Economic Trends

Respuesta correcta: C) exacerbate

• A) alleviateIncorrect. 'Alleviate' means to make something less severe, which is the opposite of what's needed.
• B) mitigateIncorrect. 'Mitigate' means to make something less severe, which doesn't fit the negative consequence implied.
• C) exacerbateCorrect. 'Exacerbate' means to make a problem or bad situation worse, which fits perfectly here.
• D) facilitateIncorrect. 'Facilitate' means to make an action or process easy or easier, which is not appropriate for a social divide.

Respuesta correcta: A) erodes

• A) erodes'Erode' means to wear away gradually, which fits an advantage lost over months of unadjusted prices. The clause names the competitiveness at issue, and a currency that does not reach the shop floor reduces it without any announcement.
• B) restores'Restore' means to bring back to a former state, and the sentence describes an advantage being lost rather than recovered. Nothing in the clause suggests an earlier strength has returned.
• C) conceals'Conceal' means to hide, and the gap between the official rate and shop prices is openly visible in both figures. The problem described is a real loss of standing rather than a concealed one.
• D) mirrors'Mirror' means to reflect something exactly, and the sentence says the two things do not match at all. The opposite of reflecting is what the clause describes.

Respuesta correcta: A) headline

• A) headline'The headline figure' is the most eye-catching number in an economic report, and 'headline' in front of 'recovery' means the impressive top-level statistic. That is exactly the gap the sentence describes: a good headline can coexist with households that feel nothing.
• B) clandestine'Clandestine' means done in secret to avoid being known. The adjective here describes a kind of recovery, not a hidden one, and nothing in the sentence is being concealed from the public.
• C) residual'Residual' means what is left over after something else has been accounted for. A recovery is not a leftover quantity, so the word does not describe the type of growth the sentence is about.
• D) stagnant'Stagnant' means not growing or changing at all, which contradicts the sentence entirely: the analyst is warning about a recovery, however uneven its benefits.

Respuesta correcta: B) undermines

• A) corroborates'Corroborate' means to confirm a statement with supporting evidence, and a downward revision is the opposite of confirmation. The sentence describes trust being damaged rather than reinforced.
• B) undermines'Undermine' means to weaken something that was relied upon, and a large downward revision calls into question the figures that were built on the original number. The clause names exactly what loses authority as a result.
• C) anticipates'Anticipate' means to expect or to prepare for something, and the release is a correction already published. Nothing in the sentence indicates a prediction about future figures.
• D) quantifies'Quantify' means to express something as a quantity, and the figures were already stated numerically before the revision. The sentence is about how much credibility was lost, not about measurement.

Respuesta correcta: D) Remittances are economically important but can create dependence.

• A) Coffee exports are Colombia's most important source of money.The text says remittances have brought in more dollars than coffee exports, so coffee is not presented as the most important source.
• B) Families in Pereira do not need local jobs.Economists warn that local jobs are necessary to avoid dependence on remittances.
• C) Colombians abroad are returning home to start businesses.The text talks about money sent home, not about people returning or starting businesses.
• D) Remittances are economically important but can create dependence.The text first shows how important remittances are and then, with 'however', presents the economists' warning about dependence.

Respuesta correcta: B) She hopes to cover her rising costs without losing more customers.

• A) She wants her customers to eat healthier food.Health is never mentioned. Her decision is connected to the cost of ingredients and to losing customers.
• B) She hopes to cover her rising costs without losing more customers.Raising prices made her lose customers, so making smaller arepas 'instead of raising the price' is a way to pay for expensive ingredients while keeping buyers.
• C) The price of corn and cheese has fallen.If ingredients were cheaper, she would not need to change the size of her arepas. The text describes rising prices.
• D) She plans to close her business soon.She is adapting her product to continue selling, which suggests she wants to keep the business open.

Respuesta correcta: B) grown very quickly

• A) exploded dangerouslyA 'boom' can be a loud noise, but here the subject is digital payments, and the text describes growth in their use, not an explosion.
• B) grown very quicklyThe text supports this meaning: shops that 'once accepted only cash' now use QR codes, which shows a fast increase in digital payments.
• C) become illegalShops display QR codes openly and owners describe benefits, so digital payments are clearly legal.
• D) stayed the sameThe text describes a clear change from cash to QR codes, so the situation did not stay the same.

