Sample Elitmus Paper 2016 – English Section
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
Rocketing food prices have sparked riots in numerous countries recently. Millions are reeling from the price rise and governments are scrambling to halt a fast-moving crisis before it spins out of control. From Mexico to Pakistan, Senegal and Mauritania, protests have turned violent. In many poor countries, the protests have been fueled by pent-up anger against authoritarian or corrupt officials, some of whom have earned fortunes from oil and minerals while locals are struggling to buy food. Protesters burned hundreds of food-ration stores accusing the owners of selling government-subsidized food on the lucrative black market. “This is a serious security issue,” says Joachim von Braun, Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), in Washington. He has been bombarded by calls from officials around the world, all asking one question: How long will the crisis last?
The forecast is grim. Government might quell the protests, but bringing down food prices could take at least a decade, food analysts say. One reason: billions of people are buying ever-greater quantities of food-especially in booming China and India, wheremany have stopped growing their own food and now have the cash to buy a lot more of it. Increasing meat consumption, for example, has helped drive up demand for grain, and with it the price. There are other problems too. The spike in oil prices, (an unbelievable $ 109 per barrel), has pushed up fertilizer prices, as well as the cost of trucking food from farms to local markets and shipping it abroad. In China, where food prices have soared 23% in a year, officials have frozen the price of fertilizer and boosted farm subsidies, in an effort to lower pork and wheat prices and avert possible protests. But the problems do not end there. Harvests have been seriously disrupted by freak weather, including pro- longed droughts in Australia and Southern Africa, floods in West Africa, deep frost in China and record-breaking warmth in Northern Europe. The push to produce bio fuels as an alternative to hydrocarbons in further straining food supplies, especially in the U.S., where generous subsidies for ethanol have lured thousands of farmers away from growing crops for food and increasing the area used for bio fuel cultivation. As always in a crisis, there are winners. The creeping fear that the world might actually run short of food has led speculators to pour billions into commodities further accelerating price rises.
For the world’s poorest people, the price spikes are disastrous. Aid officials say that millions who previously eked out enough to feed their families can no longer afford the food in their local stores, and are seeking help from relief organizations. “We are seeing a new face of hunger,” says the Executive Director of the U.N.’s World Food Program, “People who were not in the urgent category are now moving into that category.” Despite the widespread demonstrations, the food crisis has been largely ignored by North American and European officials–who pay for much of the world’s food aid “because no one is starving in rich countries.”
Several African countries have begun planting high-protein, pest-resistant rice crops, and aidorganization are beginning to recruit locals for new job programs to help people pay their food bills.
In the poorest parts of Asia and Africa, officials hope that sky-high food prices might lift out of poverty small farmers who have barely scraped by on low crop prices–a hope that would get a big boost if the rich world agreed to cut agricultural subsidies in the current round of trade talks.
Q 1 ) What have experts predicted about the current food crisis? ( Elitmus Paper 2016 )
(A) They believe it will pose a severe security risk which they fear governments will not be able to handle.
(B) China and India will reduce their food exports drastically to feed their own population.
(C) It is unlikely that food prices will be reduced in the near future.
a) Only A
b) Both A and B
c) Only B
d) All A, B & C
e) None of these
Ans : E
Q 2 ) Which of the following cannot be considered as a cause of rising food grain prices? ( Elitmus Paper 2016 )
a) Increased meat consumption
b) Manipulation of commodities markets
c) Recommendations of International Food Policy Research Institutes
d) Drastic shifts in existing weather patterns
e) Exorbitant oil prices
Ans : C
Q 3 ) What does the phrase “new face of hunger” imply in the context of the passage? ( Elitmus Paper 2016 )
(A) In some countries a large section of the middle class cannot afford food.
(B) Aid organization themselves cannot afford local food prices in some countries and require increased aid.
(C) The number of people below the poverty line has drastically grown.
a) None
b) Only A
c) Only B
d) Both B & C
e) None of these
Ans : E
Q 4 ) Why has the area being utilized for bio fuel cultivation increased? ( Elitmus Paper 2016 )
a) Low hydrocarbon levels have forced farmers to grow bio fuels.
b) Prices of ethanol have soared resulting in higher profits for farmers.
c) Governments have provided a high subsidy for bio fuels like ethanol
d) Rise in prices of fertilizers required for the cultivation of traditional crops.
e) None of these
Ans : C
Q 5 ) Why have U.S. officials not paid attention to the food crisis? ( Elitmus Paper 2016 )
a) Relief organization have been handling the crisis well
b) Crops grown for food are highly subsidized in America
c) The U.S. has a huge surplus stock of food.
d) The percentage of those affected by the crisis in America is low.
e) None of these
Ans : E
Q 6 ) What measures have relief organization taken to help people in poorer countries to cope with the food crisis? ( Elitmus Paper 2016 )
a) Creating awareness among rich and developed nations about the severity of the food short age.
b) Hiring local labour to help implement new programs.
c) Providing knowledge to local farmers on the latest farming technology such as pest resistant crops.
d) Threatening to wind up their operations in affected countries if Western countries don’t increase aid.
e)Campaigning to reduce fuel prices.
Ans : B
Q. 7 ) How can small farmers benefit from high food prices? ( Elitmus Paper 2016 )
(A) If their governments increase the subsidies offered on their agricultural produce.
(B) If rich countries participate in trade talks to set fixed export duties.
(C) If all government agree to subsidize oil prices.
a) None
b) Only A
c) Both A and B
d) Only C
e) All A, B and C
Ans : A
Q 8 ) Which of the following is not an impact of high food prices? ( Elitmus Paper 2016 )
(A) Riots and destruction of property in many parts of the world.
(B) IFPRI has been boycotted by several governments.
(C) Officials have become rich by capitalizing on high prices.
a) Only A
b) Only B
c) Both B and C
d) Only C
e) None of these
Ans : B
Q 9 ) Which of the following is a measure that governments have taken to deal with the food crisis? ( Elitmus Paper 2016 )
a) Placed the blame for the crisis on the International Food Policy Research Institute.
b) Uniformly decided to cut export duties.
c) Reduced subsidies on bio fuels.
d) Set a fixed price on fertilizers.
e) Funded research on the causes of extreme climatic conditions.
Ans : D
Q 10 ) What is the author’s main objective in writing the passage? ( Elitmus Paper 2016 )
a)Criticizing subsidy policy of rich countries
b) Urging governments to control pollution and reduce its impact on the climate.
c) Berating citizens for using violent means of protest.
d) Cautioning governments against speculators.
e) Drawing our attention to the global and severe nature of the food crisis.
Ans : E
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