The Developing World Reading Answers

Dec 23, 2022

The Developing World Reading Answers is a particular topic discussing about the countries of Asia that are economically impoverished. The given IELTS topic has been taken from the book called “E-ENG-school IELTS Reading Test With Answers Key (New Edition)”. There are 13 questions total in the the topic called The Developing World Reading Answers, which should be answered within the alloted time of 20 minutes by the candidates. The topic basically comes with three different sorts of questions, which are, choose the correct headings, Yes/No/Not Given, and complete the following sentences. The candidates should read thoroughly the IELTS reading passage in order to recognize the synonyms and identify the keywords and for answering the questions below. Similar kinds of topics like The Developing World Reading Answers are included in the IELTS reading practice papers, which the candidates can take into their consideration for performing a good score in this section.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

The Developing World Reading Answers

THE DEVELOPING WORLD – the economically underdeveloped countries of Asia. Africa. Oceania and Latin America – is considered as an entity with common characteristics, such as poverty, high birth rates, and economic dependence on the advanced countries. Until recently, the developing world was known as ‘the third world’. The French demographer Alfred Sauvy coined the expression (in French) in 1952 by analogy with the ‘third estate’ – the commoners of France before and during the French Revolution – as opposed to priests and nobles, comprising the First and second estates respectively. ‘Like the third estate’, wrote Sauvy, ‘the third world is nothing, and it wants to be something’. The term, therefore, implies that the third world is exploited, much as the third estate was exploited and that, like the third estate, its destiny is a revolutionary one. It conveys as well a second idea, also discussed by Sauvy – that of nonalignment, for the developing world belongs neither to the industrialised capitalist world nor to the industrialised former communist bloc. The expression ‘third world’ was used at the 1955 conference of Afro-Asian countries held in Bandung. Indonesia. In 1956 a group of social scientists associated with Sauvy’s National Institute of Demographic Studies, in Paris, published a book called ‘Le Tiers-Monde’. Three years later, the French economist Francois Perroux launched a new journal, on problems of underdevelopment, with the same title. By the end of the 1950s, the term was frequently employed in the French media to refer to the underdeveloped countries of Asia. Africa, Oceania and Latin America. Present-day politicians and social commentators, however, now use the term ‘developing world’ in a politically correct effort to dispel the negative connotations of ‘third world’.
Countries in the developing world have a number of common traits: distorted and highly dependent economies devoted to producing primary products for the developed world; traditional, rural social structures; high population growth and widespread poverty. Nevertheless, the developing world is sharply differentiated, for it includes countries on various levels of economic development. And despite the poverty of the countryside and the urban shantytowns, the ruling elites of most third world countries are wealthy.
This combination of conditions in Asia, Africa, Oceania and Latin America is linked to the absorption of the developing world into the international capitalist economy, by way of conquest or indirect domination. The main economic consequence of Western domination was the creation, for the first time in history, of a world market. By setting up sub-economies linked to the West throughout the developing world, and by introducing other modern institutions, industrial capitalism disrupted traditional economies and, indeed, societies. This disruption led to underdevelopment.
Because the economies of underdeveloped countries have been geared to the needs of industrialised countries, they often comprise only a few modem economic activities, such as mining or the cultivation of plantation crops. Control over these activities has often remained in the hands of large foreign firms. The prices of developing world products are usually determined by large buyers in the economically dominant countries of the West, and trade with the West provides almost all the developing world’s income. Throughout the colonial period, outright exploitation severely limited the accumulation of capital within the foreign-dominated countries. Even after decolonisation (in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s), the economies of the developing world grew slowly, or not at all, owing largely to the deterioration of the ‘terms of trade’ – the relationship between the cost of the goods a nation must import from abroad and its income from the exports it sends to foreign countries. Terms of trade are said to deteriorate when the cost of imports rises faster than income from exports. Since buyers in the industrialised countries determined the prices of most products involved in international trade, the worsening position of the developing world was scarcely surprising. Only the oil-producing countries – after 1973 – succeeded in escaping the effects of Western domination of the world economy.
No study of the developing world could hope to assess its future prospects without taking into account population growth. While the mortality rate from poverty-related diseases continues to cause international concern, the birth rate continues to rise at unprecedented levels. This population explosion in the developing world will surely prevent any substantial improvements in living standards, as well as threaten people in stagnant economies with worsening poverty and starvation levels.

Section 2

Solution With Explanation

Question 14-18 :
Choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below :

List of Headings

The great divide between rich and poor.
The status and destiny of the developing’ world follow a European precedent.
Economic progress in the developing world slowed down In political unrest.
More people, less food.
Western countries refuse to acknowledge their history of colonisation.
Open trade is the main reason these countries become impoverished.
Rivalry in the developing world between capitalist and former communist countries.
Prices and conditions set by outsiders

(Guide: Candidates need to match the paragraphs with the correct heading from i to vii)

Question: 14

Paragraph A: The status and destiny of the developing’ world follows a European precedent.

Supporting sentence: By the end of the 1950s the term was frequently employed in the French media to refer to the underdeveloped countries of Asia. Africa, Oceania and Latin America
Keywords: status, destiny, French media
Keyword location: paragraph A, line 15.
Explanation: Line 15 of the paragraph A suggests that an European criterion and exemplar was abided by the status and destiny of the emerging world. For the purpose of refering most of the impoverished countries, the term was often implemented in the media world of French by the ending of the 1950s.

