I am delighted to guest at this festive occasion celebrating the 50th an niversary of diplomatic relations between Finland and the Peoples Republic of China. I have been asked to give a comment on the outlook for the common European currency, the Euro. The Euro During the past year or so, a lot of different views have been presented about the Euros performance.(1)
Considering the fact that the Euro is a new currency with a major international role in the foreign exchange markets,
it is only natural that it has drawn much attention.
However, I would like to point out that attempts to measure the success of the Economic and Monetary Union by the
Euros external value are misplaced17 . The benefits of the Euro stem from elaewhere. Indeed, the benefits that the
Euro can and will offer are distinctly of a long-term and structural nature. In the end, a short term misalignment18
of the Euro has very little to do with these structural developments.
One can come up with number of explanations for the depreciation of the Euro or the strength of the US dollar, which is the other side of the coin. (2)The growth gap, and associated interest rate difference between the Euro area and United States, have been no doubt among the most popular explanations,and there is some truth to this. Most importantly. The dynamic growth in the US has been a source of constant surprise to most of us.
(3) However, in the meantime the economic outlook for the Euro area has improved considerably. The European Central
Bank has succeeded very well in delivering price stability for the Euro area, which is its primary and the most
important objective. Member States of the Euro area have agreed on, and implemented, a number of important
initiatives aiming at raising the growth potential of the Euro area. Indeed, the Despite of these facts, it seems that the uncertainties associated with the Euro area have received more attention than those affecting the US Economy. This asymmetry has affected the Euro negatively.(4) According, it is widely recognised that the Euro is significantly undervalued, and
the present level does not reflect the strong fundamentals of the Euro area economy.
Most of these challenges reflect the fact that the Euro is still a young currency. (5)In fact, for the citizens of
the Euro area, the single currency will not become more tangible until 2002, when the actual notes and coins will
be introduced, This is just to say that at this point only tentative conclusions of the functioning of the Euro can be
made.

参考答案：

(1)考虑到欧元在外汇交易市场上是一种全新的主要国际性货币，那么，它所引起的广泛关注便不足为奇了。

(2)欧元区与美国之间的经济发展差距和相关的利率差异，无疑是得到最广泛认同的一种解释，确实也有点道理。

(3)但是，与此同时，欧元区的经济发展前景渐好。欧洲中央银行已经成功地实现其首要也是最重要的目标：保持欧元区物价的稳定。

(4)因此，人们广泛承认欧元的价值被极大地低估了，其当前水平没有反映欧元区经济的坚实基础。

(5)事实上，对欧元区的居民而言，要到今年真正的纸币、硬币投入使用时，单一货币才会变得更真实。这就是说，现在关于欧元功效的结论都只能是试验性的。