Quiz created: 101120

Vocabulary Quiz 14

Instructions: Answer the multiple choice questions, guessing if necessary; then click on the "Process Questions" button at the end of the quiz to see your score in the adjacent message box. The program will not reveal which questions you got wrong, only how many points you have. Go back and change your answers until you get them all right. (The message box will rejoice at that point and the page will change color to show it is tickled pink.)

Points to note: (1) Questions with only one possible answer are one point each. (2) Questions with one or more possible answers (represented by check boxes) give a point for each correct answer, but also subtract a point for each wrong answer! (3) The program will not attempt to score your efforts at all if you have not tried at least half of the questions. (4) This quiz is for your own use only. No record of your progress is kept or reported to anyone.

1. "Now there are 55 lions; 35 more have been shot over the years to control the population. … Yet no matter how FECUND nature is, humans are more so. With Africa's human population set to double to 2 billion by 2050, new thinking is needed to preserve the continent's remaining biodiversity." ("The Economist" 100904, pp. 23-24) In other words, humans, being "fecund," seem to be uniquely
vicious 
fertile 
ingenious 
hungry 
greedy 
short-sighted 
No Answer
2. "Or, as Peter Hart, a Democratic pollster, likes to put it, a hurricane is definitely coming; the only question is whether it will be category 3 or category 5. Mid-term elections do not normally generate such HISTRIONIC imagery." ("The Economist" 101030 p. 27) Imagery is "histrionic" when it
is remembered long afterward 
is extremely innovative 
relates to natural events, like the weather 
accidentally inspires hysteria in readers or listeners 
is overdramatic 
No Answer
3. "[Like Japan,] other Confucian countries such as South Korea, China, and Taiwan, have enjoyed a 'demographic dividend' —a rapidly expanding workforce and falling birth rate— similar to Japan's in the 1960s to 1980s. … Such places will look to Japan for how to cope with the economic and social consequences when their [aging workforce of] manpower starts to dry up. So far, they will find, it is ducking the issue." ("The Economist" 101120 p. 18) When a government "ducks" an issue, it means that it
swims with it, that is, works with the resources available 
swims with it, that is, it manages extremely well 
dodges it, that is, successfully avoids its impact 
avoids it, although the issue remains relevant 
No Answer
4. "In Andhra Pradesh, the Indian state with the most microfinance borrowers and the base for the biggest for-profit microfinance institutions, local politicians have bullied the business to a virtual halt. An interest-rate cap is MOOTED. These steps are ostensibly motivated by a desire to defend the poor from getting stuck in a debt. But they are wrong-headed." ("The Economist" 101120 p. 16) When something is "mooted," it is
proposed for discussion 
irrelevant 
discontinued 
in force 
widely whispered about, but not mentioned in public 
No Answer
5. "Unless the [proposed British immigration] cap is set so crazily low that virtually no skilled migrants are admitted to Britain at all, the impact on total inflows will be NUGATORY. If so, the political result might well prove to be as counter-productive as the economic one." ("The Economist" 101120 p. 16) A policy that is "nugatory" is one
with strongly negative political costs 
that is economically counter-productive 
one with a "sweet center," that is, with long-term effects that are more agreeable than immediate ones 
trivial and ineffective 
stupid 
No Answer
6. "But mid-term elections are often followed by exaggerated despair on one side and unwarranted HUBRIS on the other, and the likelihood of Mr. Obama accepting this friendly advice [to declare he will not run for a second term] is close to zero. As to HUBRIS, the Republican freshmen bound for Congress next January are in danger of reading into the election a message of their own creation." ("The Economist" 101120 p. 40) "Hubris" is
overbearing arrogance 
great joy 
extremely detailed plans for the future 
a very public show of humility 
corruption 
No Answer
7. "Mr. Clinton's admirers recall how the former president's political smarts enabled him to beguile and outwit Mr. Gingrich by stealing the Republicans' best ideas. … His detractors claim that only a lack of firm convictions made it possible for him to turn on a dime. Either way, it is agreed, Mr. Obama lacks the SUPPLENESS for Clintonian triangulation ('a fancy word for betrayal', as one Clinton aide put it)." ("The Economist" 101120 p. 40) Someone who is "supple"
is sneaky and underhanded 
is clever at games 
is pliant 
resists unsolicited advice 
has a very simple and one-dimensional view of the world 
No Answer
8. "A more efficient way to claw back revenue would be reform of the tax system. The system is riddled with so-called 'tax expenditures': credits, exemptions, deductions, and other loopholes that cost $1 trillion a year in FORGONE revenue." ("The Economist" 101120 p. 31) When a government "foregoes" money, it
accidentally loses it 
allocates it for a fixed purpose regardless of consequences 
voluntarily gives it up 
neglects to account for it 
tries to spend it before it is actually available 
No Answer
9. "Three quarters of Japanese-owned foreign [automotive] plants were at the same technical level as domestic ones in 2008, up from about half in 1996, says Nomura. Again, that is great for Japanese firms, but troubling for Japan. Might companies suffer a social back-lash from their foreign FORAYS? Perhaps it is too late for workers to protest." ("The Economist" 101120 p. 74) The word "foray" usually refers to a
kind of factory 
multinational corporation 
decision imposed without consultation 
warehouse 
school or training program aimed at foreigners 
military raid 
No Answer

      Points out of 9:

Return to top.

This consummately cool, pedagogically compelling, self-correcting,
multiple-choice quiz was produced automatically from
a simple text file of questions using D.K. Jordan's
dubiously original, but publicly accessible
Think Again Quiz Maker
of April 25, 2010.