averting it.

“on the contrary”承接上句进行转折，给出自己的看法。

3、Italy and others should be made to abandon the euro, thereby saving the EU.

“主句，thereby/thus/therefore + doing”的结构可以用来表示“某事发生，从而引起……的后果”

4、it is impossible to move Sicily to the Ruhr without causing economic difficulties.

“it is impossible to …… without……” 中包含两个否定“impossible”和“without”，双重否定表示加强和强调，意味“做……一定会……”，impossible和without可以替换成其他单词。