UNIVERSITETET
I OSLO
Institutt f or litteratur, områdestudier og europeiske språk
WRITTEN EXAMINATION
AUTUMN 2013
4 pages
ENG0111 – English for International Students
4 hours
Monday, 2 December 2013
You are allowed to use an English-English dictionary. DOUBLE-SPACE.
All questions must be answered in English. All answers must be written on copy-sheets.
Answer sections 1-3. A pass mark is required on each section.
Exercise 1: Visual Information (30% of mark)
Based on the information conveyed by the chart, write a small accompanying text, not
exceeding 70 words.
Male obesity in the US
[SOURCES: CDC/NCHS, National Health Examination Survey I 1960–1962; National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)]
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UNIVERSITETET
I OSLO
Institutt f or litteratur, områdestudier og europeiske språk
Exercise 2: Summary (40 % of mark)
Read the text well. Look up all the words that you do not fully understand. Write a summary of
the text below, not exceeding 200 words. Remember to DOUBLE SPACE.
Africa Is Primed for Economic Take Off
The Guardian | April 30, 2012
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Chinese and Indian firms are increasingly doing business in Sub-Saharan Africa, and their
interest in the continent extends well beyond a hunt for natural resources. Exports from Africa to
Asia tripled in the last five years, making Asia Africa's third largest trading partner (27 percent)
after the European Union (32 percent) and the United States (29 percent), according to Africa's
Silk Road: China and India's New Economic Frontier, a new World Bank study.
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Indian and Chinese direct foreign investment also grew, with China's amounting to $US1.18
billion by mid-2006, notes the study, which offers original firm-level data of Chinese and Indian
firms operating on the African continent, claims the study's author, the bank’s economic adviser
Harry Broadman. Broadman surveyed 450 Chinese and Indian companies operating in four
African countries―South Africa, Tanzania, Ghana, and Senegal—and developed first-time
business case studies in the field of 16 other Chinese and Indian firms in Africa.
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The new data suggest that Asian firms are beginning to diversify beyond oil and natural
resources into a broad array of industries, a trend that could lead to more sophisticated products
being produced in Africa and help Africa more fully participate in world commerce. "To be sure,
if you take a snapshot of today, the overwhelming bulk of Africa's exports to Asia remains
natural resources," says Broadman. "But what's new is there is far more than oil that is being
invested in. This is an important opportunity for Africa's growth and reduction of poverty,
because, for many years, African trade has been concentrated in primary commodities and
natural resources."
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Released on the eve of the International Monetary Fund – World Bank Annual Meetings in
Singapore, the study comes as world leaders gather to address a host of pressing development
issues, many affecting Africa and its 300 million poor. It also comes at a time when many are
hailing progress that has lifted some 400 million Asians out of extreme poverty in the last 25
years. Many wonder if the same "miracle" can occur in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
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While growing Asian trade and investment is cause for optimism, Broadman cautions that there
are major asymmetries in the economic relations between the two regions. China and India's
comparatively high tariffs on Africa's leading, and highest-value, exports prevent African
entrepreneurs from fully tapping into these markets. Africa's exports account for only 1.6 percent
of total Asian imports.
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Asian trade and investment in Africa has skyrocketed and represents the beginning of a change
in trade patterns. Today most trade is still North – South —between Africa and developed
nations in Europe, Japan, or North America. "But what's going on in China, India, and Africa is
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UNIVERSITETET
I OSLO
Institutt f or litteratur, områdestudier og europeiske språk
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part of the broader trend in the world of rapidly growing South – South investment and
reciprocal trade among developing countries," says Broadman. Trade with Asia is making goods
affordable to many Africans, Indians, and Chinese. African goods are being both sold across
Africa and exported to China, or India, or a third country. At the same time, more and more
Chinese and Indian firms are seeking to manufacture and export sophisticated components, such
as those produced by the South African auto parts industry, to the global market. "This is
allowing Africa for the first time to enter into this network of more sophisticated third-country
global exports," Broadman claims.
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But the study indicates that the conventional remedy of reduced trade barriers will not be
enough. More important are "behind-the-border" reforms to encourage competition, strengthen
market institutions and improve governance in African nations, and "between-the-border"
reforms in both regions, to reduce international transactions costs. "Part of what the Africans
need to do to attract China is to reduce the cost of doing business," says John Page, Chief
Economist of the World Bank's Africa region. Some countries are already moving in that
direction, according to the recently released World Bank Group's 2007 Doing Business survey,
which found that the business climate in several African countries improved in 2005 and that
Sub-Saharan Africa was the third best reforming region, after Eastern Europe and Central Asia,
and the high-income countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD). Yet, about one third of Africans live in countries where the population growth outstrips
the economic expansion or where the economy is actually regressing.
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The prospects are, nevertheless, good in about 14 countries that are home to 65 percent of
Africa’s population. About 30 percent live in natural-resource exporting countries and another 35
percent live in countries in which the economy has grown at an average rate of 5 percent a year
for the last 10 years. Many countries could greatly benefit from as yet untapped South-South
trade opportunities, such as tourism aimed at China, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the
former Soviet Union, says Broadman. "The tourism industry in Africa is underdeveloped. It's just
a huge market waiting to happen."
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What is needed is precisely what Africa lacks: modern infrastructure—roads, airports, transit
systems, and telecommunications. It's a deficiency keenly felt by many of Africa's trading
partners. China, for one, is looking for opportunities to contribute to the World Bank's work in
Africa, including infrastructure projects. And the bank may partner with China and India,
particularly on agricultural projects, to tap into their specialized knowledge. In fact, knowledge
may end up being India's and China's greatest gift to Africa. "The knowledge that can be
conveyed between Asia and Africa may turn out to be as important as or more important than the
trade and investment flows themselves," says Page. Indeed, as Broadman notes, "African-Asian
trade and investment constitute a very small part of the solution to the challenges Africa faces,
such as lack of infrastructure and not enough highly skilled workers. These barriers to economic
growth and development may well take decades to overcome."
962 words [adapted]
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UNIVERSITETET
I OSLO
Institutt f or litteratur, områdestudier og europeiske språk
Exercise 3: Text Comprehension (30% of mark)
Read the previous text again and answer the questions or mark whether the statements are
TRUE or FALSE. If FALSE, correct the statements.
1. Sophisticated products are now being produced in Africa.
2. What can be done to reduce trade barriers?
3. What is meant by the expression “snapshot of today”?
4. How many Africans live in countries with a negative or stagnant development?
5. What is the global African average economic growth rate?
6. What is the main challenge for foreign investors in Africa?
7. What is the main hurdle for African entrepreneurs who wish to export to Asian countries?
8. Which is the traditional trade constellation between the world’s countries and what is the
emerging constellation?
9. Which countries in Africa are increasingly attracting Chinese investors and traders?
10. One industry in particular is stressed as under-developed in Africa. Which one?
11. African exports to Asia represent how much of Asia’s global imports?
12. Where in Africa is there an Asian-owned car parts industry?
13. African goods are mainly exported to other continents and regions.
14. Chinese and Indian firms are only looking to exploit natural resources in sub-Saharan
Africa.
15. Do all Africans live in countries that are developing in the right direction?
16. How many Asian people have been able to leave extreme poverty behind in the last 25
years?
The grades will be published in StudentWeb within 3 weeks. For an explanation of the mark obtained, please contact the
exam coordinator, Kristin Berstad (k.m.berstad@ilos.uio.no) within one week after the exam results have been published in
StudentWeb. Remember to include your name and candidate number. The examiner will decide whether to give a written or
oral explanation.
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