阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
C
China’s economic growth “hard to predict”
The worsening global economic situation makes it difficult for China to predict its growth for next year, a senior official said on Friday.
“How fast China’s economy will grow next year is uncertain,” Liu He, deputy director of the Office of the Central Leading Group on Finance and Economy Work, told China Daily.
“To a large extent , the rate will be decided by the external(外部) situation,” Liu said during a discussion with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and other economists in Beijing.
“This year, GDP is estimated to grow at 9.4 or 9.5 percent, down from 10.6 percent last year,” he said. “However, the impact of the current financial turbulence on our economy is much less than on the rest of the world.”
Nicholas Stern, a former UK government advisor, also told China Daily it will take at least one or two years for the world to recover from the recession, which is now spreading from the US and the UK to the rest of the world.
“We don’t know how long the recession will last, but it is unlikely to be short,” he said.
Liu said China can use the downturn(衰退) as an opportunity to restructure its economy, which has relied heavily on government investment, foreign trade and low-cost technology over the past years.
“When the economy is experiencing fast growth, companies are unwilling to upgrade their technologies,” Liu said.
“The slowdown gives such firms the opportunity to enhance(提高) their competitive edge through better technologies.”
(From China Daily 2009-01-11)
小题1:How many people are mentioned in this passage?

A．Only 2.

B．No more than 3.

C．Not more than 4.

D．At least 5.

小题2:It can be inferred from Liu’s words that the impact of the current financial turbulence on China’s economy is ______.

A．more

B．less

C．the most

D．the least

小题3:The underlines word “extent” probably means ______.

A．sense

B．degree

C．size

D．depth

小题4: According to the passage, the reason why Liu said this downturn is an opportunity for China to restructure its economy is that ______.

A．China’s economy will not depend on government investment in the future

B．Foreign trade will grow in the future

C．The downturn will force China’s companies to upgrade their technologies

D．Low-cost technologies will not exist in China