Passage 2
Consumers went back to usingtheir credit cards in March to keep spending while student and new-car loansshot up as the value of outstanding consumer credit jumped at the fastest ratesince late 2001, data from the Federal Reserve showed on Monday.
Total consumer credit grew by$21.36 billion-more than twice the $9.8 billion rise that Wall Streeteconomists surveyed by Reuters had forecast. That followed a revised $9.27billion increase in outstanding credit in February.
Analysts expressed somereservations whether the date reliably signaled a real pickup in demand,something that would normally fuel stronger growth, or just a need to rely moreon credit in an economy generating anemic job growth.
"The optimistic read isthat consumers' improved outlook on the economy and employment prospects ledthem to feel comfortable spending on credit, while a more downbeatinterpretation is that credit is needed for consumers to keep up, Nomura GlobalEconomics said in a note afterward.
The March rise in consumercredit was the strongest for any month since November 2001 when it soared by$28billion. That was shortly after the September11,2001 attacks when bigautomakers were offering zero-percent financing and other incentives to lureconsumers back to their showrooms.
New-car sales and productionwere a key influence on the 2.2 percent annual rate of economic growth postedduring the first three months this year. The government estimated that abouthalf of that growth came from increased new car production.
According to the article, the growth in consumer credit in March was______economists had predicted.
A、about the same as
B、slightly lower than
C、a great deal lower than
D、twice as much as
【正确答案】：D
【名师解析】:根据文章内容，3月份消费者信贷的增长是经济学家预测的两倍多。文章中提到，消费者信贷总额增长了213.6亿美元，这一数字是路透社调查的华尔街经济学家预计的98亿美元增长的两倍多。因此，正确答案是选项D："twice as much as"。这表明，消费者信贷的增长速度超出了经济学家的预期，显示出消费者在经济中的活跃度可能比预期的要高。