inflation, reminiscent of the commodities boom of the 2000s. But the present rally __(2)____ driven more by easy money than anything else. The current price __(3)___ began with the election of Donald Trump as U.S. President, which led to hopes of ___(4)___ public investment in infrastructure projects. Signs of a revival of the global economy and __(5)___ on production imposed by the Chinese government to tackle pollution also led speculators to bid up commodities in anticipation of inadequate supply. Aluminum prices hit a record six-year high last month, while commodities such as copper, zinc and nickel recorded multi-year highs recently. Many of these __(6)____ have risen in the range of 30% to 40% over the last year. It is notable that the end of the previous commodities super cycle in 2014, followed by a steep __(7)___ in prices in the next two years, coincided with the slowdown in the Chinese economy. Signs of economic recovery, driven __(8)___ by stimulus investment in Chinese infrastructure, have thus had a significantly favorable impact on commodity prices for now. Oil alone has been an outlier to the recent trend, with the U.S. shale industry having destroyed OPEC’s strong control over supply. The recent run-up in commodity __(9)____ , however, can only be partially explained by structural changes in demand and supply.
Q1.
(a)simple
(b)easy
(c)premature
(d)notice
(e)dominating
Q2.
(a)seems
(b)fell
(c)look
(d)conclude
(e)caused
Q3.
(a)inflated
(b)rise
(c)fall
(d)access
(e)moving
Q4.
(a)increased
(b)caused
(c)deviate
(d)decreasing
(e)natural
Q5.
(a)stopped
(b)motivates
(c)promotes
(d)curbs
(e) new
Q6.
(a)valuation
(b)commodities
(c)expectation
(d)anticipation
(e)structures
Q7.
(a)rise
(b)flow
(c)fall
(d)changing
(e)try
Q8.
(a)appropriate
(b)broadly
(c)main
(d)substantially
(e)recorded
Q9.
(a)view
(b)fraction
(c)changes
(d)related
(e)prices
Q10.
(a)associated
(b)supply
(c)strengthened
(d)hopes
(e)recovery
Q11.
(a)at
(b)among
(c)between
(d)to
(e)with
Q12.
(a)coming
(b)turned
(c)thinking
(d)look
(e)think
Q13.
(a)known
(b)witnessed
(c)sought
(d)jumbled
(e)coding
Q14.
(a)puzzle
(b)out
(c)ending
(d)revision
(e) beginning
Q15.
(a)compound
(b)problem
(c)sequence
(d)driven
(e)maintain