SECTION F: READING COMPREHENSION

Read the following passage and answer the questions 1056 through 1060 Despite the wave of privatization that has occurred over the past fifteen years, State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) continue to occupy a central role in many economies in terms of value added relative to GDP employment and investment. Yet the performance of SOEs has been largely disappointing with the negative impact on macroeconomic stability. Inefficient public enterprises have undermined the operation of financial system, fuelled inflation, increased public debt while acting as an obstacle to private business. In advanced economies worldwide and in virtually all economies in transition the corporation is the defining characteristic of the modern industrial enterprise. The modern corporate form has evolved over four centuries to become the most efficient institution through which large scale commercial activity in essence the transformation of inputs into outputs can be carried out. The focus on the analysis is on how SOEs might be reformed i.e. structured, governed, operated and financed as modern corporations; what incentives are needed to achieve the goals of the reform program and there may be systematic limits to SOE reforms which do not address the role of competition, factor markets and increased private participation in corporate financial management and ownership. 1056. Which of the following statements according to the passage is wrong? a. SOEs performance is not generally satisfactory. b. Public enterprise is a cause of inflation c. SOEs still occupy a central role in many economies d. the role of public enterprise is supportive to private business e. None of these. 1057. What are the areas of private participation? a. Getting involved with corporate management, ownership and finance b. Exploring options of reform c. Defining characteristics of the modern industrial enterprise d. Providing incentives for achieving the goals of the reform program e. None of these. 1058. In the passage, What is meant by commercial activity? a. large scale of operation b. transformation of inputs into outputs c. the modern corporate form d. characteristics of the economies in transition e. most efficient institution. 1059. What is meant by SOEs? a. how SOEs be governed? b. how SOES be operated? c. how SOES be financed? d. how SOES be structured? e. All of these. 1060. Which is an appropriate title for the passage? a. Modern Industrial Enterprises

b. Value addition to GDP c. Reforming SOEs d. Employment and Investment e. Efficiency through large scale commercial activity Read the following passage and answer the questions 1061 through 1065 Physically, we are heading towards a resource tension society. Natural resources are being depleted in many cases that may eventually cause supply constraint. On the other hand, increase in population will keep on pushing the demand for resources upward. We may face a serious crisis situation at the end of the next century unless we take definite steps in tills regard. Two-pronged measures may be found effective. Rationalization of uses, minimization off wastage re-uses may significantly reduce the demand for resources. On the other hand, measures in slowing down the depletion process such as reforestation, recycling etc may case up the supply constraint. Also, method or process improvement aiming at reducing the use of materials may lessen the pressure on demand. Technological breakthrough may help in finding newer sources of raw materials or at least better use of existing materials which should eventually reduce the tension. But, to solve the problem such as this we need participation and involvement of all the nation both haves and have-nots in terms of resources. Such commitment may not come forth through a political process. But, if the social order follows the so-called market economy, market mechanism may have strong mileage in ensuring such commitment. Globalization process, which is already in work may bring the players together and make global partners understand what they should do in solving this huge problem. 1061. What is the authors main concern in this passage? a. to solve resources constraint problem b. to describe the technological changes c. to describe globalization process d. to explain the free market mechanism e. both a and c 1062. The word such in line 6 is closest in meaning to: a. chaos b. emergency c. shortage d. crazy 1063. The word such in line 11 refers to: a. technological breakthrough b. resource constraints c. consideration of haves and haves-nots d. globalization process e. Participation and involvement of all the nations 1064. Which is not suggested in this passage as a measure to reduce the demand for resource? a. wastage minimization b. rationalization of uses c. recycling d. re-uses e. method or process improvement 1065. What can ensure the commitment of the nations to solve the resource tension situations? a. globalization b. multinational agreement c. market mechanism d. socialistic social order e. both a and c Read the passage carefully and answer questions from 1066 to 1070: There are some people who are bored by almost any conversation. They are bored if you talk shop, they are bored if you talk golf, they are bored if you talk politics. It is men like this who loathe strangers who try to enter into conversation. This dislike of conversation with strangers is for me hard to understand. I think I should even enjoy an occasional hour with a bore. Up to a point I like bores. Many bores are so happy that it is a pleasure to e. None of these

