High-Q | English פסיכומטרי

Reading Comprehension

TEXT 1

No matter how much we produce, we shall never be able to satisfy man’s wants, for these develop and extend with every advance of technology. Appetite grows with feeding, and every growth of output that raises man to a new level serves but to reveal a more extensive horizon. In his book, “Nature and Significance of Economic Science”, Lord Robbin defines economics as: "The science which studies human behavior as a 5 relationship between ‘ends’ and scarce ‘means’ which have alternative uses." Man’s insatiable ‘wants’ are Robbin’s ‘ends’ that exist to be satisfied. The resources of the earth are the scarce ‘means’ that are available to satisfy these ends. Economics becomes a study of how men behave when there are insufficient ‘means’ to satisfy the ‘ends’ they have in mind. 10 If the utilities that can be created are limited compared with the insatiable appetites of man, then we must exercise some sort of choice as to what shall be produced and in what quantities. Just how we exercise this kind of choice depends upon the type of society in which we live. In the so-called ‘free-enterprise’ societies choice is exercised by a wide range of individuals and groups. Millions of housewives exercise choice when 15 they do their shopping. This apparent freedom of choice is marred a little by influences that are at work to persuade us to exercise choices in a way different from our own natural inclinations. Informative or persuasive advertising may influence our demand for goods.

2. According to the text, those things which are “to be satisfied” (line 7) are - (1) Robbin’s book (2) nature’s scarce ‘means’ (3) the available resources of earth (4) man’s insatiable ‘wants’

1. According to the first paragraph, production will never be sufficient because - (1) there will never be enough workers (2) technology doesn’t advance quickly enough (3) people’s demand constantly grows (4) there is only apparent freedom of choice

62

©High Q Global