Respuesta correcta: A) It presents the fall in prices as the established background against which exporters now operate.

• A) It presents the fall in prices as the established background against which exporters now operate.'Having fallen' is a perfect participle clause that places the price drop entirely before the main clause begins. The word 'now' then marks the consequence: the situation has already happened and the exporters are living with it.
• B) It says that exporters caused the fall in coffee prices.A participle clause carries no agent, and 'having fallen' has a non-human subject, the prices themselves. No exporter is named as the cause, so this reading reverses the logic of the sentence.
• C) It makes clear that exporters expect prices to rise again soon.The sentence is about a difficulty, not an expectation of recovery. A participle clause states something that has already happened; it cannot by itself signal what will happen in the future.
• D) It shows that the three quarters were counted before the price data existed.'Having fallen' relates the falling to a prior time, not the counting to the data. The phrase 'for three straight quarters' measures the duration of the fall, and nothing in the sentence raises any question about when the figures were produced.

Respuesta correcta: A) Because Brazil and Vietnam had poor harvests.

• A) Because Brazil and Vietnam had poor harvests.The first sentence gives the cause directly: prices rose 'because of poor harvests in Brazil and Vietnam'.
• B) Because Colombian farms hired more guards.Hiring guards was a consequence of high prices (thieves), not the cause of them.
• C) Because cooperatives saved part of their income.Cooperatives advised saving as a precaution; saving money does not raise coffee prices.
• D) Because Colombian farmers produced less coffee.The text does not say Colombian production fell; it was 'the best year' for many local growers.

Respuesta correcta: C) It should keep its flexibility but include protection for workers.

• A) It should be banned because it is too dangerous.The writer never suggests banning the work; he wants it to include protection.
• B) It is perfect because riders choose their hours.The writer recognises this advantage but says 'this freedom has a cost', so he does not think it is perfect.
• C) It should keep its flexibility but include protection for workers.'Flexible work is not the problem; the problem is flexible work without protection' and 'A fair system should offer both' express this view.
• D) It is only suitable for older workers.The text talks about young people and does not say the job suits older workers better.

Respuesta correcta: B) Having fallen

• A) FallenA past participle alone at the start of a clause has a passive meaning ('having been fallen'), which is impossible with the intransitive verb 'fall'.
• B) Having fallenThe perfect participle shows an action completed before the main verb, and its subject is the subject of the main clause: retail sales had fallen, then they gave the bank a reason.
• C) Being fallen'Being' + past participle forms a passive, and 'fall' has no passive form. The sales fell by themselves; nobody 'fell' them.
• D) Had fallen'Had fallen' is a finite verb, so the sentence would have two main clauses joined only by a comma, which is a run-on sentence.

Respuesta correcta: D) are

• A) isA singular auxiliary would not agree with the plural subject 'a country's export figures'. Since the figures, not the revision, are being revised, the inversion has to begin with 'are'.
• B) have'Have' would form a perfect, and a perfect cannot be inverted on its own in this pattern; it would need 'have the figures been', which the sentence does not allow. The construction here is a plain passive in the plural.
• C) beingA gerund cannot serve as the inverted auxiliary that follows 'seldom'. The verb of the passive must be the finite 'are revised', so 'being' leaves the clause without a main verb.
• D) are'Seldom' is a negative frequency adverbial, and the main clause must be inverted: the plural auxiliary 'are' moves in front of the subject, giving 'seldom are a country's export figures revised'. The figures are the thing being revised, so a plural auxiliary is required.

Respuesta correcta: D) Although

• A) Because'Because' introduces a cause, but regional recovery cannot cause a national figure to be lower; the two ideas contrast.
• B) Unless'Unless' means 'if not' and introduces a condition. The sentence reports two facts that both happened, not a condition.
• C) So that'So that' introduces a purpose, and the recovery in mining regions was not done in order to produce a low national figure.
• D) Although'Although' introduces a contrast between two true facts: mining output recovered, yet the national figure was still below forecast.