watch them. The worst bores are those who love telling people the various routes from one place to another. Another boring form of conversation is that of the man, who while talking politics, frets out all the old threadbare arguments with the air of a person using them for the first time. I have been a bore of this kind myself. Once my friend observed, My God, what a bore you are. I felt like pricked balloon at first, but respected my friend for his candour. Since then no one has called me a bore. I have learnt to study the expression on the face of people. There are certain people with whom one has a right to be bored-people who are so self-centered and hey cannot listen to anyone talking. Such people are boring because they make one feel for the time being an outsider. 1066. The authors outspoken friend earned his respect presumably because: a. he was successful in influencing the authors personality b. he helped the author in making him realize how he appeared to other people c. he was a man with solid common sense d. he refused to indulge in sycophancy e. None of these 1067. The prime objective of the author in this passage is to: a. recount his personal experiences with bores b. champions the cause of bores c. describe various kinds of bores d. enunciate ways to avoid becoming a bore e. None of these 1068. Self-centered people are bores because: a. they are habitually hostile or unfriendly b. their stock of topics for discussion is limited c. they cut off all communication d. they have a single track mind e. None of these 1069. People who are averse to strike up conversation with a stranger are inevitably always: a. those who like to dominate the scene by talking themselves b. those who are suspicious by nature c. those who are bores themselves d. those who are bored by any conversation e. None of these 1070. The redeeming characteristic in bores, according to the author, is this: a. they keep the conversational ball rolling b. they are blissful in their obliviousness to their surroundings c. self-realization dawns quickly upon them d. they are happy people because they are engrossed with themselves. e. None of these Read the following passage carefully and select the best answers using the text through 1071 to 1075: The increase in International Business and foreign investment has created a need for executives with knowledge of foreign languages and skills in cross cultural communications. Citizens of Bangladesh, however have not been well trained in either area and consequently, have not enjoyed the same level of success in negotiating in an international arena as have some of the developing countries. Negotiation is the process of communicating back and forth for the purpose of reaching an agreement. It involves persuasion and compromise, but in order to participate in either one the negotiators must understand the ways in which people are persuaded and how compromise is reached within the culture of the negotiation. In many international business negotiations aboard,

developing countries like us are perceived as weaker parties having less bargaining power. In studies of global negotiations, several trails have been identified that may serve to confirm this stereotypical perception, while undermining the negotiators position. Two traits in particular that cause cross-cultural misunderstanding is directness and impatience on the part of such countries negotiators. Furthermore, the negotiators often insist on realizing short term goals. Prudent foreign negotiators, on the other hand may value the relationship established between negotiators and may be willing to invest time in it for long term benefits. In order to solidify the relationship, they my opt for indirect interactions without regard for the time involved in getting to know the other negotiators. Clearly, perceptions and differences in values affect the outcomes of negotiations and the success of negotiators. For Bangladesh, to play an effective role in International business Negotiations, we must put forth more effort to improve cross-cultural understanding. 1071. The Main Idea of the Passage is (a) Negotiation is the process of reaching an agreement (b) Foreign languages are important for international business. (c) Foreign perceptions about developing country negotiators are stereotypical (d) Negotiators of our country need to learn more about other cultures. (e) None of the above. 1072. The Purpose of Negotiation is (a) To undermine the other negotiators position (b) To communicate back and forth. (c) To understand the culture of others (d) To reach an agreement (e) None of the above. 1073. The Word Undermining used in the paragraph is closest in meaning to the phrase (a) Making known (b) making clear (c) making brief (d) making weak (e) None of the above. 1074. Our negotiators are described as all of the flowing except (a) Perceived by foreign negotiators as weaker. (b) Willing to invest time in relationships. (c) Known for direct interactions (d) Interested in short term goals (e) None of the above. 1075. One of the characteristics of our negotiators that originate cross-cultural misunderstanding is (a) Less bargaining power (b) Directness on the part of negotiators (c) Less understanding on persuasion (d) Lack of skills in communicating back and forth.
Read the following passage and answer the questions 1076 through 1080 The function of capital market is to facilitate an exchange of funds among all participants, and yet in practice we find that certain participants are not on a par with others. Members of society have varying degrees of market strength in terms of information they bring to a transaction, as well as of purchasing power and credit worthiness, as defined by lenders. For example, within minority communities, capital markets do not properly fulfill their functions; they do not provide access to the aggregate flow of funds in the United Sates. The financial system does not generate the credit or investment vehicles need for underwriting economic development in minority areas. The problem underlying this defunct is found in a rationing mechanism affecting both the available alternative for investment and the amount of financial resources. This creates a distributive mechanism penalizing members of minority groups because of their socioeconomic differences from others. The existing system expresses definite socially based investment preferences that result from the previous

