本期内容：

There's no question that the German economy has hit a difficult patch. The widest measure of economic activity, gross domestic product (GDP), declined in the third quarter of last year by 0.2% and failed to grow in the following three months. In terms of recession, as widely defined (two consecutive quarters of contraction), that is a very near miss indeed. That said, the jobs market in Germany is still in pretty decent health. The unemployment rate is one of the lowest in the world at 3.1%.

hit a difficult patch: 陷入困境
a wide measure of: 宏观的
a micro measure of: 微观的
gross: adj. 总共的
domestic: adj. 国内的
domestic market: 国内市场
domestic flight: 国内航班
international : adj. 国际的
decline: vi. 下降 vt. 拒绝
decrease: vi. 减少
shrink: vi. 缩水
following: adj. 之后的 n. 下列事物
in terms of: 谈论到某话题；在…方面
recession: n. 经济衰退
consecutive: adj. 连续的
contraction: n. 紧缩
near miss: 差一点
that said: 即便如此
given that: 考虑到
even so: 即使如此
decent: adj. 还不错的

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