Question: 15

Answer: i
Paragraph B: The great divide between rich and poor.
Supporting sentence: And despite the poverty of the countryside and the urban shanty towns, the ruling elites of most third world countries are wealthy.
Keywords: shanty towns, rich, poor, development.
Keyword location: paragraph B, line 3.
Explanation: Line 3 of the paragraph B states that most of the ruling aristocratics that belongs to the third world segment of countries are the richest one, inspite of the poor people of the countryside and the urban huts or cottage dwellers.

Question: 16

Paragraph C: Open trade is the main reason these countries become impoverished.

Answer: vi
Supporting sentence: The main economic consequence of Western domination was the creation, for the first time in history, of a world market.
Keywords: consequence, creation, capitalism
Keyword location: Paragraph C, line 3
Explanation: The third line of paragraph C in suggests that open world business is the vital factor why the countries of the Western part collapsed in economic conditions.

Question: 17

Answer: viii
Paragraph D: Prices and conditions set by outsiders
Supporting sentence: Control over these activities has often remained in the hands of large foreign firms
Keywords: Control, foreign
Keyword location: Paragraph C, Line 3.
Explanation: Line 3 of paragraph C explains that the huge foreign business firms had their authority over price and conditions .

Question: 18

Answer: iv
Paragraph E: More people, less food
Supporting sentence: This population explosion in the developing world will surely prevent any substantial improvements in living standards, as well as threaten people in stagnant economies with worsening poverty and starvation levels.
Keywords: Population explosion, living standards, starvation
Keyword location: Paragraph E, Line 6
Explanation: Line 6 of paragraph E enhances that increased poverty and famine levels will likely result from the developing world's population expansion, which will undoubtedly preclude significant gains in living conditions.

Questions 19 - 22: Do the following statements agree with the given passage?

(Guide: Candidates need to answer the questions by answering Yes or No or Not Given)

Agriculture still plays a role in the economy of developing countries. ________

Answer: Yes
Supporting sentence: Countries in the developing world have a number of common traits: distorted and highly dependent economies devoted to producing primary products for the developed world; traditional, rural social structures; high population growth and widespread poverty.
Keywords: developing world, dependent economies, high population
Keyword location: Paragraph B, Line 1
Explanation: The first line of paragraph B describes that the emerging world shares a number of characteristics with other nations, including skewed economies that are heavily dependent on manufacturing basic goods for the developed world, rural social structures, rapid population increase, and pervasive poverty. Therefore, it is a correct response.

The population of the developing world increases at such a fast rate because they constantly need to renew the labour force.

Answer: Not given
Explanation: No particular information is available in the above context to justify the above sentence.

Countries that spend more on imports than came from exports can experience problems.

Answer: yes
Supporting sentence: Terms of trade are said to deteriorate when the cost of imports rises faster than income from exports.
Keywords: decolonisation, foreign countries, abroad.
Keyword location: Paragraph D, Line 7
Explanation: The seventh line of paragrah D states that the countries may be eroded in their trades if they emphasize more on the imported goods rather than the exported goods. Thus, the statement is correct.

As the developing world, oil-rich countries are also victims of dominance by Western powers.

Answer: No
Supporting sentence: Only the oil-producing countries – after 1973 – succeeded in escaping the effects of Western domination of the world economy.
Keywords: Western domination, world economy
Keyword location: Paragraph D, last line.
Explanation: The concluding line of paragaph D clarifies that after the year of 1973, the countries which produced oils managed to escape from the casualties of Western domination of the economic conditions of the world. Therefore, this statement is an incorrect one.

Questions 23-26: Complete each sentence with the correct ending given below :

A: economic dependence on developed countries.
B: that decolonisation took a long time to achieve.
C: dictate the needs of industrialised countries.
D: share common characteristics.
E: that many economies stagnated.
F: a society that wants something it does not have.

Companies in the developing world _____

Answer: D
Supporting sentence: THE DEVELOPING WORLD – the economically underdeveloped countries of Asia. Africa. Oceania and Latin America – is considered as an entity with common characteristics, such as poverty, high birth rates, and economic dependence on advanced countries.
Keyword: common characteristics, entity
Keyword location: Para A
Explanation: The paragraph A in the passage implies that the economically underdeveloped nations of Asia, Africa, Oceania, and Latin America are together referred to as THE DEVELOPING WORLD and share traits including poverty, high birth rates, and economic dependency on industrialised nations.

The term third world implies __________

Answer: F
Supporting sentence: ‘Like the third estate’, wrote Sauvy, ‘the third world is nothing, and it wants to be something.
Keyword: third estate, Sauvy
Keyword location: Para A
Explanation: The paragaph A implies that the third estate is nothing, but it aspires to be something, according to Sauvy, who also compared it to the third estate.

One factor that is prevalent in the developing world is ________-

Answer: A
Supporting sentence: THE DEVELOPING WORLD – the economically underdeveloped countries of Asia. Africa. Oceania and Latin America – is considered as an entity with common characteristics, such as poverty, high birth rates, and economic dependence on the advanced countries
Keyword: developing world, economic development
Keyword location: Para A
Explanation: Paragraph A in the passage implies that the developing world are the economically impoverished one and are basically dependant or reliant economically on the others.

26.One consequence of the term of trade was __________

Answer: E
Supporting sentence: Even after decolonisation (in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s), the economies of the developing world grew slowly, or not at all, owing largely to the deterioration of the ‘terms of trade’ – the relationship between the cost of the goods a nation must import from abroad and its income from the exports it sends to foreign countries.
Keyword: economies, developing, grew slowly
Keyword location: Para D
Explanation: The paragraph D in the passage states that the economic conditions came to a halt or became stagnant for the term of trade that was implemented, and only oil producing countries were able to recover from this particular economic bankruptcy.

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