Thanks to the booming bio-fuels market, wacky weather and increased

Question

Thanks to the booming bio-fuels market, wacky weather and increased world demand, global grain stocks have fallen to a scant 57 days of consumption - their lowest level in 34 years Prices are up sharply. International aid organizations warn they will not have enough emergency food on hand to meet anticipated need. Even consumers in rich countries _______.

Which of the following best completes the passage below?

A. will have to pay significantly more for their food this year.

B. will not support subsidy for bio-fuels. 
 
C. will not come to the aid of the starving millions in poor countries. 
 
D. will have to bear the brunt for their past misdeeds. 
 
E. will have to conserve their food stocks.

kntombat · Answer

Which of the following best completes the passage below?

A. will have to pay significantly more for their food this year. ( this is our answer , as it clearly states that as the stock of grains is at all time low and the prices have also gone up that means the rich will also have to pay more for their food this year.)

B. will not support subsidy for bio-fuels. (The stimulus doesn't hint at people in rich countries making any such contribution to anybody.)

C. will not come to the aid of the starving millions in poor countries. (The stimulus doesn't hint at people in rich countries coming or not coming to aid of the people starving in poor countries)

D. will have to bear the brunt for their past misdeeds. (The stimulus doesn't hint at people in rich countries bearing any brunt for their past misdeeds, we cannot infer from the stimulus that individuals in the rich countries were responsible for the fall in the stock of grains globally.)

E. will have to conserve their food stocks. (The stimulus doesn't hint at people in rich countries storing food stocks, farmers may be doing so but nothing about individual users.)

Vinodhini1803 · Answer

The argument says that there will be food shortage. 
Even consumers in rich countries 
A. this works since it implies due to food shortage, the prices will go up and consumers have to pay a higher price.
B. Irrelevant
C. Irrelevant. 
D. Totally irrelevant. 
E. This is somewhat relevant to the question stem. But Compared to A, A wins.

web2m · Answer

Thanks to the booming bio-fuels market, wacky weather and increased world demand, global grain stocks have fallen to a scant 57 days of consumption - their lowest level in 34 years Prices are up sharply. International aid organizations warn they will not have enough emergency food on hand to meet anticipated need. Even consumers in rich countries _______.

Which of the following best completes the passage below?

We know demand has increased, supply has decreased, and as a result, prices have increased globally

A. will have to pay significantly more for their food this year. - Correct - will affect everyone

B. will not support subsidy for bio-fuels. - not relevant / mentioned

C. will not come to the aid of the starving millions in poor countries. - not discussed or implied

D. will have to bear the brunt for their past misdeeds. - not discussed or implied

E. will have to conserve their food stocks - may be a possibility, not a definite ("will" means it's a definite), also only mentioned in relation to international aid organizations

Posted from my mobile device

web2m · Answer

Thanks to the booming bio-fuels market, wacky weather and increased world demand, global grain stocks have fallen to a scant 57 days of consumption - their lowest level in 34 years Prices are up sharply. International aid organizations warn they will not have enough emergency food on hand to meet anticipated need. Even consumers in rich countries _______.

Which of the following best completes the passage below?

We know demand has increased, supply has decreased, and as a result, prices have increased globally

A. will have to pay significantly more for their food this year. - Correct - will affect everyone

B. will not support subsidy for bio-fuels. - not relevant / mentioned

C. will not come to the aid of the starving millions in poor countries. - not discussed or implied

D. will have to bear the brunt for their past misdeeds. - not discussed or implied

E. will have to conserve their food stocks - may be a possibility, not a definite ("will" means it's a definite), also only mentioned in relation to international aid organizations

Posted from my mobile device

Abhi077 · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

The argument talks of rising food prices and falling supply. The last line begins with consumers in rich countries. Option A completes this logically.

Option B is incorrect because the focus is an food not biofuels.

Option C is inappropriate sinceconsumers are not the people who help people in poor countries. (if you are talking of helping the poor, you wouldnt refer to them as consumers).

Option D is off the mark since no misdeed has been referred to.

Option E is ruled out because countries may conserve food stocks not consumers.

Hence Choice (A) is the correct answer

Mavisdu1017 · Answer

It is a weird question. If prices are up sharply, everyone will have to pay more for food, why do ONLY consumers in rich countries pay more? Non-logical.

DmitryFarber · Answer

Mavisdu1017

Hmm, this  is  a bit strange. With (A) filled in, the argument isn't saying that ONLY consumers in rich countries will pay more, but that EVEN these consumers will pay more. So while it isn't clearly wrong, it's also not clear why this part is getting emphasized. If prices are up, why do we need a conclusion to tell us that one particular group will be among those paying these high prices? If we are filling in a conclusion, it should be something that meaningfully combines information in the premises to make a logical inference.

Mavisdu1017 · Answer

DmitryFarber  yes sir, what I feel weird and non-logical is the conclusion gets this particular group (people in rich countries) emphasized. I think if price is up, people all over the world will pay more, so this question’s conclusion seems to be meaningless.

parampreet1997 · Answer

This is a type of an inference/main point question "If all the statements above are true, then which of the following can be concluded". So the correct conclusion should be of "must-be-true" type, i.e. we can surely say that this will happen.

3 options are outright rejected: B,C,D

Now of A and E, for which can we be sure will happen?
That will be A, since for E we are not sure whether people need to conserve food. May be there government does for them.

Now to explain why A will surely happen, consider the following:-

Global Grain Price = 100
Price in Poor Country = 50
Price in Rich Country = 150 (in general, rich countries have more expensive items)

Case 1: Slight increase in global grain price
Global Grain Price = 100+50
Price in Poor Country = 50+50 = 100% rise from last year
Price in Rich Country = 150+50 = 33.33% rise from last year

Case 1: Sharp increase in global grain price
Global Grain Price = 100+100
Price in Poor Country = 50+100 = 200% rise from last year
Price in Rich Country = 150+100 = 66.67% rise from last year

Therefore, we can surely say that "Even consumer in rich country would have to pay significantly more as compared to previous year". ("even" is explained by that when prices rise slightly consumers in only poor countries pay significantly more than their previous year but not in rich countries. But when prices rise sharply, even the consumers in rich countries pay significantly more than what they paid in the previous year).

Hope this helps.

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Thanks to the booming bio-fuels market, wacky weather and increased

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