English Comprehension No.11
Read the passages carefully to grasp the sense and the Meaning sought to be conveyed by the narrator. Attempt to point the correct answer to each question.
Countries in the higher stages of development accumulate capital far more easily than those in the less advanced stages. The is one reason why lending between advanced and less advanced countries- at low or zero rates of interest and for long terms of repayment should be considered normal and natural.
But even loans at low or zero rates or outright grants of capital, have their dangers. Even where a country has reached a stage where it can use capital in quantity, borrowing from abroad can be a substitute for earnings from abroad. The poor country must take advantage of the tendency for the more advanced nations to become what Keynes* called ‘hight-cost, high-living’ countries. Friends of many developing countries must view with some concern the rather poor performance of their export. At a roughly similar stage in her industrialization, Japan had no alternative but to force her products on to the markets of the world. This did not make the Japanese universally popular, but it did provide the earning for investment which insured her further growth. It is doubtful if such aid, however generous, can be a substitute for such earnings and for the independence and self- confidence they bring.
The borrowing of technology is also a complex matter. One advantage of being second in line is that the country so placed can take advantage of what has been worked out, often with considerable mental labour and cost, by those who have gone before. But one must know why the thing was worked out. Hight-yielding maize hybrids, improved fertilizer use, are both advances of general application. They are as appropriate and important for the less as for the more developed country. But much of the technology of the more advanced countries was developed because of their shortage of labour. The mechanical cotton picker and the modern heavy farm tractor are inventions of this sort. Their use on farms in the United States reflects the fact that labour for hire is scarce. This technology should not be taken over in the earlies stage of development in countries with unemployment problems.
So much for the borrowing of capital and technology. I come now to the borrowing of organization, a term I use broadly to include government and its services and educational, welfare and economic organization. The argument goes: because a particular organization or service exists in a more advanced country, it must make an important contribution to the development and should be re-created in countries that are in the less advanced stages. It will aid their development too.
This line of reasoning is a rich source of error. Often and I think usually, the organization and services of the more advanced country are not the cause of its development or they are made possible by the level of development and income that the country has reached. Unwise borrowing of such organization will not help development but hinder it. The government of India is a complex thing which reflects the great variety of tasks undertaken by India in her stage of development. An equally complex organization would be a great misfortune for one of the newer African States, for the time being, with a far simpler range of tasks.
If luxuries like specialized educational institutions, prefabricated housing and a wide range of public services are adopted before their time, they will draw resources from the tasks that are vital for development.
A hundred years ago, the development of the trans-Mississippi plains in the United States called, above all else, for a land policy which would get the land settled and ploughed and a transportation system which would get the products to market. To this end, the government surveyed the land, gave 160 acres to anyone who had proved his good intentions by farming it for a few months, and subsidized the building of a railway. These essentials having been provided, development proceeded at amazing speed. It was our unquestioned good fortune that community education experts, home economist and public safety advisers had not been invented. Had these existed, attention would have been drawn from the central task of getting the farms settled and the railway built.
Today, in the United States, these more elaborate services can be easily afforded. And in the present stage of our development, they may be needed. Transferred to Africa or even to India they may be redundant or damaging as they would have been in the United States in its comparable stage of economic development.
Question 1: what is meant by ‘Capital’ in the passage?
Answer A The money earned by traders and industrialist as profit
Answer B The money that is paid by a borrower in excess to the money borrowed
Answer C The money advanced by a lender for developmental purposes that would bring interest
Answer D The amount of money and material that can be put to earn more money
Answer d
Question 2: What is the advantage of advanced and economically developed countries regarding the supply of capital over underdeveloped countries?
Answer A Developed countries make huge profits from underdeveloped countries
Answer B Underdeveloped or less developed countries have rare chances of accumulation of capital internally
Answer C Developed countries can easily attract capital from less developed countries
Answer D They are able to accumulate money at a higher rate than any of the under-developed countries
Answer d
Question 3: In what way are the exports helpful to the underdeveloped countries?
Answer A It would incline developed countries to provide the ‘big loans’
Answer B They can import the latest stuff and material to improve their standard of living
Answer C The earnings from export would raise their capacity to enhance the rate of growth
Answer D They will be able to repay the loans at an early date
Answer c
Question 4: What advantage is there to under-developed countries in respect of exports that the developed countries lack?
Answer A They may improve their position quickly and instead of borrowing may earn from foreign countries
Answer B The exports from under-developed countries are encouraging by the advanced countries and appreciated
Answer C The cost of production of the same commodity in underdeveloped countries is lower than in the developed countries
Answer D Developed countries grow a tendency of lavish spending without caring for enhancing their earnings
Answer c
Question 5: What is particular with Japan in quoting as an instance in the context of export?
Answer A Japan had flooded the under-developed countries with damn cheap commodities
Answer B Japan had exported on competitive rates in foreign countries
Answer C Japan is exporting not less than the developing countries had been when they were in the same stage of industrial development
Answer D Japan had taken to export intensely while she was still an under-developed country like others are
Answer d