QUIZ FOR EXTENSIVE READING COURSE

Name: paramita

Read the following texts carefully. Then, choose the best answer for each
question and write it in the bracket!

Text 1. Outsourcing in India

India is a country of many contrasts. In some cities, water buffaloes share the streets
with buses and cars. Office workers in business clothes walk past the cooking fires of
families who live on the sidewalk. Two hundred and sixty million Indians live on less than
one dollar a day, yet India also has one of the world's fastest growing economies.
Behind this growth is the development of fast and cheap telecommunications. Thanks
to this, and to the Internet especially, American and European companies can hire workers
in India to perform jobs that used to be done by local workers. This process is called
outsourcing. For the companies, there are two important advantages to outsourcing. They
can pay the Indians far less than they would pay Americans or Europeans. And since India
has many English-speaking and highly educated citizens, there is no shortage of qualified
people.
It all began in the late 1990s. At that time, Indian technicians were hired by companies
in the United States and Europe to fix computer software problems in the coming
changeover from the year 1999 to the year 2000. The companies saw how well the Indians
carried out their jobs and decided to continue working with them. Other companies followed
their example and more jobs were moved to India. Soon outsourcing had become an
important part of the global economy.
Today, if you call a company like Dell Computer for customer assistance, you will
probably talk to someone working in Bangalore or Hyderabad. Dell's main offices are in
Texas, but it hires Indians to supply customer services at 10 percent of an American's
salary. Dell has hired more than 10,000 Indians at four different call centers in India, and it is
hardly alone. The companies and institutions that outsource work to India include computer
and credit card companies, banks, insurance companies, and airlines. Some hospitals have
even hired Indian experts to study medical X-rays and e-mail the results back to the United
States.
The Indian workers in customer-service jobs receive special training from their
American and European supervisors. In addition to learning how to do their jobs, they also
learn about the way of life of the westerners with whom they will be talking. Some of these
workers have never had a credit card. Some have never seen the kind of business which
hired them—a department store, for example. Some had never even left the small towns and
villages where they grew up before taking their call center jobs.
These jobs may require the workers to make various changes for their jobs. In order to
seem less foreign for the western customers, they usually take names that are common in
English, such as Bob or Ann, and they are taught to speak without an Indian accent.
Because of time differences with the United States, most Indian call center employees must
work all night long instead of during the day.
Few of them complain about these changes, however. Their pay may seem low to
westerners, but it is good for Indians. Those who have moved to the city from small towns
enjoy the excitement of city life. In addition, many young people see their jobs for western
companies as a way to move up in Indian society. American and European-run companies
promote workers on the basis of their job performance. This is very different from traditional
Indian culture, where promotion often depends on your family and your connections in
business and politics.
The economic boom caused by outsourcing has led to big changes in Indian cities.
There are many more skyscrapers, hotels, nightclubs, and restaurants with American and
European food on the menu. The city of Chennai (formerly known as Madras) has an
American-style children's fun park where workers dress up as Hindu gods to entertain the
young. Hyderabad has a 1,000-seat movie theatre that shows American films the same
week they are shown in the United States.
These changes are partly due to the fact that young Indians are learning to enjoy a
more western lifestyle. The growing number of foreigners living in India has also had an
impact. These westerners go to India to train Indians or to do high-level computer work, and
they discover that they like living in India because their money buys more there. In India,
they can go to expensive restaurants and have paid help in their homes, luxuries they could
never afford at home. Of course, living in India is often a challenge for them. Chennai is
known for being the center of technology in India, but it has terrible air pollution and the
electricity service often shuts down.
Outsourcing to India has brought change for Americans as well. During the 1980s and
1990s, American industry had already lost many jobs when factories were moved to
developing countries. Now jobs are also disappearing in the services (such as call centers)
and in areas such as computer programming. By the year 2010, experts believe 3 million
jobs will have left the United States for India. This has led some Americans to wonder what
jobs will be left for them. In fact, economists are uncertain about the long-term
consequences of outsourcing for the United States and Europe.
We now live in what is known as a global economy. Jobs and services move from
country to country with the speed of a computer connection. Many countries have seen
changes in their economies and culture as a result, some for the better and some for the
worse. But outsourcing is now a fact of life. Jobs from the United States and Europe are now
traveling beyond India to China, Eastern Europe, the Philippines, Thailand, and many other
places.

1. Choose the statement that best expresses the overall thesis of this passage!
a. Outsourcing in India allows western companies to pay workers less.
b. Outsourcing has brought many foreigners to Indian cities.
c. Outsourcing involves many countries.
d. Outsourcing has led to change in India and the United States.
Answer: [A
2. Outsourcing was made possible by ….
a. the changeover from 1999 to 2000.
b. the development of Indian cities.
c. fast and cheap telecommunications.
d. a growing Indian economy.
Answer: [B
3. Which of the following is NOT required of Indians working at call centers for western
companies?
a. using names that sound western
b. shopping in western stores
c. learning about western ways
 d. working all night long
Answer: [B
4. Working for a western company can help young Indians ….
a. start a career in Indian politics.
b. move to a western country.
c. start a family and a business.
d. improve their social position.
Answer: [D
5. One reason why westerners like living in India is that ….
a. they can have a more luxurious life there.
b. they do not have to work as hard there.
c. the environment is cleaner there.
d. the same movies are played there.
Answer: [A

