[Solutions]
Directions: Read the passage and answer the items that follow. Your answers to these items should be based on the passage only.
What is the ultimate cause of poverty? Is democracy good for the poor? Does foreign aid have a role to play? Jeffrey Sachs, adviser to the United Nations, has an answer to all these questions: Poor countries are poor because they are hot, infertile, malaria infested, often landlocked; this makes it hard for them to be productive without an initial large investment to help them deal with these endemic problems. But they cannot pay for the investments precisely because they are poor they are in what economies call a ”poverty trap.” Until something is done about these problems, neither free market nor democracy will do very much for them. That is why foreign aid is key: It can kick start a virtuous cycle by helping poor countries invest in these critical areas and make them more productive. The resulting higher incomes will generate further investments; the beneficial spiral will continue.
In his bestselling 2005 book, The End of Poverty, Sachs argue that if the rich world had committed $195 billion in foreign aid per year between 2005 & 2025, poverty could have been entirely eliminated by the end of this period.
But there are others, equally vocal, who believe that all of Sach’s answers are wrong. William Easterly, who battles Sachs from New York University at the other end of Manhattan, has become one of the most influential anti-aid public figures, following the publication of two books, The Elusive Quest for Growth and The White Man’s burden. Dambisa Moyo, an economists who previously worked at Goldman Sachs and at the World Bank, has joined her voice to Easterly’s with her recent book, Dead Aid. Both argue that, aid does more bad than good: It prevents people from searching for their own solutions, while corrupting and undermining local institutions and creating a self-perpetuating lobby of aid agencies. The best bet for poor countries is to rely on one simple idea: When markets are free and the incentives are right, people can find ways to solve their problem. They do not need handouts, from foreigners or from their own governments. In this sense, the aid pessimists are actually quite optimistic about the way the world works. According to Easterly, there are no such things as poverty trap.
Q.1 According to the passage the nature of relation between poverty and lack of investment is:
a) One sided
b) Linear
c) Cyclic
d) Tangential
Ans-[D]
Q.2 Which of the following has been suggested as an idea to end poverty in the passage above?
1. Democratic Institutions
2. Free market economics & liberalism
3. Financial Assistance by the rich
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
a) 1 & 2 only
b) 2 & 3 only
c) 1 & 3
d) All of the above
Ans-[B]
Explanation: Statement 2 can be derived from this line in passage – “Sachs argue that if the rich world had committed $195 billion in foreign aid per year between 2005 & 2025, poverty could have been entirely eliminated by the end of this period.”
Statement 3 can be derived from this line in the passage- The best bet for poor countries is to rely on one simple idea: When markets are free and the incentives are right, people can find ways to solve their problem.
Q.3 Which of the following can be logically inferred from the passage above?
a) Jeffrey Sachs is hopeful about the elimination of poverty.
b) William Easterly is hopeful about the elimination of poverty
c) Both Easterly and Sachs are optimistic about elimination of poverty and suggest similar measures
d) Both Easterly and Sachs are optimistic about elimination of poverty and suggest diagonally opposite measures
Ans-[D]
Explanation- Both easterly and Sachs say that poverty can be eliminated. Sachs says that it can be eliminated by aid from rich while Easterly says that it can be eliminated by free market and not by handouts from rich
Q.4 The author of the passage seems to suggest that :
a) Aid is the way to go for ending poverty
b) Free market is the most suitable model for ending poverty
c) There are more ways than one to fight poverty
d) There are no signs of end of poverty in near times
Ans-[C]
Different thinkers offer different ways out of poverty as illustrated by different views of Sachs and Easterly.
Q.5 On a certain planet, if “bring me water” is represented by NET, “water is cold” is represented by TSO then what will be the code for “Bring Cold Water” ?
a) TEO
b) EON
c) NST
d) Either (A) or (C)
Ans-[D]
Solution- Bring me Water = NET
Water is cold = TSO
Common Terms on LHS & RHS is Water and T respectively
Hence code for water is T
Thus code for Bring & Me can be N & E (not in same order)
Code for is cold can be S & O (not in same order)
Hence Code for “Bring Cold Water” will have T (for water) and any of the codes for Bring (N or E) + Cold (S or E) Hence option D
Q.6 Three friends, returning from a movie, stop to eat at a restaurant. After dinner, they paid their bills and were served mints on the table. Ram took 1/3rd of the mints, but returned four as he felt he had taken too much. Shyam then took 1/4th of what was left but returned three for similar reasons. Ravi then took half of the remainder but threw two back into the bowl. The bowl now had only 17 mints left. How many mints were originally in the bowl?
a) 38
b) 31
c) 41
d) None of these
Ans-[D]
Solution-The number of mints should be divisible by 3 and none of them are so [d]
Q.7 The height of a certain flag pole is 30 feet. The pole surface has been greased to make it slippery to prevent monkeys from climbing the pole. A monkey attempts to climb the pole. It climbs 3 feet every second but slips down 2 ft in the next second. When will the monkey reach the top of the flag pole.
a) 56 secs
b) 27 secs
c) 60 secs
d) 55 secs
Ans-[D]
Solution- Every two seconds the monkey gains 1 ft. Climbs 3 feet in 1st second and slips 2 feet in the next. However, when it has reached 27 ft, in the next jump (3ft upwards) it will reach the top. It will take 27 * 2 = 54 seconds to reach 27ft & then 1 sec to reach the top. Hence 55 seconds.
Q.8 In a building with 7 floors there is exactly one floor between Bengali and Tamilian. The Bengali lives on the higher floor. The Marathi lives on the floor next to the Punjabi. The Gujarati does not live on the topmost floor. The Keralite lives in the same building. Assume that nobody lives on the ground floor. If the Bengali stays on the fifth floor, then which among the following is correct?
a) the Gujarati stays on the fourth floor
b) the Marathi stays on the second floor
c) The Punjabi stays on the sixth floor
d) The Tamilian is on the floor next to the Keralite
Ans-[A]
Solution- There is exactly one floor between Bengali and Tamilian and Bengali lives on a higher floor. So we have B _ T The Marathi lives on the floor next to the Punjabi. So either Mp or PM Gujarati does not live on the floor 6. If Bengali is on floor 5, we have _ _ T _ B (floors 1 to 6). The Marathi and Punjabi pairs can fit on floors 1 and 2 only. Since Gujarati is not on floor 6, he is on floor 4.
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