Respuesta correcta: D) had

• A) has'Has' forms the present perfect, but the sentence describes a completed past sequence ('began'), which requires the past perfect.
• B) does'Does' needs the base form of the verb ('does release'), and here the verb is the past participle 'released'.
• C) was'Was released' would be passive, but the office is the subject that releases the series, so an active perfect form is needed.
• D) hadAfter 'No sooner', the auxiliary comes before the subject: 'No sooner had the office released ... than economists began'. The past perfect shows the first action finished just before the second.

Respuesta correcta: A) was approved

• A) was approvedThe main clause has its own subject, 'the recommendation', and a recommendation receives approval, so the passive 'was approved' is needed.
• B) approvedThe active 'approved' would mean the recommendation approved something, but a recommendation cannot vote; it is the thing being approved.
• C) approving'Approving' is a participle, not a finite verb, so the main clause would have no complete verb.
• D) to be approvedAn infinitive cannot be the main verb of a sentence; 'the recommendation to be approved' leaves the sentence without a finite verb.

Respuesta correcta: A) does

• A) doesCorrect. 'Rarely' at the start of the clause forces inversion; the sentence describes a general habit in the present simple, so the auxiliary 'does' goes before the subject and the main verbs stay in the base form: 'rarely does a central bank cut and praise'.
• B) hasIncorrect. 'Has' would make a present perfect, which needs past participles: 'rarely has a central bank cut rates and praised the move'. Here the second verb is the base form 'praise', so the clause is present simple and needs 'does'.
• C) did'Did' belongs to the past simple, not the present perfect, and it would also require the base form of the verb. The sentence is about a recurring habit in current statements, which is the present simple under inversion.
• D) will'Will' would set the action in the future, but the clause begins with 'Rarely' and describes a pattern of behaviour the banks have avoided so far. The auxiliary of a present statement is 'does' once the subject has been moved after it.

Respuesta correcta: B) The current strategy is directed towards the wrong objective.

• A) They are literally looking for something in the trees of Medellín.Incorrect. This is a literal and incorrect interpretation of the idiom.
• B) The current strategy is directed towards the wrong objective.Correct. This idiom means to follow a wrong line of thought or course of action.
• C) The approach is too noisy and aggressive.Incorrect. The idiom relates to direction/objective, not volume or attitude.
• D) A new environmental project involving trees should be started.Incorrect. This misinterprets the figurative meaning of the phrase.

Respuesta correcta: D) The family must spend less money.

• A) The family needs to buy new belts.This is a literal reading. The father connects the expression to food prices, not to clothes.
• B) The family will earn more money this year.Rising prices are a problem for the family; the idiom is about spending less, not earning more.
• C) The family will travel to Santa Marta more often.The daughter's question suggests the trip may be cancelled, which shows the family will spend less.
• D) The family must spend less money.'Tighten your belt' means to reduce spending because money is limited; the daughter understands this and asks if the trip will be cancelled.

Respuesta correcta: D) The restaurant earns only just enough money to cover its costs.

• A) The restaurant is making large profits.'Barely' means 'almost not', so the owner describes a difficult situation, not large profits.
• B) The owner has trouble ending meetings with suppliers on time.This reads 'ends' and 'meet' literally. The idiom is about money, not about meetings.
• C) The owner is planning to open a second restaurant.Nothing in the answer refers to expansion; the owner is describing financial difficulty.
• D) The restaurant earns only just enough money to cover its costs.'Make ends meet' means to have enough money for basic expenses, and 'barely' shows the restaurant almost cannot do it because of high rent and ingredient costs.

Respuesta correcta: D) He is dismissing a published statistic on the grounds that it rests on a base that has since changed.

• A) He is confirming that growth was stronger than reported.If anything the reported figure is described as flattering, since it rests on a base that was revised downward. Nothing in the sentence supports the official number rather than undercutting it.
• B) He is proposing a new method for measuring growth.No method is suggested anywhere in the quotation. He criticises the base used, which is a criticism of the published calculation rather than a proposal for a replacement.
• C) He is quoting the statistics office directly.The four per cent figure is reported by Alejandro himself and then rejected. Nothing in the sentence attributes the number to an institution or repeats a source's wording.
• D) He is dismissing a published statistic on the grounds that it rests on a base that has since changed.'I would put that number nowhere' rejects the figure, and the clause after 'because' supplies his reason: the comparison base has been revised. He is not disputing the arithmetic but the basis on which it was calculated.