Text 2. Robots
Since our earliest days, humans have used tools to improve their lives. At first, these
tools were simple and handheld, such as knives or hammers, and they were used to perform
basic tasks that were necessary for survival. Over time, the tools and the technology for
using them became more complicated. First they were mechanical, then electrical, and
finally electronic. One of the most recent developments in tools is the robot. The latest robots
can be taught to perform complex tasks that require an almost humanlike ability to process
information and make decisions.
The word robot first appeared in a 1921 stage play by Czech writer Karel Capek. In the
play, a man makes a machine that can think, which he calls a robot and which ends up
killing its owner. In the 1940s, the American science fiction writer Isaac Asimov wrote a
series of stories about robots and invented the term robotics, the science of robots.
Meanwhile, in the real world, the first robots were developed by an engineer, Joseph
F. Engelberger, and an inventor, George C. Devol. Together they started Unimation, a
manufacturing company that produced the first real robot in 1961, called the Unimate.
Robots of this type were installed at a General Motors automobile plant and proved to be a
success. They worked reliably and saved money for General Motors, so other companies
were soon acquiring robots as well.
These industrial robots were nothing like the terrifying creatures that can often be seen
in science fiction films. In fact, these robots looked and behaved nothing like humans. They
were simply pieces of computer-controlled machinery, with metal "arms" or "hands." Since
they were made of metal, they could perform certain jobs that were difficult or dangerous for
humans, particularly jobs that involve high heat. And since robots were tireless and never
got hungry, sleepy, or distracted, they were useful for tasks that would be tiring or boring for
humans. Industrial robots have been improved over the years, and today they are used in
many factories around the world. Though the use of robots has meant the loss of some jobs,
at the same time other jobs have been created in the design, development, and production
of the robots.
Outside of industry, robots have also been developed and put to use by governments
and scientists in situations where humans might be in danger. For example, they can be sent
in to investigate an unexploded bomb or an accident at a nuclear power plant. Researchers
also use robots to collect samples of hot rocks or gases in active volcanoes. In space
exploration, robots have performed many key tasks where humans could not be present,
such as on the surface of Mars. In 2004, two robotic Rovers—small six-wheeled
computerized cars—were sent to Mars. The Rovers had lasers that functioned as eyes and
software that was designed to help them travel around holes or rocks. While on Mars, they
performed many scientific experiments and took thousands of photographs, sending all the
results back to Earth. Among other things, the Rovers discovered that Mars probably once
had water on its surface just like Earth.
As robots were developed for industry and science, some inventors also found uses
for smaller and less expensive robots. The first of these appeared in the 1980s, as an
educational tool for learning about computers. Then in the 1990s, further technological
improvements led to the invention of robot toys. The most famous of these was AIBO, a
robotic dog produced by Sony. It could run around a room and chase a ball like a real dog.
However, in spite of great enthusiasm for AIBO when it first appeared, it was too expensive
($2,000) to be successful in the long run.
Inventors have been more successful with robots that can help with housework. The
Roomba, for example, is a robotic vacuum cleaner. Made of lightweight plastic, it is low and
round, with wheels. Before it begins cleaning a room, Roomba first moves all around it to
"learn" about the shape of the room and the furniture in it. Then it starts vacuuming, avoiding
the walls and furniture. When it begins to run out of power, it returns to a base to recharge. It
does all of this without any human direction. With a price tag of only about $200, the
Roomba has sold well—about 2 million Roombas were sold in its first four years. The same
company that makes Roomba has now developed a floor-washing robot called the Scooba.
What is the future for robots? One likely use of robots was demonstrated in a race for
robot controlled cars held in 2005 by the United States Defense Department. The winner of
this race across the Nevada desert—and the winner of $2 million—was a Volkswagen
Tuareg model called Stanley, designed by robot specialists at Stanford University in
California. Stanley arrived at the finish line 170 miles (273.5 km) away, after traveling over
the rough land in a little less than seven hours—without a human behind the steering wheel.
This was possible because its computer "brain" was able to deal with the various tasks
required along the trip. It could read a map, find its location, judge what was ahead, and
make decisions based on all this information.
Robots have come a long way. Once story writers and movie makers imagined them
as dangerous humanlike machines that could take over the Earth. Now robots help people at
home, in factories, and in scientific research. In the next decade many new uses will be
found for robots, especially in cars. As one designer said, "A person's role in the car is
changing. People will become more planners than drivers." Robots will do the rest.

1. Choose the statement that best expresses the overall thesis of the passage!
a. The word robot was invented by a Czech writer in 1921.
b. Some kinds of robots are used in industry and scientific research.
c. Robots can be used to perform many complex tasks these days.
d. In the future, people won't drive cars—robots will.
Answer: [C
2. The first real robot was ….
a. installed in an automobile plant.
b. a machine that could think like a person.
c. invented by a science fiction writer.
d. looked and behaved like a human.
 Answer: [A

3. In industry, robots ….
a. have taken away some jobs and created others.
b. have caused many factories to close.
c. look and behave a lot like human beings.
d. are used instead of computer programmers and engineers.
Answer: [A
4. Robots are useful in space exploration because they ….
a. travel much faster and farther than humans.
b. can go places where people cannot go.
c. take better photographs than humans.
d. have eyes and ears and a brain just like humans.
Answer: [A
5. The robot-controlled car, Stanley, ….
a. was designed by the United States government.
b. could travel long distances without a driver.
c. required a robot specialist in the back seat.
d. cost $2 million to design and build.
Answer: [B