New Pattern Cloze Test from The Economist: Part 1

Directions (1-10): In the passage given below, there are 10 blanks, each followed by a word given in bold and has four alternative words given in options (a), (b), (c) and (d). You have to tell which word will best suit in the given blank. Mark (e) as your answer if the word given in bold after the blank is your answer.
From shoes to shirts and phones to fridges, made-in-China goods have ------- (1) blanketed----- the globe over the past three decades, entering every country and just about every home. But one kind of Chinese good few abroad dare touch: its financial ----- (2) supporting-----. Outsiders own less than 2% of its shares and bonds, far below the level of foreign ownership seen in other markets. Capital barriers and financial risks have put investors off. This however is changing. The globalization of China’s capital markets is slowly gathering steam, as symbolised by the-------- (3) decrease--- of Chinese stocks and bonds in global indices.
MSCI, a company that designs stock market indices, announced on June 20th that it will bring Chinese equities into two of its benchmarks: one that covers ------(4) emerging-----markets; and other that follows stocks around the world. To begin, it will include a small number of shares, just 222 of the more than 3,000 listed in China. But its decision matters to asset managers who track their performance against MSCI’s indices or who invest in exchange-traded funds linked to them. They will in effect be forced to ------ (5) according----- capital to Chain’s stock markets, many for the first time. Because MSCI is giving Chinese stocks a limited weighting (0.73% of its emerging markets index), the resulting cash inflows could add up to only about $10bn next year, equivalent to less than one hour of trading in China’s ----(6)Balanced ------ markets. Yet the weighting is likely to increase in the coming years.
It was a ------- (7) belligerently----- decision, despite China’s size. The country accounts for 15% of global GDP. Its stock market, housed in exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen. Is the world’s second biggest. But for each of the past three years MSCI had debated whether to add china’s shares to its indices, only to back off each time because of restrictions on foreign investors.
Gaining ----- (8) access------ to china’s markets was and is hampered by ------ (9) appallingly--- obstacles. Because of China’s tightly managed capital account, foreigners can only buy shares through a few quota-controlled channels. MSCI concluded that enough had been done to -------- (10) abated----- such concerns, largely thanks to a scheme that lets foreigners buy mainland stocks in Hong Kong.

1. Find out the appropriate word:

a) Cloak
b) Camouflage
c) Enveloping
d) Shroud
e) No change

2. Find out the appropriate word:
a) Liability
b) Edge
c) Assets
d) Disadvantage
e) No change.

3. Find out the appropriate word:
a) Inclusion
b) adjoined
c) exclusion
d) manifested
e) No change

4. Find out the appropriate word:
a) Materialize
b) Fading
c) Approach
d) Disappearing
e) No change

5. Find out the appropriate word:
a) Allocate
b) Sharing
c) Fiddle with
d) Divvying
e) No change

6. Find out the appropriate word:
a) Deliriousness
b) frenetic
c) Corybantic
d) Troubled
e) No change

7. Find out the appropriate word:
a) Calm
b) Contentious
c) Certain
d) Agreeable
e) No change

8. Find out the appropriate word:
a) approaching
b) access
c) forfeit
d) relinquishing
e) no change

9. Find out the appropriate word:
a) Feeble
b) Friendly
c) Formidable
d) Facile
e) No change

10. Find out the appropriate word:
a) Mollifying
b) Intensify
c) Dwindled
d) Allay
e) No change

Answers

1. e) No change
2.  c) Assets
3. a) Inclusion
4. e) No change
5. a) Allocate
6. b) frenetic
7. b) Contentious
8. e) no change
9. c) Formidable
10. d) Allay