Quiz-1

Passage 1 :
The Kingdom of Spain was created in 1492 with the unification of the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Aragon. For the next three centuries, Spain was the most important colonial power in the world. It was the most powerful state in Europe and the foremost global power during the 16th century and the greater part of the 17th century. Spain established a vast empire in the Americas, stretching from California to Patagonia, and colonies in the western Pacific. Spain’s European wars, however, led to economic damage, and the latter part of the 17th century saw a gradual decline of power under an increasingly neglectful and inept Habsburg regime. The decline culminated in the War of the Spanish Succession, where Spain’s decline from the position of a leading Western power to that of a secondary one, was confirmed, although it remained the leading colonial power. The eighteenth century saw a new dynasty, the Bourbons, which directed considerable effort towards the institutional renewal of the state, with some success, peaking in a successful involvement in the American War of Independence. The end of the eighteenth and the start of the nineteenth centuries saw turmoil unleashed throughout Europe by the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, which finally led to a French occupation of much of the continent, including Spain. This triggered a successful but devastating war of independence that shattered the country and created an opening for what would ultimately be the successful independence of Spain’s mainland American colonies. Following a period of growing political instability in the early twentieth century, in 1936 Spain was plunged into a bloody civil war. The war ended in a nationalist dictatorship, led by Francisco Franco which controlled the Spanish government until 1975. Select the correct answer option based on the passage. 1) What was the result of Napoleonic wars?

What is the meaning of the term ‘culminated’?

What is the summary of the passage?

What occurred in the latter part of 17th century?

In response to the recent rise in gas prices, we are once again hearing calls for the government to “do something” to force prices lower. But no matter what the price of gasoline is, such calls are wrong. All market fluctuations in the price of gasoline, up or down, are a good thing and none of the government’s business. In the realm of business, a higher price means that firms will only purchase oil or gasoline to the extent that they can make profitable use of it at those prices. An efficient airline will still be able to offer low prices while using high-priced jet fuel; a less efficient airline may not be able to. A company in China or India that uses oil to run highly efficient factories can make profitable use of oil at $70 a barrel; their laggard competitors may not be able to. There is no moral or economic justification for any politician or consumer to declare market prices “too high,” and to use the government to force lower prices. Doing so violates both the rights of gasoline producers and their productive customers to set voluntary prices and thus causes destructive shortages. The government is right in taking action if an oil company provably threatens or harms a person’s property. But to impose huge costs on oil companies and their customers in the name of preserving untouched nature is unconscionable. What should the government do about gasoline prices? Get its hands out of the market and keep them off. From the Passage above answer the following questions:
How do high oil prices affect companies?

What is the meaning of ‘laggard’?

What is the conflict regarding market fluctuation in prices?

Why should the government not intervene in lowering the prices?