European unemployment rates are double the U. S. level, placing pressure on European p

oliticians to come up with innovative ways to create jobs. Increasingly European governments are turning to multinational corporations with incentives linked to the number of jobs the company will create by investing in the country. The more jobs a multinational manufacturer promises, the more subsidies the government will provide.

Britain, the leader in this race with 10 percent of all foreign investment in the European Union, paid $48,600 for each of the jobs created in 1996 when LG, a south Korean firm invested in an electronics complex. According to Britain's Trade and Industry Ministry, more than 285,000 jobs were created or preserved through foreign investment from 1994 to When countries such as China and Mexico offer low-cost locations for production, industrialized nations feel compelled to counter with other incentives. Governments use subsidies to induce investment not only from auto firms but also at even greater cost. from high-tech computer and electronics companies. With countries engaged in a bidding war for multinational investment, smaller nations face the prospect of being outspent by bigger competitors. Despite the high cost of the handouts, no country wants to miss the opportunity to gain job growth and modernized industry, especially when plagued by high unemployment.

26. European governments hope to lower unemployment rates by ().

A. placing pressures on Europeans companies

B. getting loans from banks

C. creating more jobs

27. The more jobs the multinational manufacturers promise, the more () European governments will provide.

A. money

B. jobs

C. profit

28. Britain is the leader in ().

A. investing money in international market

B. spending time to look for partners abroad

C. attracting foreign investment

29. Government subsidies have attracted investment relatively easily from ().

A. car companies

B. low-cost industries

C. Gas companies

30. Every country hopes to gain job growth and modernized industry, especially when plagued by high unemployment. 'Plague' here means ().

A. a kind of disease

B. causing continual trouble

C. spreading death