(Download) Punjab & Sind Bank Probrationary Officer Exam Paper Held on 23-01-2011 : - English Language
(Download) Punjab & Sind Bank Probrationary Officer Exam Paper Held on 23-01-2011 : - English Language
179-190. Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words/phrases are printed in bold to help you to 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 basis 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 a patient. For example, Africa is burdened with malaria like no other part of the world, simple 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 U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Paul O “Neil expressed a common frustration when he remarked about aid for Africa: “We’ve spend trillions of dollars on these problems and we have damn near nothing to show for it”. O’Neil was no foe of foreign aid. Indeed, he wanted to fix the system so that more U.S. 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 U.S. fulfill its obligation? U.S. 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 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 U.S., it’s worth looking at the same calculations 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 U.S. 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 upto 0.7% of GNP, to official development assistance. The U.S.’s failure to follow through has no political fallout domestically, of course, because not one in a million U.S. citizens even knows of statements like the Momentary 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 U.S. is not doing.
176. The passage seems to emphasize that the outside world has ______
(1) correct understanding about the reasonable aid provided by the USA to the
poor countries
(2) definite information about what is happening in under developed 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
177. According to the Westerners the solution to eradicate poverty of African nations lines in ______
(1) corruption
(2) improving their own national behaviour
(3) misrule
(4) prolonged economic crisis
(5) none of these
178. 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) mis-governance hampers the prosperity of nations
(3) despite rampant corruption, nations may prosper
(4) developed nations arrogantly neglect underdeveloped countries
(5) none of these
179. 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
180. The cases of malaria in Africa are mainly due to________
(1) high temperature.
(2) climatic conditions conductive for breeding.
(3) 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 of these
181. The remark of former U.S. 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 U.S. aid
(4) a ruthless remark by an arrogant bureaucrat
(5) none of these
182. President Bush’s statements in a Press Conference in April 2004 indicates that ______
(1) the aid given by the U.S. 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 U.S. is not possible
(4) the U.S., on its own, assumes the obligation of helping the poor countries
(5) U.S. has spent trillions of dollars on aid
183. Which of the following statements is TRUE about U.S. aid to the sub-Saharan African countries?
(1) The U.S. aid meant for per capita African does not reach the incumbent
(2) The U.S. aid to African countries is more than that for any other developing
or underdeveloped nation
(3) The U.S. aid for farmers in African countries is $200m. per year
(4) The donor country charges $5 per individual as the consultancy charges
(5) U.S. has been contributing more than 0.7% of its GNP for development
assistance
184. The purpose of the author in writing this passage seems to ______
(1) criticize USA for not providing adequate financial help
(2) make Africans realize their own problems
(3) analyze the actual quantum of aid against the perceived one
(4) highlight how American leaders are power-hungry
(5) none of these
185-187. Which of the following word/group of word is MOST NEARLY THE SAME in meaning as the word printed in bold as used in the passage?
185. obligation
(1) lip sympathy
(2) true empathy
(3) self pity
(4) conditional responsibility
(5) moral binding
186. squander
(1) use economically
(2) spend wastefully
(3) siphon judiciously
(4) donate generously
(5) donate with ulterior motive
187. modest
(1) humble
(2) sufficient
(3) meager
(4) sober
(5) unpretentious
188-190. Which of the following word/group of words is most OPPOSITE in meaning of the word give in bold as used in the passage.
188. myth
(1) reality (2) mystery
(3) misery (4) misconception
(5) exaggeration
189. extensive
(1) intensive
(2) abominable
(3) inherent
(4) rampant
(5) negligible
190. prolonged
(1) immediate
(2) shortened
(3) brevity
(4) short-lived
(5) narrow
