English Quiz for SBI PO Mains 2016 – Set 1

Directions (Q. 1-15): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words/ phrases are printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.

The outside world has pat answers concerning extremely impoverished countries, especially those in Africa. Everything comes back, again and again, to corruption and misrule. Western officials argue that Africa simply needs to behave itself better, to allow market forces to operate without interference by corrupt rulers. Yet the critics of African governance have it wrong. Politics simply can’t explain Africa’s prolonged economic crisis. The claim that Africa’s corruption is the basic source of the problem does not withstand serious scrutiny. During the past decade I witnessed how relatively well-governed countries in Africa, such as Ghana, Malawi, Mali and Senegal, failed to prosper, whereas societies in Asia perceived to have extensive corruption, such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan, enjoyed rapid economic growth.

What is the explanation? Every situation of extreme poverty around the world contains some of its own unique causes, which need to be diagnosed as a doctor would in a patient. For example, Africa is burdened with malaria like no other part of the world, simply because it is unlucky in providing the perfect conditions for that disease: high temperatures, plenty of breeding sites and particular species of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes that prefer to bite humans rather than cattle. Another myth is that the developed world already gives plenty of aid to the world’s poor. Former US Secretary of the Treasury, Paul O’Neil, expressed a common frustration when he remarked about aid for Africa: “We’ve spent trillions of dollars on these problems and we have damned near nothing to show for it.” O’Neil was no foe of foreign aid. Indeed, he wanted to fix the system so that more US aid could be justified. But he was wrong to believe that vast flows of aid to Africa had been squandered. President Bush said in a press conference in April 2004 that as “the greatest power on the face of the earth, we have an obligation to help the spread of freedom. We have an obligation to feed the hungry.” Yet how does the US fulfil its obligation? US aid to farmers in poor countries to help them grow more food runs at around $200 million per year, far less than $1 per person per year for the hundreds of millions of people living in subsistence farm households.

From the world as a whole, the amount of aid per African per year is really very small, just $30 per sub-Saharan African in 2002. Of that modest amount, almost $5 was actually for consultants from the donor countries, more than $3 was for emergency aid, about $4 went for servicing Africa’s debts and $5 was for debt-relief operations. The rest, about $12, went to Africa. Since the “money down the drain” argument is heard most frequently in the US, it’s worth looking at the same calculations for US aid alone. In 2002, the US gave $3 per sub-Saharan African. Taking out the parts for U.S. consultants and technical cooperation, food and other emergency aid, administrative costs and debt relief, the aid per African came to grand total of 6 cents. The US has promised repeatedly over the decades, as a signatory to global agreements like the Monterrey Consensus of 2002, to give a much larger proportion of its annual output, specifically up to 0.7% of GNP, to official development assistance. The US’s failure to follow through has no political fallout domestically, of course, because not one in a million US citizens even knows of statements like the Monterrey Consensus. But no one should underestimate the salience that it has around the world. Spin as American might about their nation’s generosity, the poor countries are fully aware of what the US is not doing.

1. The passage seems to emphasise that the outside world has

1) correct understanding about the reasonable aid provided by the US to the poor countries.

2) definite information about what is happening in underdeveloped countries.

3) stopped extending any financial aid to underdeveloped countries.

4) misconceptions about the aid given to the poor nations by developed countries.

5) None of these

2. According to the Westerners, the solution to eradicate poverty of African nations lies in

1) corruption

2) improving their own national behaviour

3) their rule

4) prolonged economic crisis

5) None of these

3. The author has given the example of Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan in support of his argument that

1) corruption is the major culprit in the way of prosperity.

2) misgovernance hampers the prosperity of nations.

3) despite rampant corruption, nations may prosper.

4) developed nations arrogantly neglect underdeveloped countries.

5) None of these

4. The author has mentioned Ghana as a country with

1) reasonably good governance

2) corrupt leadership

3) plenty of natural resources

4) rapid economic growth

5) None of these

5. The cases of malaria in Africa are mainly due to

(A) high temperature.

(B) climatic conditions conducive for breeding.

(C) malaria-carriers’ liking for human blood in preference to that of cattle.

1) None of these

2) Only B & C

3) Only A & C

4) Only A & B

5) All the three

6. The remark of former US Secretary of the Treasury, Paul O’Neil, is according to the author,

1) a statement of fact

2) not factually correct

3) an underestimation of US aid

4) a ruthless remark by an arrogant bureaucrat

5) None of these

7. President Bush’s statement in a Press Conference in April 2004 indicates that

1) the aid given by the US to the poor countries is substantial and sufficient.

2) the spread of freedom cannot be achieved through financial aid.

3) feeding the hungry millions outside the US is not possible.

4) the US, on its own, assumes the obligation of helping the poor countries.

5) US has spent trillions of dollars on aid.

8. Which of the following statements is TRUE about US aid to the sub-Saharan African countries?

1) The US aid meant for per capita African does not reach the incumbent.

2) The US aid to African countries is more than that for any other developing or underdeveloped nation.

3) The US aid to farmers in African countries is $200 m per year.

4) The donor country charges $ 5 per individual as consultancy charges.

5) US has been contributing more than 0.7% of its GNP for development assistance.

9. The purpose of the author in writing this passage seems to

1) criticise the US for not providing adequate financial help

2) make Africans realise their own problems

3) analyse the actual quantum of aid against the perceived one

4) highlight how American leaders are power-hungry

5) None of these

Directions (Q. 10-12): Which of the following word/group of words is MOST NEARLY THE SAME in meaning as the word printed in bold as used in the passage?

10. obligation

1) lip-sympathy 2) true empathy 3) self-pity

4) conditional responsibility 5) moral binding

11. squander

1) use economically 2) spend wastefully 3) siphon judiciously

4) donate generously 5) donate with ulterior motive

12. modest

1) humble 2) sufficient 3) meagre 4) sober 5) unpretentious

Directions (Q. 13-15): Which of the following word/group of words is most OPPOSITE in meaning as the word given in bold as used in the passage?

13. myth

1) reality 2) mystery 3) misery 4) misconception 5) exaggeration

14. extensive

1) intensive 2) abominable 3) inherent 4) rampant 5) negligible

15. prolonged

1) immediate 2) shortened 3) brevity 4) short-lived 5) narrow