English Comprehension-3

English Comprehension-3

Please read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:

Passage

Ask Henry Foster when he got involved in monkey business and he will tell you it was in 1972. That was when he went on a trapping expedition to the foot hills of the Himalayas to capture rhesus monkeys. He brought them to a congenial island in the Florida keys, ninety acres of mangroves basking under the subtropical sun, home to the hermit crab, frigate bird, egret, ibis, heron (great and small) and now 2,500 monkeys with identifying tattoos on their chests. Yes, 2,500 of them, climbing, chattering, swinging, snarling, grimacing, and most important from Foster’s point of view, breeding.

Foster is a pioneer in the commercial production of disease-free laboratory animals and he has invested well over $ 2 million in Key Lois on the conviction that he can turn those monkeys into money. The company he founded, Charles River Breeding Laboratories, last year produced 18 million rats, mice, hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits and monkeys, more than he number of human beings born in North and South America. Charles River sells the animals to Universities, Government agencies, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Du Pont, General Foods, and hundreds of other companies around the world for use in biomedical research and product testing. If everything goes as expected this yer, the company will earn $ 2.3 million on sales of $ 23 million, making it the biggest breeder of the animals in the world.

Foster’s prospects in monkey breeding brightened recently when, by a strange turn of events, the competition from imports virtually vanished. The rhesus is the primate most widely used for research, and India is to the rhesus as Saudi Arabia is to oil. Early this year, the Indian Prime Minister learned that the American military was using rhesus imported from India to study the effects of neutron radiation, which he believes violates a 1955 agreement limiting their use to medical purposes. Angered, he cut of monkey exports as of April 1.

The U.S. imported 12,000 rhesus monkeys from India last year; the government and the pharmaceutical industry need 5,300 a year to test vaccines, primarily for polio. The shortage poses a threat to polio-vaccine production, though a sufficient number of rhesus for this use can probably be acquired from Bangladesh and the few government-sponsored breeding colonies in the U.S. That would leave hardly any for other research.

Foster had budgeted to sell all his young monkeys this year – about 560 of them – but in view of the shortage, he will hold back the females to build up the breeding stock. The rhesus has a ‘production index’ of 0.7 as they say in the trade, meaning that 100 mature females produce 70 babies a year. Unlike ordinary imports, the Key Lois monkeys have been checked and found free of herpes B virus and other ailments they are heir to. For those Foster does sell, he charges plenty - $ 490 for a one year old to $ 1,000 for a proven bearing female. Indian imports went for as little as $ 225 last year.

1.      

The reference to “monkey business” in the opening sentence of the paragraph is meant to be taken

a)      Literally,       b)  figuratively      c)  seriously         d)  in a business-like manner

2.       The most important aspect of the behaviour of rhesus monkeys from the point of view of Mr  Forster  is their

a)      Suitability n medical research,      b)  breeding      c) swinging, snarling and grimacing

d)    Suitability in studying the effects of neutron radiation

3.        Mr Forster’s company, last year produced 18 million

a)      Rats and mice      b) rats, pigs and monkeys  c) rats, hamsters and monkeys

d)   none of the above

4.       Mr Forster supplies animals manly for

a)      Biomedical research       b)  product testing      c)  neutron radiation studies    d)    a & b

5.       The Charles River Breeding Laboratories this year may earn a profit of $

a)      23 million         b)   2.3 million           c)    2 million         d)   none of the above

6.       The agreement of 1955 with the Indian Government limited the use of rhesus monkeys to

a)      Medical research    b)  product testing    c)  neutron radiation studies    d)  genetic research

7.       The Indian Prime Minister’s action in cutting off exports of rhesus monkeys has

a)      Prevented the U.S. Military from using rhesus monkeys in testing neutron radiation

b)      Led to import of rhesus monkeys from Bangladesh

c)       Made the U.S. Government dependent on the supplies from Mr Foster’s laboratories

d)      None of the above

8.       A great number of monkeys imported in the U.S.A  are made use of by the

a)      U.S. Government

b)      Pharmaceutical industry

c)       General foods,

d)      a & b

9.       The fact that the rhesus has a “production index of 0.7” means that

a)      a hundred females produce 70 babies a year

b)      70 females produce 100 babies a year

c)       7 mature females produce 100 babies  year

d)      None of the above

10.   While the Indian imports went for $ 225, Mr Forster charges for a proven bearing female rhesus, as much as $

a)      490         b)   1,500              c)   1,000               d)   2,000

Answers:

1.       (a)      2. (b)      3.  (d)      4.  (d)      5.   (b)     6.  (a)      7.  (d)      8.   (d)     9.  (d)     10.   (c)