allocation of income and that influence the allocation of resources for the present and future. The system tends to increase the inequality of income distribution. And in the United States economy, a greater inequality of income distributing leads to a greater concentration of capital in certain types of investments. Most traditional financial market analysis studies ignore financial market deficiencies in allocation because of analysis inherent preferences for the simple model of perfect competition. Conventional financial analysis pays limited attention to issue of market structure and dynamics, relative costs of information and problems of income distribution. Market participants are viewed as acting ac entirely independent and home genius individuals with perfect foresight about capital market behavior. Also, it is assumed that each individual in the community at large has the same access to the market and the same opportunity to transact and to express the preference appropriate to his or her individual interest. Moreover, it is assumed that transaction costs for various types of financial instruments (stocks, bonds etc) are equally known and equally divided among all community members. 1076. The main point made by the passage is that (a) Financial markets provide for an optimum allocation of resources among all competing participants by balancing supply and demand. (b) The allocation of financial resources takes place among separate individual participants, each of whom has access to the market. (c) Investments in minority opportunities can be made by the use of various alternative financial instruments, such as stocks, bond (d) The existence of certain factors adversely affecting members of minority groups shows the financial markets do not function as conventional theory says they function (e) Since transaction costs for stocks, bonds and other financial instruments are not equally apportioned among all minority group members, the financial market is subject to criticism. 1077. The authors main point is agreed by (a) Giving examples that support a conventional generalization (b) Showing that the view opposite to the authors self contradictory (c) Criticizing the presuppositions of a proposed plan (d) Showing that omissions in a theoretical description make it inapplicable in certain cases. (e) Demonstrating than an alternative hypothesis more closely fits the data. 1078. A difference in which of the following would be an example of inequality in transaction costs as alluded to in lines 40-43? (a) Maximum amounts of loans extended by a bank to businesses in different areas. (b) Fees charged to large and small investors for purchasing stocks. (c) Prices of similar goods offered in large and small stores in an area. (d) Stipends paid to different attorneys for preparing legal suits for damages. (e) Exchange rates in dollars for currencies of different countries. 1079. According to the passage, a questionable assumption of the conventional theory about the operation of financial markets is that (a) Creditworthiness as determined by lenders is a factor determining the market access. (b) Market structure and market dynamics depend on income distribution. (c) A scarcity of alternative sources of funds would result from taking socioeconomic factors into consideration. (d) Those who engage in financial market transactions are perfectly well informed about the market. (e) Inequalities in income distribution are increased by the functioning of the financial market. 1080. According to the passage, analysts have conventionally tended to view those who participate in financial markets as (a) Judging investment preferences in terms of the good of society as a whole. (b) Influencing the allocation of funds through prior ownership of certain kinds of assets. (c) Varying in market power with respect to one another (d) Basing judgments about future events mainly on change (e) Having equal opportunities to engage in transactions.

Answers: 1056. d 1057. a 1058. b 1059. e 1060. d 1061. a 1062. b 1063. b 1064. c 1065. e 1066. b 1067. c 1068. a 1069. b 1070. c 1071. a 1072. d 1073. d 1074. c 1075. b 1076. c 1077. d 1078. b 1079. d 1080. e 1056. d 1057. a 1058. b 1059. e 1060. d 1061. a 1062. b 1063. b 1064. c 1065. e 1066. b 1067. c 1068. a 1069. b 1070. c 1071. a 1072. d 1073. d 1074. c 1075. b 1076. c 1077. d 1078. b 1079. d 1080. e

Best of Luck