1997年 阅读 4、5几个问题

passage 5
1.Nothing could be further from the truth.
这句话里，further是比较级？further的用法是？
2.It is also less than most forecasters had predicted.
这句中，前面是Is 后面怎么不用have predicted？怎么用过去完成时呢
3.In late 1994 the panel of economists which The Economist polls each month said that America’s inflation rate would average 3.5% in 1995.
此句中，poll到底什么意思？翻译出来句子怎么体现poll的意思？
4.Britain and Japan inflation is running half a percentage point below the rate predicted at the end of last year.
此句中的running怎么理解
5. its jobless rate (5.6% in August) has fallen below most estimates of the natural rate of unemployment the rate below which inflation has taken off in the past.
此句中最后一部分，是个定语从句？若是定语从句，请大神门帮忙还原为两个句子。因为below是个介词，总感觉这句话不像是定语从句
6.This is a long way below the double-digit rates which many countries experienced in the 1970s and early 1980s.
此句中below the double-digit rates 做什么成分？
passage 4
1.At the core of this debate is chairman Gerald Levin, 56, who took over for the late Steve Ross in 1992.
这里的debate指什么？前文没有地方提到争论啊