Reading Passage Question
The dynamic growth of the People’s Republic of China in recent years is attributable to several factors. Trade between the United States and China resumed in 1972, after a twenty-year hiatus, and has developed rapidly since normalization of diplomatic relations in 1979. Economic growth is also attributable largely to China’s policies of economic reform. The pace of reform quickened in the wake of senior leader Deng Xiaoping’s call in early 1992 for more growth, greater openness, and stepped-up reform. Deng’s policies were endorsed that year by the Fourteenth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, by the Eighth Annual People’s Congress in 1993, and again in 1993 by the Third Plenum of the Chinese Communists Party’s Fourteenth Central Committee. The Third Plenum adopted several new reform initiatives aimed at transforming the Chinese economy into a market system—particularly the privatization of state-owned enterprises.
But what are the possible intranational political consequences of the government’s current stress on economic development at the expense of political reform? Certain regions are experiencing a greater economic boom than others. Guangdong province, for example, has benefited from neighboring Hong Kong’s freewheeling capitalistic economy, and the movement of Hong Kong’s manufacturing sector into the province has created what is probably the most dynamic economy in the world. Such anomalies in economic development are likely to create unrest in less prosperous areas. Political instability might also result if current inflationary trends become uncontrollable. Further, the question of leadership succession remains unresolved, a situation that might generate political unrest. Political unrest will remain relatively dormant only while economic expansion continues and spreads to the nation’s internal regions.
“The dynamic growth of the People’s Republic of China in recent years”- is a passage for the GMAT that addresses reading comprehension. Candidates must have a firm understanding of GMAT reading comprehension in English. This GMAT reading comprehension section consists of three comprehension questions. The purpose of the GMAT Reading Comprehension questions is to assess a candidate's capacity to understand, evaluate, and apply knowledge or ideas. By responding to the GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions section, candidates can actively practice.
Solutions and Explanation
- The passage mentions all of the following as factors contributing to China’s economic growth EXCEPT:
(A) renewed political relations between China and the United States
(B) the policies of Deng Xiaoping
(C) particular initiatives of the Third Plenum
(D) endorsements made by the Eighth Annual People’s Congress
(E) a decrease in the number of state-owned enterprises
Answer: (E)
Explanation: The question explicitly requests an answer that is not mentioned in the passage. The correct answer is the last option. The Third Plenum, according to the passage, adopted initiatives aimed, in part, at reforming state-owned enterprises. However, the passage does not support the assertion that such reforms took place or that such reforms resulted in a reduction in the number of such enterprises.
- The author discusses Guangdong province primarily in order to
(A) illustrate a political phenomenon
(B) discount an economic theory
(C) support a prediction
(D) help define a historical trend
(E) rebut an opposing viewpoint
Answer: (C)
Explanation: The third option is the correct answer. The author intends to highlight the disparity in economic development among various regions of China by highlighting the prosperity of Guangdong province. He also claims that such disparities may cause political unrest in less prosperous areas. Thus, the author's prediction of political unrest is supported by Guangdong's prosperity. The remaining options are all wrong answers.
- Which of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage’s second paragraph?
(A) Unless accompanied by political reforms, economic growth and reform in China might result in political instability.
(B) In order to ensure future economic growth, China must continue to trade with the United States.
(C) China’s recent economic growth is the result of both improving political relations with the United States and reforms in economic policy.
(D) While positive political developments have been largely responsible for China’s recent economic growth, continued unfettered growth might ironically have adverse political consequences in the future.
(E) The potential for United States exports to China, although great, might be adversely affected in the future by both economic and political factors.
Answer: (A)
Explanation: It is critical to extract the primary goal of the passage's second paragraph for this question. It describes the political consequences of economic reform without political reform, presenting three scenarios that could lead to political instability. According to this interpretation, the first option is the best suited answer. The remaining options are all wrong choices as they don’t best suit the explanation above.
Suggested GMAT Reading Comprehension Samples
- Antonia Castañeda has Utilised Scholarship from Women's Studies and Mexican-American History to Examine Nineteenth-Century Literary Portrayals of Mexican Women. GMAT Reading Comprehension
- By 1950, The Results of Attempts to Relate Brain Processes to Mental Experience Appeared Rather Discouraging GMAT Reading Comprehension
- In February 1848 the People of Paris Rose in Revolt Against the Constitutional Monarchy of Louis-Philippe GMAT Reading Comprehension
- Over the Last 150 Years, Large Stretches of Salmon Habitat have been Eliminated by Human Activity. GMAT Reading Comprehension
- The Brain Contributes to the Adaptive Success of Animals through the Control and Coordination of Muscle Contractions. GMAT Reading Comprehension
- The Geology of the Grand Canyon Area Exposes One of the Most Complete and Studied Sequences of Rock on Earth. GMAT Reading Comprehension
- The Pioneers of the Teaching of Science Imagined that its Introduction into Education would Remove the Conventionality, Artificiality, and Backward-Lookingness GMAT Reading Comprehension
- The Single-Celled Parasite known as Toxoplasma Gondii Infects more than Half of the World's Human Population GMAT Reading Comprehension
- During the Victorian Period, Women Writers were Measured Against A Social GMAT Reading Comprehension
- In Current Historiography, the Picture of a Consistent, Unequivocal Decline in Women’s Status GMAT Reading Comprehension
- Resin is a Plant Secretion that Hardens when Exposed to Air GMAT Reading Comprehension
- Some Historians Contend that Conditions in the United States During the Second World War GMAT Reading Comprehension
- It Was Once Assumed that All Living Things Could be Divided into Two Fundamental and Exhaustive Categories GMAT Reading Comprehension
- A Fundamental Principle of Pharmacology is that all Drugs have Multiple Actions. Actions that are Desirable in the Treatment of Disease are Considered therapeutic GMAT Reading Comprehension
- Scepticism is as Much the Result of Knowledge, as Knowledge is of Scepticism. GMAT Reading Comprehension
- On the surface, the Conquest of the Aztec Empire by Herman Cortes GMAT Reading Comprehension
- A One-Child Policy was Implemented in China in 1979 GMAT Reading Comprehension
- But Man is Not Destined to Vanish. He can be Killed, but he cannot be Destroyed, Because his Soul is Deathless and his Spirit is Irrepressible. GMAT Reading Comprehension
- Coral Reefs Are One of the Most Fragile, Biologically Complex, And Diverse Marine Ecosystems on Earth GMAT Reading Comprehension
- Although Numbers of Animals in a Given Region May Fluctuate From Year to Year GMAT Reading Comprehension
Comments